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A mysterious island, controlled by the government, an accident ship and a young survivor without injuries or memories. Storm Area 51 making the headlines last week, Emergence's new series of thrillers on ABC's plot, debuts at an interesting and timely moment.
The mystery of emergence lies around Piper (Alexa Swinton), the only survivor of a plane crash on Long Island Beach: who is she, from where does she come from? she and perhaps the most important, what is she? In interviews, television series creators Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas said Emergence was primarily influenced by the works of Steven Spielberg, brand name Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.
Although both showrunners were reluctant to confirm if the aliens are really certain of what is hidden in Emergence, it is not difficult to form an opinion based on the pilot episode. There are glitching symbols on a television screen, a shady organization at play and allusions to extraterrestrial technology.
Emergence is aesthetically inspired by the famous director, at least. There are scenes where objects tremble, then hit the ground under the effect of an invisible force, and a power grid suddenly darkens before it becomes alive again. Although they are common conventions in the genre of science fiction, these nostalgic clues play in favor of the series and add a little intrigue to an episode focused primarily on a family drama.
Although Piper is the basic mystery, what is equally central in Emergence is probably Plum Island, which reporter Benny (Owain Yeoman) briefly evoked as the origin of the aircraft. Known as Area 51 on the east coast, Plum Island is a place off the coast of Long Island, home to a federal institution that studies infectious animal diseases.
Taken in secrecy and under the control of DHS since 2003, Plum Island is a popular magnet for conspiracy theory. Many believe it is home to animal-human hybrids and biological weapons. Does that mean that Piper is one of those things? Perhaps. The episode could have suggested a last line alluding to the Plum Island tradition; without the viewers having this basic knowledge, it would seem that Emergence is missing an important hook in the first.
For another show featuring a kid with extraordinary abilities, check out Netflix's Raising Dion trailer:
Because Piper is so little known in the pilot project, Swinton's performance is critical to selling Emergence. Similar to her distant parent, Tilda Swinton, she takes a look at another world that cemented the idea that Piper is really strange, perhaps even inhumanly. Swinton's final scene in the episode is by far the most striking, as it potentially reverses everything we've learned in this episode and suggests that Piper is not just a confused little girl. It does not hurt either that Emergence introduces Allison Tolman of Fargo in the role of police chief Jo, who finds Piper on the beach and ends up harboring it illegally. Together, Tolman and Swinton feel like ABC's answer to Stranger Things' chefs Hopper and Eleven, and if anyone wants to make the show a really interesting show, it's both.
Emergence is a bit of a drag when the science fiction story takes a back seat to Jo's family drama. Jo lives with his father Ed (Clancy Brown), his daughter Mia (Ashley Aufderheide) and now Piper; from time to time they see Bree's father, Alex (Donald Faison). Although separately, they are all excellent actors, together they do not click yet.
Focusing on Jo's family, Emergence finally feels like a very personal and small-scale story; It remains to be seen whether this will complement or not the broader plot of science fiction. At the very least, it seems like the pilot episode might have blended some of the family dynamics into later episodes and spent a little more time getting the public to understand the mystery of Piper and Plum Island. Therefore, I fear that viewers will leave Emergence earlier, before they can enter what looks like a truly intriguing central plot.
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