TV Review: Emergence (2019). Allison Tolman's performance anchors this mystery-box thriller.

Image courtesy of ABC

Tv Review: Emergence (2019) by Ben Jeffries (27/9/2019)

Season 1 Episode 1 - Pilot (24/9/2019)

42 minutes

Mystery, Thriller, Drama,

Airs Tuesdays on ABC, then available to stream on Hulu

Emergence feels like another in a long line of high concept mystery thrillers, but slick looks and strong performances keep it from being written off as average.

When Long Island Police Chief Jo Evans (Allison Tolman) attends the oceanside site of a plane crash late one night she finds a mysterious little girl (Alexa Swinton) hiding among the sand dunes with no memory of who she is or how she came to be there. Taking the child into her own care while she investigates, Jo brings her home. The mysteries of the girl’s origins only deepen as Jo investigates the circumstances around the plane crash. Where did the plane come from? Where did the wreckage go? Was the girl, whom Jo’s family decide to call Piper, on the plane when it crashed? Could she somehow be linked to the recent string of bizarre electrical and atmospheric disturbances? In it’s first episode Emergence builds itself a strong but familiar foundation from which to expand on what seems set to be a better than average mystery-box thriller.

The first episode of Emergence, created by Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters (Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, Agent Carter), checks off a fair number of items on the laundry list of what we’ve come to expect from a seasonal mystery-box Lost-alike. A plane crash. A mysterious child who may or may not have special powers. Heavy conspiracy vibes. Amnesia. A dysfunctional family struggling to work things out. A police officer stepping outside the law to do what they think is right. Groups of un-named men with enigmatic agendas. Mysterious meteorological phenomena. An investigative reporter with contacts on the “inside”. It is, in short, another one of those shows, and while it may not be a revolutionary piece of genre television, it’s at least delivered with a measured pace, features a solid cast, and presents a strong aesthetic.

The episode is light on details, which is par for the genre course. It gives out just enough information to inspire just enough questions and set the hooks of intrigue designed to reel the audience back in next week. This is the bargain we make with these kind of shows, an unspoken contract between writer and audience. As long as the writer continues to lay out a trail of narrative bread crumbs which, at the very least, seem to lead towards actual resolutions, then the audience continues to watch. That bargain doesn’t always pay off, with shows drawing out mysteries far beyond the point of credulity or playing bait and switch games with the audiences attention, and whether Emergence will be any different is anyone’s guess at this point, but it appears to be approaching the material from an interesting perspective.

There’s clearly something special about Piper. Bizarre things happen around her: phones stop working, rain runs sideways across a windshield, she’s drawn to a bizarre symbol that only she can see on a television screen. It seems obvious that there’s more to Piper than meets the eye, but as it lays out these first breadcrumbs of intrigue, the episode also constructs the mundane world in which they happen.

Jo takes Piper home in an effort to protect her, and there we meet Jo’s father Ed (Clancy Brown), and her teenage daughter Mia (Ashley Aufderheide). Ed’s a retired firefighter battling cancer, and Mia’s a teenager acting out over her parents recent divorce. It’s a fairly ordinary home situation that is quickly thrown into upheaval with the arrival of Piper. As Jo’s investigation into the plane crash and Piper’s origins becomes more and more unusual it starts to have repercussions at home, leading to an impromptu midnight family visit to the holiday house when Jo becomes paranoid about their safety. It’s a neatly measured series of events which slowly invests both Jo and the audience in the mystery they find themselves caught up in.

Alexa Swinton, who already boasts an impressive resume with credits like Staurday Night Live and Billions, has a tricky job in the pivotal role of Piper. In the pilot episode she has to play not only the frightened and withdrawn amnesiac, but also a cute, like-able kid as wells as a third version of the character who is all intense stares and unsettling energy. It can be hard to find a young actor with the skill set to carry such a major role, but Swinton seems like she has a handle on the material. She’s at her best when she has another performer to gauge her performance by and bounce off of, and the scenes she shares with Allison Tolman’s Jo are genuinely sweet.

Police Chief Jo Evans bribes her mysterious young charge with candy
Image: ABC

Where Piper is the pivot around which the show turns, Jo is the heart that powers the narrative. Tolman’s performance is pleasantly natural, smaller and more considered than you typically see from the lead of a show like this. She’s emotionally connected to her scene partners, playing Jo as a person first, rather than the typical, hardened, police chief stereotype which she could have been. The decision to make the character a chief of police rather than the more common detective seems a little odd, purely for the fact that it seems like a position which would require a lot more of her focus than she seems required to give, but it’s not narratively distracting and neatly sidesteps the “tough female detective” cliche.

Clancy Brown is an excellent piece of casting for the role of Jo’s father, Ed, and he’s a quiet paternal presence throughout the episode, prividing a kind of wholesomely domestic angle to the show. Donald Faison plays the role of Jo’s ex-husband, Alex. Faison is his typically charming self while the two share a warm, humourous, chemistry as they make awkward small talk at the door step. He’s also in good form as they share a deeper more substantial connection as Alex supports a self-doubting Jo in a private moment. All around, the performances are strong, and lend a pleasantly natural tone to the episode rather than the tense, overly dramatic, pitch many genre pilots aim for.

To go with the generally pleasant feel of the performances, Emergence has a pleasant visual aesthetic to match. The opening scenes of the crash site are visually dynamic, though obviously nothing as extravagant as Losts dramatic opening moments. The scene is presented in an expansively wide frame which captures the starry night sky over the bustling beach, lit by strobing emergency vehicle lights. The whole episode feels open and bright, with the camera maintaining an impersonal distance from the subject, rarely closing in for tight closeups or singles, except in the case of the few moments when Piper is alone and experiencing something beyond the mundane.

In a space where shows often feel driven by the whims of plot convenience Emergence may not be entirely unique, but it does feel different. From the limited time we’ve spent in the world and the tiny pieces of information we’ve been allowed to gather so far, it seems clear that the show is more character driven, with a focus on themes of family and community. Whether the writers intend to honor the bargain of providing substantial resolution is impossible to judge at this point, but with the excellent performance of Allison Tolman at it’s centre and a plot which promises to at least be surprising, Emergence seems set to be an interesting entry into the mystery-box genre.

6.5

Emergence Stars: Allison Tolman, Alexa Swinton, Ashley Aufderheide, Donald Faison, Clancy Brown, Robert Bailey Jr., Zabryna Guevera

Created by: Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters

Written by: Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters

Directed by: Paul McGuigan

a Production from: Fazekas & Butters, ABC Studios

Distributed by: ABC