The Event premiered on Monday, a heavily-hyped new show on NBC that seems like the umpteenth sci-fi drama in the last few years designed to capture the mystery and excitement of Lost. Will The Event succeed where Flashforward failed? Only time will tell, but the reviews are in, and they are definitely a mixed bag.
Out of twenty-four critics at Metacritic, the overall review is 67%, a generally favorable score. There were sixteen totally positive reviews versus one totally negative review, which would seem to be a good sign. However, there were seven mixed reviews, which seems to be a better indicator. Even the most positive review from The Boston Herald’s Mark A. Perigard was only warily optimistic. He said, “Will The Event turn out to be another FlashForward or the next Lost? I’m betting cautiously on the latter.” “Cautiously” is hardly what I think the show’s creators were going for.
Most of the reviews found fault with the weak characterization. In the one hour premiere, we learned very little about the characters, and it suffered. Daynah Burnett for Popmatters called the cast “dreadfully lazy characterizations” and Matthew Gilbert for the Boston Globe said that weakness “renders the whole thing passionless.” Many reviews also faulted the confusing storyline and abundance of questions without answers. The Washington Post’s Hank Stuever called the plot “an intentional mess, daring you to go wherever it thinks it’s going.” I thought the best summary came from David Hinckley’s review for the New York Daily News: “The Event is such a blur of shadowy operatives, dubious motives, cryptic dialogue and mystifying time shifts that by the end, many viewers may be not so much curious as simply confused.”
Overall, I personally am willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt. The twist ending is what saved it from feeling completely cliched, and gave me hope that the writers have more surprises in store. But I think The Event needs to stop trying so hard to be Lost, and become a show on its own.
What did you think about The Event?
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="42415 ">2 Comments
Excellent review! I liked the show but I hated the way they kept jumping back and forth in the timeline. I need to see a couple of more episodes before deciding so I am going to follow it. The characters look good at a distance but we need to get to know them better just like you note.
It was all right. I'll give it a few more episodes.