‘The Event’ 1.16 Recap: “This Could Be the Killing Blow”

Why do I continue to watch ‘The Event’? I could never defend it as a great TV series. I’ve threatened on numerous occasions that I’m taking it on an episode-by-episode basis and could give it up at any time. Yet here we are, most of the way through the season, and I’m still watching. Why? It certainly isn’t because I find annoying dweeb Sean to be a compelling action hero. Nor do I care the slightest bit for his great romance with whiny Leila. On the other hand, beneath all that crap, there’s some semi-interesting sci-fi stuff going on, and I like some of the supporting characters. I guess that my expectations are low enough that such meager benefits are enough to keep me going.

Anyway, last week’s episode was called ‘You Bury Other Things Too’. It picks up hot on the heels of two bus-loads of aliens (including Thomas) being killed. Sophia and the remaining bus are portaled out to safety just in time, depicted as a kind of neat wormhole effect. They wind up smack in the middle of their suburban enclave, where they’ve established a gated community for their people to hide.

Sophia’s first order of business is to warn Simon that the President and Director Sterling are on to him. He receives instructions from a mystery caller with a scrambled voice who helps him to sneak away past the security teams hunting for him. The caller seems to know and see everything (like Morpheus calling Neo at the beginning of ‘The Matrix’). Clearly, this person must be another mole in the administration.

The President issues a statement officially blaming the destruction of the Washington Monument on Pakistani terrorists. Then he asks Senator Lewis (Virginia Madsen) to push legislation that will require mandatory genetic testing of the populace, so that he can root out the rest of the aliens. She has a better idea. She’ll use her contacts at the CDC to start a pandemic scare, which will send people running to get inoculated, where the government can secretly collect DNA samples. They’ll start with the White House staff. The President, having gone over the edge and refusing to look back, thinks this is a great plan. (It occurs to me that the aliens may not be susceptible to our human illnesses, and wouldn’t care about being inoculated from one.)

Meanwhile, Sophia has likewise taken a dark turn. She gives a speech to her people officially revoking their oath not to interfere with the human population. She fully intends to portal all 2.5 billion people from their homeworld to Earth, no matter the consequences. When Simon asks her what will happen to the humans already living here, she says that she’s planning “permanent solutions” to make room. She doesn’t elaborate on this, but I’m thinking the easiest solution would be to just portal them all into the middle of deep space. Problem solved.

Simon is not on board with this. He tries to recruit Michael and Leila to his side. He wants to escape and then warn the President. Michael pretends to go along, but ultimately betrays him. Sophia says, “Today I’ve lost a second son” and has Simon hauled off to be dealt with. (I’m sure he’s not out of the picture yet.)

Back at the White House, the President faces dissension of his own. His wife has found out about the secret genetic testing and has serious ethical objections to it. She tries to convince him to stop, but he brushes her off. Later, Sen. Lewis tells him that she’s tested the entire White House staff… except the First Lady. She plants the seed of doubt in his mind that his own wife may be an alien traitor.

Over in France, Javis (Hal Holbrook) smashes an ancient vase that one of his archaeologists has uncovered. Inside is a secret scroll. He reveals that he’s not an alien – at least, not the same type of alien as the others we’re dealing with. He calls himself a “Sentinel,” the latest in a long line here to defend Earth from “them.” This is an interesting twist, but it doesn’t explain why he’s been experimenting on children.

Vicky wants to kill Jarvis, but wuss Sean wants him arrested or something, despite having it pointed out to him how futile that would be. Vicky’s French contact Henri points them in the direction of Jarvis’s compound, but it’s a set-up. Jarvis’s men capture Vicky. Sean gets away and tortures Henri into telling him where Jarvis is really staying. Finally, Jarvis ties Vicky to a chair in his chateau and torches the place. This isn’t much of a cliffhanger, given that the promo for the next episode clearly shows Sean rescuing her. (Great job, network!)

All-in-all, this is a pretty typical episode of ‘The Event’. It has enough good stuff to keep me watching, even if the bad stuff (everything to do with Sean) just gets more annoying by the minute. I like that both the President and Sophia have rooted themselves so deeply to their respective positions and won’t back down, even though both are clearly in the wrong.

4 comments

  1. Keith

    The other mole is that security analyst guy Richard Peel, played by Roger Bart. They did a horrific job of “scrambling” his voice.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      Yeah, it looks that way to me too.

      I would love for the First Lady to be a mole, though. Just because I’d like to see the President’s reaction when he realizes that he’s been schtupping an alien and his own kids aren’t entirely human.

  2. Ed, Watertown MA

    Well, unless the Sentinal can give me some reason not to like “them” I’ll be rooting for the Aliens. So far, they seem like an improvement on any of the homo sapiens as portrayed in the show.

  3. A reason not to like them? How about the 70 innocent civilians crushed by the collapsed monument? All before the president had them shot up with the Apache. And he gave them a chance to surrender in the building, before Sophia threatened to destroy Washington. And remember, this is after the incident of the soldiers killed at Innistroika (However it’s spelt, I can’t be bothered to check) and the president’s multiple attempts to keep peace (Even if he wasn’t very good at it). You want a reason? How about stopping a group (during a narrow window of opportunity) who have already proven a willingness to use superior devastating weapons to kill civilians and threatened to use them again on a larger scale?

    I’m for the Humans. 😀 Admittedly, the mixed ‘morality’ of either side is one of the few themes that’s still keeping things interesting.

    As Josh said, I don’t think it’s ever going to be a series we consider ‘great’, and I think it would be long forgotten if there were more than a couple of decent Science Fiction shows on TV at the moment. But there aren’t many, and it’s at least fun.

    I really think they learnt from the awful ‘Lost/Flash Forward’ snail’s pace in series 1. Rather than being indifferent and watching ‘The Event’ because there’s nothing better, I’m now watching it with reasonable enthusiasm. Something is actually happening each week!! (SHOCK!) Will I ever be bothered to buy it? I doubt it, but it is keeping me watching every week now. 🙂

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