Kat with a K

Persons Unknown Will Remain Unknown

I'm sorry, guys. I just can't do it. I've actually watched two more episodes than I wrote about here, in hopes that not having to write would make it more enjoyable, but no. I Just. Don't. Care. And there are so many other shows I actually want to watch, and books to read, etc. I can't bring myself to spend more time on this show.

I have learned my lesson: in the fall, the only shows I'm actually stating I'll write about every week are Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries. I'll pick some other shows to write about based on what had interesting episodes in a given week, and maybe do a roundup post on the weekend with quick thoughts about whatever else struck me as noteworthy.

Persons Unknown 1.2: "The Edge"

No one jumped up and down begging me to keep writing about Persons Unknown, but I'm not quite ready to give up on it, so I'm going to just write little reactions to each episode. After the jump!

The episode was . . . okay. I'm not really as into it as I wanted to be. (And - full disclosure - I'm now reading my notes weeks after the fact, and it's amazing how much I've just forgotten.) Some parts remain quite predictable - of course Tori's daddy is somewhat important. Of course Moira is a psych patient pretending to be a doctor. Of course the grandmother continues to be completely creepy. Also - I know I ask whether every new show set in a small town is filmed on the Stars Hollow set, but seriously, is this one? It really looks like it.

I really wanted the implants not to be the cause of the collapse, but it looks like they're no longer collapsing in the same place, so maybe it was the implants after all. That's kind of disappointing. Oh, but later it is shown to be some kind of force field. So I was right. Yay! The night manager can run through it, it seems. I find him so annoying that I'm getting annoyed just writing the words "night manager."

In the first episode, as far as I can remember, nothing happened that incontrovertibly proved that something supernatural or science fictiony was going on, but there were a few things in this episode that tipped the balance there. Driving straight should not get you back to the same town. And things should not magically fix themselves.

I think the question of whether Janet would shoot Joe was supposed to be suspenseful, but I never really thought she would, and only partially because Joe is the lead and they're not going to kill him off. (She could have tried to shoot him and failed, but I didn't think she'd even do that.) I hope at least a few of the people can start trusting each other, because while it's natural that they wouldn't do so immediately, all the "Can I trust you?" back and forth gets old. I'm not feeling very attached to any of the characters yet, and that needs to change if I'm supposed to care what happens to them.

Random:
"Torture wouldn't have worked. Never does." Nice.
I kind of like Renbe the newspaper man. Who mugs him? Hm.
My notes say "Explosing - just lightning?" I don't really remember this, but I'm sure it would be an interesting question if I did.

Are any of you watching Persons Unknown?

Okay, so here's the deal. I know I said I'd blog about Persons Unknown. And I haven't actually decided not to do so. I'm just... behind. And the network has moved the show to Saturday nights, which means we'll be lucky if they actually even show all the original 13 episodes. So I'm not sure whether I should bother at this point. I'm totally willing to continue, if any of you are watching it, but if you aren't, I'll just watch and not worry about tracking the questions. So. Anyone?

Persons Unknown 1.1: "Pilot"

I watched the Persons Unknown pilot last night, and - it was okay! I wouldn't necessarily want to commit to watching it for years, but since they're saying it's a miniseries, I'll go with it. It was well-done and creepy enough to make me want to find out what happens. And hey, Jason Wiles is hot. There are worse ways to spend an hour a week during the summer.

The really bold thing Persons Unknown is doing is pledging to solve all of its mysteries by the end of summer. I applaud them for this demonstration of respect for their viewers - but now let's see if they stick to it. I've made a list of the questions I was left with at the end of the pilot, and each week I'll track them (and add to the list, I'm sure) to see what gets answered and what doesn't.

The seven, and a little of what we know about them:
Joe - was in New York
Janet - runs a home daycare in San Francisco, young daughter Megan, missing husband
Charlie Morse - works for Capital Investments, has a wife with some sort of emotional issues
Sergeant McNair
Moira - Crisis intervention counselor
Tori - Drunk young woman - comes across as a party girl; do we know anything else about her?
Bill Blackham, car salesman

Questions!

First, the obvious: Where are they? Who put them there? Why? And are we really calling the bad guys "Them"? Related: Who's watching the cameras? (Presumably "Them.")

Questions about the hotel:

1. Why are the keys in the Bibles, specifically?
2. Why did the elevator suddenly appear?
3. What's with the music in the lobby?
4. How did Bill get out before everyone else?
5. What's with the Night Manager? Does he know who They are? What has happened when he's done this before?

Questions about the town:

1. Where is it?
2. Why is it deserted?
3. Is it even a real town or some sort of set?
4. What exactly stopped them from leaving? At first I thought it was some sort of force field, but they clearly think it's related to the implants in their legs.

Questions about the Chinese restaurant:

1. Where did the van come from?
2. What do the restaurant workers know? They can't actually know nothing - do they remember how they got there? Who told them to make the food?
3. Where does the food come from, literally?
4. Was it really the best McNair had ever had, or was he saying that to encourage the others to eat?
5. Okay, the fortunes: We have no idea how many were lying. If they weren't lying, one was in Chinese and one was all numbers. Why? Charlie's was specific - about his wife - and Janet's told her to kill her neighbor. How did They control who got which fortune?

Questions about the characters:

1. What's the deal with Janet's husband, and the P.I. guy at the beginning? How was Megan found and identified after Janet disappeared? Is Janet's mother as creepy as she seems, or more so? (I mean, is what we think is going on with her actually what's going on?)
2. What does Moira have in her bathrobe pocket? It looked like it might be a hospital bracelet or something.
3. Why won't Joe talk about himself?

Other:

1. What exactly is the deal with the implants in their legs?
2. At one point I thought I saw a weird green flash - different from the other camera flashes - but I'm actually not sure whether it was part of the show or some sort of cable glitch.

And hey, how had I missed until now that both Jonathan Frakes and Tim Matheson are directing episodes of this?