A Man. And His Blog.

Tom is for "the Program", and has to die because of it.

The persons unwatched go into the next round of getting some answers, and this time it seems that the writers learned a bit from the mess LOST made during its four- or five-year-run and that they didn’t want to wait until the season finale, before one or more of the characters learn the truth (or half of it) about what is actually happening. And after the season hit half-time, the writers come up with some very interesting answers, which kinda push the series into a new direction – not just story-wise, but now the characters have something to fight for. Which is probably the most interesting story development throughout these two episodes. So, now there is the question, whether Joe is a good man, if he is in love with Janet (he must be, or the love/relationship element would miss in this show), whether Renbe and his girlfriend of choice are surviving their little adventure, which could turn out deadly, and whether there is a way out of the town… This is a review of the episodes “The Truth” (1×06) and “Smoke and Steel” (1×07).

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Joe is one of the bad guys now. Or not?

Somehow, Persons Unknown becomes Persons Unwatched. While following the ratings through the season, I was surprised after every episode and asked myself why NBC just doesn’t end the dilemma. Nobody wants to watch the series, the critics are mainly under the table and laughing about how bad this show actually is, the few thousand fans the series has are happy that they have their new LOST and still ask themselves, whether NBC will renew the series for a second season (not knowing that Persons Unknown was conceptualized as a mini series, perfectly shown in the fifth episode, when a character dies. I watched the first three episodes, I was entertained, but bored. I didn’t develop interest in what’s happening with the characters, which is why I canceled the show for me after three episodes. But reading spoilers about the later episodes brought me back to the show. And that’s why you are reading a review for the two episodes “Exit One” (1×04) and “Incoming” (1×05) now.

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The psycho game starts: The box is dropped

How to get out of a creepy ghost town, hour 3: Dig a tunnel, so that you can crawl out under the town, when you can’t just walk out. Learn that your neighbor might have killed his wife. Realize that the invisible enemies behind the cameras are a lot closer to your family than you would have ever thought. The third episode of the ratings-killing miniseries was good and thrilling, had a pair of goosebumps moments, and I even develop interest in the San Francisco storyline, since the whole story is developing at the moment. Maybe the story would have been something for a long-living series, maybe the series would have been a success, when McQuarrie came with it, before ABC gave the green light for Lost. Maybe it would have been a success, when NBC would have promoted this series as a miniseries, before considering canceling it because of bad ratings. Well, at least the DVD box is scheduled for August, so everybody, including myself, don’t really have to wait long, before NBC pulls the plug. Which will happen, when the ratings fall below 1.0.

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Big Brother is watching you. And he doesn't care if you're naked.

The seven abductees are not even in this creepy frakked up ghost town for a week and they take their first chance to get out of their. The survivors of Oceanic 815 needed more than 40 days to finally finish the raft and get four people off the island. But there is one thing the survivors and the abductees have in common: They returned to their place of origin, because they can’t get away anyway. At least the writers say they can’t get away. One series is doing that admirably and logical, the other one … awkwardly, when it wants to be a science-fiction show. So, and now you can guess which series is which.
The second episode was good, and it picks up the story, where it last left off. And I really have the feeling that Persons Unknown is just a real mini-series, finished after thirteen episodes. For that, the episode titles of the remaining episodes tell me that some of the abductees might die, before the series hits the thirteenth episode. Like Harper’s Island.

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Welcome to our new reality show, Janet. You are being watched by mysterious people. Probably.

Lost is over, 24 is over, Heroes will probably finish its run with a potential wrapping miniseries – fans of serial television don’t have it easy at the moment to pick the finest of the fine serials in US television. Either the hits are already ended or cancelled (FlashForward, anyone?), or they are not that of a ratings hit (V, anyone?) and probably don’t have a long life during the next TV season.
NBC takes a step forward to that problem and bought the 13-part miniseries Persons Unknown – a definitely finite serial, with lots of mystery, suspense and ‘What the hell is going on’, so it should be the perfect fit of any serial fan. Or not?
Well, in the left corner, we have a series, which will have finished its run after the thirteenth episode. That means, we are going to have a conclusion, we will learn, who is behind the kidnapping of our seven characters; we will learn, who the characters are; we will learn, if Academy Award winner and now series creator Christopher McQuarry learned from previous writers and didn’t copy any predictable storylines (I am looking at you, Harper’s Island). In the right corner, we have pretty much a setup episode, which lacked of any interesting plots to watch the whole thing. We were introduced to the characters, but we don’t know them; we were introduced to the story, but we don’t know anything; and I was gladly reminded of the movie The Cube, just without the deathly traps. And when anybody feels reminded of a Twilight Zone episode, join the club. And when anybody recognizes story parts of the Saw franchise, get in line behind me.

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