As with most new shows, the real litmus test of whether or not a series can cut it comes not in the pilot, but in its second episode. And I'm duly impressed with The Event's newest installment. The information we get adds to the mystery without ever feeling like an A-HA BUT REALLY... sort of bait-and-switch. Right off the bat it's made clear that, plane crash aside, we're not watching LOST--many of the biggest questions of last episode are answered here, free and clear, while also raising new questions.
We now know why Michael took the plane on a suicide run--he watched as "they" killed his wife, and saw Vicki (formerly known as Drunk Girl) holding one of his daughters at gunpoint, with the threat of both of his daughters' deaths as coercion. We open pretty much where we left off: the plane goes through the tin-foil mystery wormhole, and crash-lands in a desert somewhere (Arizona!), with everyone more or less in one piece. Sean and the passengers escape before the plane goes all kablooey. Post-crash, Sean and Michael have a chat. Michael reveals Leila's alive, and, as a swarm of ominous vehicles close in, Michael tells Sean to run. Which, of course, he does.
We get a flashback to President Martinez's briefing on the contents of that mysterious folder--Sophia and her people are "non-terrestrial," with a one percent DNA variance from us that results in slower aging and some other, heretofore unexplained differences. After crashing in Alaska in 1944, they've been detained there due to a refusal to relinquish information.
Sean wanders the desert, eventually keeling over. He comes to in a hospital and attempts to convince the nurse of his absurd-sounding story. She agrees to call the cops on his behalf...which ends up a bad move for him, because he's wanted for the murder of Drunk Guy, known as Greg. The thing is--we get a flashback and see that Greg was killed by thugs dressed as ship security, after he tried to give Leila a skeezy massage. These guys are also the ones who drugged and made off with her.
We get a wee flashback back to how Sean and Leila met, involving flirting in a swimming pool. Back in the present, Sean puts two and two together and decides to run, but gets about nine feet before the FBI's got him at gunpoint. Oops.
Meanwhile, Sophia's chained to a chair again, and refuses to give Martinez information on her people, how many are out there, or how this happened. He storms off. We get a little flashback to the day of the crash in 1944, as she sends off the healthy survivors to hide and assimilate, while she stays behind with the wounded and gets captured.
Checking in with Simon, our CIA friend with the SUV-skills learned from the Jack Bauer Driving School: his connection with Sophia during their ominous conversation last week was more than just professional security. While we learn he's been the agent assigned to the detainees for the last ten years...we also learn that he's one of "them": a plant in the CIA set up for just this purpose. We even see how he faked out the CIA blood test, via an ooky arm-implant. We also see that "they"(so tempted to call them Others...but I won't) are split into two factions--one benevolent, one a little less so. They're responsible for the plane's wormholiness, and give Simon the coordinates for the crash site.
And we get our endgame for the episode: Sean, taken by the FBI, is driven past the crash site, pleading all the way, while Simon arrives to find the plane mostly intact...but the 200 "survivors" all laid out, dead, artfully arranged as a message to humanity. *Shudder.*
So--questions we got answered: We now know who Sophia's people are (sorta), why Michael went all Top Gun with the plane, where the plane went, and Simon's place of importance in the core cast.
Questions left open or newly asked: Are Sophia's people aliens (they're called extra-terrestrials in Martinez's briefing, but this is the kind of show in which you only trust primary sources)? What's Vicki's deal? Is Leila just a damsel in distress, or something more? Who's behind the anti-Sean conspiracy? Why did Sean hijack the flight? More importantly, how did Sean get a gun on an airline in the first place?
And of course...What is...The Event?
Well, shucks. I'm hooked. See you next week, friends! Sound off in the comments below.
