The Event: Episode 1

Fans of Lost, Heroes and FlashForward, yearning for the next mind-bending drama to get themselves all confused over, will be hoping for big things from Channel 4’s new US drama, The Event. Based on this first episode alone though, it’s hard to say with much certainty whether they’re in for elation or disappointment, as we’re so deliberately kept in the dark from start to finish.

The story jumps around three main plots and groups of characters, inevitably converging with one another, though to what end we’re in no danger of being told at this stage.

First there’s the newly elected President Martinez (Blair Underwood) - young, suave and displaying the kind of fresh thinking that his senior advisors clearly don’t approve of.

Then there’s the attractive couple, whose romantic cruise hits a bit of a rough patch when Leila (Sarah Roemer) mysteriously vanishes, leaving her boyfriend Sean (Jason Ritter) frantically trying to track her down aboard the cruise that security insist they never checked in on.

And what conspiracy theory would be complete without the group of secret detainees. Led by the mysterious Sophia Maguire (Laura Innes), they clearly know a lot more than we do, enough at least to keep them under lock and key by the US Government, for what we assume has been a very long time.

The deliberate disorientation is maintained with the continual leaps back and forth through sequences of events, as we start to piece together the components of a plot to hijack a passenger jet. Quite when any of the occurrences we witness were meant to have happened becomes quite hard to keep track of, though the action serves as the one central pin holding the episode together.

After much shouting and running around, by the end of the episode we’re none the wiser as to what has just happened or why, but of course that’s the point and, for many people, no doubt the lure. Whether or not Episode 1 will have done enough to bring people back for a second helping in their droves will be an interesting test of the nation’s enduring patience and appetite for this brand of perpetual bamboozlement.

Channel 4’s billboard ads are already promising that ‘all will become clear’ before the show has even started, suggesting that more than a little staying power is going to be required.



Airs at 9pm on Friday 22nd October 2010 on Channel 4.

Reviewed by Lee Robson.