Do you ever find yourself watching a movie or show and constantly wishing it was something else? That’s exactly how I felt with The Crossing. Try as I might to not dwell on Lost and how much better it is, I kept coming back to that thought. While this show shares very little with Lost, what’s similar has been done before and better. Science fiction is already such a niche genre but it can find an audience when the stories are well crafted. Of course, it’s just as easy for interesting and compelling stories to fall short of living up to their potential. How many sci-fi shows that deal with superhumans, aliens, and space and time travel have not made it past a first or second season? Will The Crossing join that list?
The episode opens on a little girl and a woman swimming underwater and trying to hold their breaths long enough to surface. We cut to the land where the sheriff gets the call that a body is found in the water. Turns out it’s more than one—actually there are dozens, some alive including the little girl, some are…not. Department of Homeland Security officers are called in and the survivors are questioned. They claim to be from 180 years in the future and that they’ve escaped a war. Who are they? Why did they travel to the past?
It’s an intriguing plot. Future versions of humans showing up and warning us of the dangerous world they’ve escaped from? That sounds interesting. Knowing what we can do to shape the future and the impact it will have as a result? This could be cool and mysterious, and thrilling. Somehow it manages to be none of those things. I understand it’s a pilot, but there isn’t much that makes me want to return. The stakes aren’t high, the tension isn’t there, and most of the acting feels like it’s missing…something. With a seemingly large cast introduced all at one time, no one gets fleshed out enough to hold our attention—unlike Lost where the mystery around each character was done so well.
Steve Zahn (Captain Fantastic, Rescue Dawn) plays Sheriff Jude Ellis, a man who seems to be recovering from a past work experience and looking to get it behind him. He oversees the small police force in Port Canaan on the Oregon coast. We gather he’s separated from a wife or girlfriend and their son. He tries to investigate the “appearances”, but when Homeland Security shows up and takes over, he doesn’t put up much of a fight. The DHS’s Emma Ren—played by Sandrine Holt (House of Cards, Homeland), is a grounded detective who puts stock in the claims of the survivors no matter how ridiculous they sound. When a survivor reveals surprising information, she believes him enough to mention it to her supervisors, who surprisingly encourage her investigation.
I’ve seen this too many times. Going forward it can only mean one of two things: someone already knows whether or not he’s telling the truth and wants to control Ren’s progress or this is much deeper than it seems and will result in a huge I-did-not-see-that-coming twist. While bits of a mystery are there, I’m not interested in the slow burn. I want the answers now, not because I’m impatient, but because it feels like the ending is very clear and that anything to be built on is just filler. If this were a jigsaw puzzle, you’d already know what the finished image will look like.
That being said, it isn’t terrible. I like Steve Zahn. I really do. Although his “Steve Zahn” face—that silly nose scrunched, furrowed brow, mouth open, puzzled look—makes several appearances, his approach to his character comes across as genuine. Holt’s, Ren balances her detective and human sides well, adapting to each person and situation as it comes her way. And the little girl from the beginning, Leah—played by Bailey Skodje (Cult, Flowers in the Attic), has a lot to handle not only as a survivor of The Crossing but the very real possibility that she’s been orphaned.
Maybe The Crossing will prove to be complex and layered, but at this point I believe it would be better suited for a special two-night event or a six episode mini-series. It could probably get away with even less—maybe Mulder and Scully could sort it out in two episodes? In any case, I give The Crossing 2.75 out of 5 security clearance badges.
The Crossing premieres on ABC tonight at 10pm EDT.