The Event episode 2 review: To Keep Us Safe

2. To Keep Us Safe

So, we’re back for The Event and after the arguably convoluted and frustrating pilot, I’m sure the first question you’re probably wondering is, has it got any better? Well, while the annoying time-jumping flashbacks are still present, I’d say, on the whole, that, yes, the second episode is a definite step up. However, that’s not really hard.

Episode two opens with the plane that mysteriously vanished in a flash of light when heading for the president’s convoy, crash-landing in the Arizona desert. Again, Lost similarities are inevitable, but it makes for an exciting start.

Meanwhile, we learn what many of us had already guessed at, that the mysterious Sophia and her colleagues (that have been imprisoned for 66 years) are of an extraterrestrial nature. Despite their human appearance, it appears that their DNA is one percent different to ours, making them not only alien, but a ‘threat to national security’ as the president’s advisers keep saying.

So, with the plane disappearing in a flash of clearly ‘alien light’, the president is forced to delay his plans to release the alien prisoners and announce their existence to the world, but are they the real threat?

Whether this storyline is the actual drive of the series remains to be seen, but I am enjoying the idea of an alien sleeper cell on Earth, even though it is something we are currently seeing in V. However, it doesn’t appear that these aliens are malevolent. Despite crashing in the 60s, they have been remarkably calm about being imprisoned for so long (partly due to the fact that they age at lot slower than humans).

Not just that, but despite have ‘moles’ in the CIA, they haven’t done anything evil and their actions in transporting the plane to the desert saved lives. But was it for their own benefit?

It appears that there are divisions within the alien ranks. While Sophia and the now-revealed-to-be-an-alien Agent Lee appear to have peaceful motives, another member of the sleeper cell (Clifton Collins Jr of Star Trek) is tired of waiting and feels that, as they’ve just saved the passengers of the flight, “they might as well use them”.

Meanwhile, Sean is on the run from the plane crash, still determined to find his girlfriend whom we discover was kidnapped (as we’d guessed) and being held to force her dad to crash the plane into the president (which we’d all assumed). However, Sean has been framed for murder and no-one will believe his story. Cue lots of flashbacks about how he met his girlfriend.

It’s business as usual thus far for The Event. More intrigue, more mystery, more elements of other successful series being used to attract audiences, but I have to say I was entertained by this episode. Plus, the ending ensured that I’ll want to see episode 3, which is what you want from a drama series.

Whether it continues to maintain my interest is up to the writers and making sure they ease up on the flashbacks and overly elaborate storylines.

Read our review of the series premiere here.