Wednesday, 4 April 2018

The Crossing Review: “Pilot”


Stranger fins
(This review contains spoilers!)

          Yep, looks like it’s about time I started to review a new show. The Crossing caught my eye as soon as I watched the SuperBowl ad for it, and I’ve spent the time since then with my fingers crossed hoping it’ll be good.

          Good news is that with this pilot episode we’re off to a great start.

          The biggest winner to come out of the show is the concept itself. A small fishing town discovers 400 bodies in the ocean one morning, and those that didn’t drown tell the sheriff that they came from 180 years in the future where humanity is being hunted down by a superior race. Just the idea of a bunch of people suddenly appearing from the future is awesome, but having them pop up from the ocean instead of just materializing is super cool. It’s a fantastic concept and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

          Things get even more interesting when the superior race is explained. Called the Apex, these are enhanced humans smarter and stronger than your Average Joe. They’ve apparently been working to eradicate the humans 180 years from now, leading to this group of intrepid travellers somehow finding a way to time-travel to 2018.

          Speaking of that, why is it every show I review on here has a secret society as the villains? First HYDRA, then Rittenhouse, and now Apex. Next you’ll tell me Jeff Probst is involved with the Illuminati.

          The main crux of the plot right now is that the mother of one of the kids that showed up on the beach has been separated from her daughter, and it’s up to Sheriff Steve Zahn to reunite them. Zahn does a good job, playing a single parent trying to create a new life for himself in this small town. He’s instantly very likeable and relatable, which are always good qualities to have when you’re the leading man. We don’t really know enough about the other characters to give a solid opinion on them just yet, but there’s no outlying bad one just yet.

          That’s my biggest problem with this pilot: at times it seems like it’s more interested in moving the plot along as fast as it can rather than allowing us to take this time to get to know the leads. Once we’re past the halfway point of the episode it’s mostly important story threads from there on out with little new info given to us about the leads. I know the show only has 45 minutes to get all the information it has to into the viewers’ heads, but it would’ve been nice to learn a little more about Zahn’s character or the FBI agent.

          We do get one big surprise towards the end though. It quickly becomes apparent that Apex have come to the past alongside the other travellers, and some might’ve already integrated themselves into society. This is implied when one of the travellers meets with the FBI agent’s higher-up to tell him the bad news, but is shocked to see him. While we don’t get confirmation that he’s actually Apex, it’s definitely implied, and it’s a great reveal. I’m really hoping that this show does something similar to what Timeless has been doing this season and sprinkles a bunch of sleeper agents throughout the show.

          This was a really good premiere. The concept alone makes it worth a watch, and the story threads said concept leads too are pretty promising as well. I would’ve liked more time getting to know the main cast, but I expect we’ll be getting that in the coming weeks. If you’re into crazy ideas and good TV, definitely give The Crossing a shot.

FINAL SCORE
8/10

Great

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