Hey guys, I’m back! After a whirlwind summer of covering Falling Skies, Political Animals, a couple of episodes of True Blood and a gif post I had a nice (way too short) 3-day vacation at Disneyland, so now I’m ready to get back to the work of writing about post-apocalyptic sci-fi shows. But this one had sword-fights! Sword-fights, guys!

Even though the Pilot of this has been online (legally!) for a couple of weeks now, and everyone and their uncle (get it?) has already written their review, here’s another to throw into the mix. Plus, I do believe this is the first new fall 2012 series premiere recap on OCTV. I’m so excited! I’m so scared!

Before we get to the recap/review, I’ll talk little about why I was intrigued about this show, which mainly has to do with the powers that be. Yes, I was a Lost girl, until the very end (and I liked the finale). I was also an Alias girl before that (I remember graduating to middle school was thrilling because I could stay up an hour later and watch it live without having to worry about recording it on VHS tape. Let that one soak in). I also loved the new Star Trek (and goddamnit where is my sequel?!) and both Iron Man movies. Suffice to say, with J.J. Abrams and Jon Favreau on board, I’m pretty happy. I never got into Supernatural, but hey, it’s in its 7th season, so that’s no slouch either.

Overall, however, I think the pedigree of TPTB may have hurt the initial perception of the Pilot. Guys, let’s be honest: Pilots are, by and large, shit. You could have to cram in exposition, character set-up, mythology hints, world-building. It’s a huge, huge task and even the best shows can have extraordinarily shitty Pilots, and that’s important to keep in mind, IMO. Anyway, let us get on to the actual show, and then we can chat about all that. Fair warning: this was an exposition-heavy Pilot, so this recap is not short. But gifs!

We start things of in Chicago, Illinois and, it’s JULIET! She got off the Island! She’s on the phone with her mom, while her two young kids, Charlie (the girl, older) and Danny (boy, the younger) and zoned out in front of the boob tube. Danny’s also playing with an iPad and Juliet is on her laptop while also on the phone.

Suddenly, her husband Ben* comes home in a panic, with a huge box of food and supplies, frantically telling her they need to fill every available container with clean water. His sad, concerned face leads her to deduce that “it’s happening, isn’t it?”

*Full disclosure: Ben is played by Tim Guinee, who is often mistaken for other actors like Martin Henderson, and Mom constantly gets him confused with Nathan Fillion. However, Guinee starred in one of my all time favorite movies Sweet Land (which you should go watch right now – it’s on Netflix Instant) which means I love him already. Also, he’s apparently a huge Twitter sweetheart. I followed him just the other day and he sends a welcome DM to all his new followers, and then when I thanked him, he retweeted me, and he also replied to another of my tweets. So basically, he’s my favorite.

Anyway, Ben calls his brother Miles, who’s driving down the freeway “back to base” in Port Royal, South Carolina with his super-classy friend who’s sexting with a 22-year-old. Yeah, let’s just be clear about that: Miles is driving, likely intoxicated, and talking on his cell phone. He’s damn lucky for what happens next. Ben tries to warn Miles about the impending disaster, but they get cut off by said disaster before Ben can say more than the cryptic, “It’s all going to turn off. It’s going to turn off and it will never turn back on.”

Right before everything with power goes off Ben manages to get some probably super important file downloaded onto a USB drive, which he then inserts into the coolest looking metal necklace/pendant-y thing and I want one, now. Come on, NBC store, don’t disappoint me. Then all the power goes crazy and then shuts off. The TV, lights, technology, the tech in Miles’ car (because most/all modern cars are run via a computer chip, even the ones without fancy dash tech). Miles and his friend get out of their car to watch the headlights on cars all down the freeway behind them shut off. Miles: “What the hell is going on?” That is the question. Ben goes outside to see all of downtown Chicago shut down and airplanes straight up falling out of the sky and exploding onto houses.

Then we get that spooky-awesome shot of the world and all the lights going out in a eerily silent wave.

Main titles, and then it’s 15 years post-blackout! I know a lot of people were bitching about how “it would be so much more interesting to have the show set immediately post-blackout!” to which I say, “no fucking way, dude”. It would just be a bunch of people freaking out because they can’t tweet about the blackout, or because they can’t Skype, or toast toast in their toaster, or make coffee in their electric coffee maker or play Angry Birds. Plus, I believe we’ll be getting a decent helping of flashbacks to that time anyway, so shut up again.

Our post-blackout opening monologue gives a little more explanation about what happened:

“What you gotta understand is things used to be different. We used electricity for everything: for our computers, our phones, even to grow food and pump water. But after the blackout, nothing worked. Not even car engines or jet turbines. Hell, even batteries. All of it, gone forever. People starved. Sickness without medicine. Fires without firetrucks. Governments fell. Militias rose up. If you were smart, you left the city. If you weren’t, you died there. So, what the hell happened? What caused the blackout?

Turns out, this is all a school lesson being taught by a nice, geeky-looking bearded dude named Aaron to a bunch of disinterested young children. And when I say young, I mean all younger than 15, so they’re probably like “what the eff is a computer, dude?” One of them is sharpening a stick, which is hilarious. I wondering if he’s contemplating using it on Aaron. That little dude looks scary.

Aaron: “I know that learning isn’t as cool as bow-hunting or whatever, but still, this should bother you. Physics went insane. The world went insane. Overnight. And nobody knows why.” Except probably Ben, who emerges looking all fine and country-esque, drinking coffee. We are treated to an overhead shot of the “village”, which is in the middle of what used to be a cul-de-sac. Now there’s chicken coops, corn fields, sheep and goats, apparently they’ve rigged up rain barrels on the roofs. The skeleton of a Prius in a driveway has been converted to an herb garden. There’s also a shit-ton more younger kids running around, which, I guess without the internet…

Ben and Aaron say good morning, and Aaron tells him that the kids, Charlie and Danny are out hunting. “They better be.”

They are not. They are poking around an abandoned, rusted out old RV that for some reason isn’t raccoon infested. Charlie’s the curious one, while Danny’s like “how about we actually go hunting for once?” Which makes me think that they never actually go hunting and therefore never bring back any game, so why haven’t they be taken off hunting duty already?

And let’s take this time to address the ages. I suck at guessing the ages of small children, but I would probably say Danny was 2 at the time of the blackout, and Charlie was maybe 4 or 5. That would make Danny 17 and Charlie 19 or 20 now. I don’t know, guys. For growing up in such a harsh world, they seem awfully naive. I know that’s kind of the point, that their Dad has sheltered them, but still.

Charlie opens an ice chest inside the RV and flashes back to post-blackout, where Ben and Juliet (ha!) – okay her real name is Rachel, are forcing young Charlie to binge on 3 half-gallon cartons of ice cream, because it’s going to melt anyway. Dad wants her to really remember what is tastes like (as if there weren’t any other way to make ice cream).

(Q: If Ben and Rachel had even an inkling this was coming, why didn’t they rig up an old-timey ice box or a solar over or something to stretch out their food supplies? Or think about drying some meat? Maybe buy a cow? Idk, they seem like the most knowledgeable about what was coming but no more prepared than anyone else. What gives? I’d be getting my Little House on the Prairie on ASAP, just in case).

Danny pokes around, opening up a cabinet that sends a cloud of dust in his face, which is bad news cause dude’s got asthma. Be like Shannon, Danny! Just breathe through it! Charlie manages to get Danny back home, where a pretty looking British lady named Maggie gives him an appropriately gross looking sludge to help with the asthma (which, why doesn’t he carry that around with him?). Ben chastises Charlie for not protecting Danny, that she knows that road’s not safe. From dust?

But this is just a conversation for Charlie to complain, and go all “I want so much more than this provincial life!” Continuing with the Disney theme, Ben’s like “[Father] Knows Best”, (can you guys tell I’m still in Disney mode?) telling her yeah sure, go out and “get you throat slit by bandits or get yourself lynched my Militia”. He also lays on the guilt about how “your Mother died out there”. Charlie argues that “it’s not all like that”, even though SHE HAS NO FUCKING WAY OF KNOWING THAT. And then she bitches at Maggie*, who’s apparently sleeping with Ben, all “you’re not my real mom!” before storming off. Guys, I fucking hate Charlie.

*Maggie also says, “I get it. I was you age once.” Actually, there’s a chance that she could have been exactly Charlie’s age when the blackout happened. If she was 20 then, that would make her 35 now (I can’t find how old the actress Anna Lise Phillips is in real life, but that seems appropriate).

The next day, Charlie heads out to her dilapidated ferris wheel and her rad Return of the Jedi metal lunchbox of random keepsakes, including: an iPod, a rubix cube, a Wonder Woman Pez dispenser, a Silly Band, a $1 bill, a dashboard hula figurine, some sort of large golden coin, a swiss army pocket knife (which you’d think would not be un-useful in this world), plus Charlie’s collection of postcards of the “outside world”, to which she adds the one of Wrigley Field she found in the RV pre-asthma attack.

Props to the the episode’s composer, because the music here is truly evocative of Luke’s “call to adventure moment” theme in A New Hope without being a rip-off. However, unless Charlie’s parents were extremely diligent about educating their younglings in the ways of the Force pre-blackout, does Charlie even know what Star Wars is? It’s possible, I guess. I think my Dad probably began our education that young. Maybe Ben and Rachel would reenact the films post-blackout in their living room to entertain their kids. I like that image.

Back in the village, there’s trouble a-brewing in the form of the arrival of the Militia, a bunch of scary looking dudes in leather armor with swords, with Giancarlo Esposito on horseback as their leader. Ruh Roh. I’m not a Breaking Bad person but I know enough about the show to know he didn’t play the nicest of fellows there. He was also a bad dude in the best episode of Bones, the one set in New Orleans, and hopefully he’ll show up again on my other fall show Once Upon a Time as Sidney/The Mirror.

Here he’s Captain John Neville and he’s been sent on a mission by General Sebastian Monroe (the leader of the Monroe Republic and the Monroe Militia) to find both Ben and his brother Miles. Before they get into town, Ben forces Aaron to take the magic USB pendant, making him promise to “keep it safe” and “do what I told you, stay off the roads because [someone] will be looking for it” in case anything happens to him. This ends up being a good idea.

Ben steps up when called, and is ready to sacrifice himself, especially when Neville threatens to “conscript all of [his] children and reeducated them until they no longer remember [his] name”. So it sounds like the Monroe Republic is totally on the up and up. Totally peachy. Nothing creepy or scary or dictator-y about words like “conscript” and “reeducate”.

Ben asks for a moment to say goodbye, asking Maggie to take care of his kids, but then the stupid starts. Danny decides to threaten the Militia to go away with his crossbow, which leads to a solider pointing his musket at him. Ben begs Danny to put down the crossbow, but things escalate, with the other villagers picking up weapons. One guy also has a gun, and Neville tells him that “owning a firearm is a hanging offence”. “So go hang yourself.” Ha.

Between the yelling and the confusion, Ben gets shot by a Militia solider and then every just runs around attacking each other. There’s slicing with swords and musket fire and chaos until Neville pulls out the only fancy–modern-looking gun we see in the episode and point-blank shoots everyone in his immediately vicinity. “Enough.” I’m guessing that’s not going to be great for Neville, having killed probably the world’s best chance for returning power. Can someone say demotion!

The Militia decides the next best thing is to take Danny hostage, who will serve as bait to flush out their other target, Ben’s brother Miles. When the Ben-shooting gunshot went off, Charlie started running back to the village and makes it back just in time to get her Call to Adventure from her dying Dad, who instructs her to go find her Uncle Miles in Chicago and to have him help find Danny.

Charlie’s ready to go, preparing supplies. Maggie comes in, giving some good advice that she should sleep before heading out. She also tells her that she’s coming too. Charlie’s a brat: “You don’t seem to understand. I don’t want you to come.” Thankfully, Maggie ain’t having that: “And I don’ think you understand. I’m not doing this for you.” Also Charlie, you should shut up, because you’d be dead within the episode without Maggie, so…

As they head out, Aaron joins them, but doesn’t tell them why (that he has a secret mission from Ben).

Neville, prisoner Danny and the rest of the Militia garrison are camped out in The Quarry from Season 1 of The Walking Dead (like 99% sure it’s the same location since both were filmed in Atlanta). Neville writes a progress report to send to General Monroe, and is apologetic about Danny getting “mixed up in all this” “mess”. And then he gets schizo and backhands Danny, blaming him for his dad’s death because he drew first. As Neville goes off to be nice to his horse, Danny notices that the bolt of the pipe he’s hand-cuffed to is loose enough that he can start unscrewing it.

I’ll just take the time to note here to say that Danny looks like a less mature (read: less hot) version of Silas Botwin (Hunter Parrish). I think Charlie looks like a mix of Tricia Helfer and Gabrielle Anwar, and Maggie looks like Meryl Streep’s daughter Mamie Gummer.

Charlie/Maggie/Aaron trek to Chicago. At camp, Aaron asks about Uncle Miles. “All my dad ever said about him is that he’s good at killing.” Aaron: “Oh. That’s… comforting.” In the morning, Charlie goes off the a waterfall to get some water and meet-cutes a cute and ambiguously ethnic dude who introduces himself as “Nate”. I thought J.D. Pardo looked familiar; turns out he’s the one Veronica Mars was smarter than! Excellent. He’s also rocking a beautiful looking bow. Charlie has a moment of intelligence and doesn’t spill destination quite yet, she does tell him her name (spoiler: so he knows he’s tracking the right person!).

Aaron checks his tech pendant. Charlie returns to camp and when Maggie asks the totally reasonable ”where have you been?” Charlie is a brat, “none of your business”. Ugh.

The group runs across an air-stip, and weirdly, one plane is completely dilapidated, but another is nearly pristine. They decide to investigate the better plane for a med kit, which Aaron knows they hide up front because he used to own a plane. Yeah, he worked for “a computer thing” called Google and had $84 million in the bank, which he would trade all of for a roll of Charmin now. Bitch please, leaves ain’t that bad, as long as you avoid the poison ones. Go camping/to 3rd world countries more. Still, guys, can we all take a moment to thank TPTB for the internet? I think I might be having a  panic attack just thinking about not having it, anymore, ever.

Danny’s gotten smarter during his time as a hostage, it seems. He got the loose bolt out and manages to unscrew the rest of the pipe fast enough to whap his shitty guard over the head with it and take off.

The crew decided to sleep on the airplane, all sitting up, because everyone knows upright airplane seats are the most comfortable places to sleep. They get woken up by, what do you know, bandits! And they’re not just the thieving kind of bandits, they’re the raping kind as well. Yeah, Charlie, how you liking the real world now?

Maggie tempts them with a bottle of whiskey in her bag, which her and Aaron’s bad guys partake of, while Charlie attempts to fight off her would-be rapist. Maggie becomes my favorite here, because whiskey, yeah it was poisoned and the bad guys start coughing up blood. Aaron just lets his fall to the ground, while Maggie grabs one of the dangling air masks and strangles her’s with its cord, just for good measure. Lucky for Charlie, she’s far enough away from her attacker that when he gets shot in the back with an arrow, it doesn’t go through her as well. Turns out Not!Nate is Stalker!Nate and is the one who shot the bad guy. Thanks, Stalker!

Now Nate has joined their little gang. Maggie asks and he tells them he’s headed toward Chicago, “hoping to join a fishing crew”, and Charlie totally spills that that’s where they’re going too. Maggie chastises her for being an idiot, “I’m telling you, you can’t trust anyone.” “Is that why you carry poison whiskey?” UM, DUH? The same poison whiskey that probably saved you from being raped and murdered?! Charlie: “They can’t all be monsters. Some people have to be alright, don’t they?” Wow, I sure hope Nate doesn’t turn out to be a bad guy!

Danny stumbles across a farm and a barrel of water and has another asthma attack.

The gang arrives in Chi Town. They walk past Wrigley Field, which is broken down, covered in vines and debris. It’s ~evocative~ because that’s what was on the postcard Charlie found in the RV. Downtown, they walk through what appears to be a sort of marketplace. It’s a little weak on the production design: there’s like one boat and two card tables and a fight breaks out. Ah, I did just notice in the background that someone has chopped off the back half of a car and is using it as the seat and wheels of a horse-drawn buggie. More of that please!

I think the aesthetic they are going for is sort of Firefly, with the Western/outlaw vibe to the clothes/weapons/universe (plus a dash of Deadwood). Even the music is reminiscent of Firefly/Serenity (plus, compare the style of the monologue at the beginning of the episode to the one at the very beginning of Serenity).

They go to The Grand, where Ben said Uncle Miles could be found, which apparently used to be a hotel, one that Aaron got married in. Now it’s a cozy little tavern with some giant, great looking stills in the middle of the bar area. I guess they skimped on the outside in favor of the inside.

Maggie asks the barkeep who is Billy Burke (lookin’ fione) as who is obviously Uncle Miles if Miles Matheson is around. They snark; I love it: “And that accent. Lady, you are classing up the joint.” “That shouldn’t be too difficult, should it?” This show needs all the sarcasm it can muster. Make-out with him Maggie! Do all the Matheson brothers! (I mean, not Danny. Gross, guys). I just want my favorite characters to hang out and snark at each other.

Uncle Miles says he’s never heard of himself, but then Charlie’s like “his brother was murdered by Militia and also I’m his niece.” He tells just Charlie to follow him to the back, but Not!Nate protests, pulling a knife. Uncle Miles grabs it from him, holding it to his throat: “But she’s my niece. I don’t know you.” And then he spins the knife and stabs into Nate’s apple (not a euphemism, sadly). Hot. Charlie: “You’re Uncle Miles?” “Underwhelmed?” I’m not. Uncle Miles #cangetit. Is it just me?

Danny wakes up in a farmhouse to the sound of a rifle being cocked by a badass looking lady. Her name’s Grace. She apparently dragged him inside after his asthma attack, and luckily for Danny, her son had asthma and she has an extra inhaler that she gives him, a novel contraption Danny’s never seen. Hopefully this means no one asthma drama? What happened to her son? She questions about the handcuffs still on his wrists and he explains that he’s on the run from Militia. She’s worried that they might have followed him there, and Danny doesn’t want to put her out anymore than he already has, but when he tries to get up, he’s too weak. Grace lowers her gun. I guess he gets to stay.

Uncle Miles pours himself a drink as Charlie finishes explaining what happened with her Dad and Danny. She asks why the Matheson brothers are so valuable to Monroe, and Miles gets some important exposition:

“Monroe thinks your Dad knew something, something important, and he think your Dad told me so I must know it too… Why the light went out. Maybe how to turn them back on. If Monroe got the power going that would mean tanks and planes, factories. He’d steamroll the entire continent, and he’d butcher the other republics.”

A few things:

• We know there are multiple “republics” across the US. What territory does the Monroe Militia control? Do the other republic operate the same way? Are areas that are more coal-rich (like say, Kentucky) able to harness energy from that?
• We saw that Ben didn’t have time to tell Miles anything on the phone right before the blackout, so did they meet up in the 15 years in-between to talk about things? Because otherwise, again, Ben’s death is going to be a huge problem. Ben claimed to Neville that he hadn’t seen Miles in years, and Charlie didn’t know anything about him, so if they did meet and talk, when and where did that happen?

Charlie’s unfazed, ready to head off with Uncle Miles to go get Danny, to which Miles says, “fuck no,” approximately. He’s trying to maintain a low profile, Danny’s bait and if they go after him, it’s not good for Danny or himself. Charlie gets all weepy and “all my family is dead or gone, except you, so you are required to help me, even though we don’t know each other at all. Family! FAMILY!” Miles is unswayed.

Charlie’s ready to leave and forget it, but Not!Nate goes all over-protective, getting up in Miles’ face. Miles grabs his arm, pushing up sleeve to reveal the Milita M symbol branded into his wrist. What was what you said about “some people have to be alright” Charlie?

Nate pulls his knife again, but opts instead for a headbutt and then drawing an arrow, which he aims at Miles’ until he’s backed out the door and run off to alert the nearest Militia.

As the gang powwows back in Miles’ fancy backroom, he surmises that he’s probably from Neville’s unit, had been stalking them from the moment they left the village, lucked out in saving Charlie’s dumb ass, earning her trust and successfully flushing out his target. Miles’ plan: to sit there and drink the last bottle of single malt whiskey left in Chicago and wait to be captured or die. Charlie pesters at him to leave, either with them or not, but we must demonstrate his angstiness, so he yells at them, “GET OUT! GET OUT OF HERE!” and drinks more. Guys, I think Uncle Miles might have a wee bit of a drinking problem. He’s drinking (or has just been out drinking) in every scene in the Pilot. That is probably not a great thing.

Danny’s asleep upstairs when Neville and his crew arrive at the farmhouse. Grace is unconvincing in her “haven’t seen anybody for weeks”, especially because in his pre-blackout life, Neville was an insurance adjuster, which means that most of his job was figuring out if the things people said lined up with the truth, and lucky for him “it’s a skill that never goes out of style”. He saw the tracks of Grace carrying Danny in, and Grace gives in like that. As Neville handcuffs Danny on the floor, Danny looks sadly at Grace, who looks conflicted. I’m guessing there’s more to Grace than we think!

Now we get to the fun scene, my favorite of the episode. Not!Nate has arrived with more Militia troops, including a guy who looks like Jason Issac’s doppelganger, but is apparently the show’s stunt coordinator, and I think also including a lady so at least props to General Monroe for his egalitarian conscription practices. Miles is waiting for them at the top of the beautiful staircase in his awesome clubhouse that is covered in masterworks from the Chicago Art Institute. The other great thing about this scene is that is shows off this beautiful giant set we’ll probably never see again.

Not!Nate: “Come on down. We don’t want to hurt you.” Miles: “I don’t want to hurt them, but I’m not going back. You know, you could just let me go, I’ll drink myself to death.” “You know we can’t do that.” “I know.” Aw, he looks so sad that he has to pull out his band!ass killing skills.

SWORDFIGHT! I love swordfights! I didn’t even realize how much maybe until this scene. More swordfights on TV! Miles’ also got a bunch of weapons hidden around his place, which is great. Like, mini-crossbow hidden in the couch cushions! It’s great. I love it.

Miles does his thing and takes out a lot of the soldiers, but then gets surrounded, until SURPRISE! Charlie has her best moment of the episode, showing up and saving her Uncle’s ass by shooting a solider-dude with her crossbow. Two soldiers run after her, one getting thwacked by Aaron with a pipe, then stabbed in the back by Maggie (awesome).

Of course, Charlie doesn’t think or isn’t able to re-load her crossbow while running, so she gets cornered by the other solider on the outside steps and has to use her un-loaded crossbow as defense while the solider chops at her lamely with his sword. Of course, Not!Nate comes out to save her yet again, this time by blocking the guy’s sword with his bow and then hitting him across the face with it. They share a lingering look before he runs off. Whatever.

Miles is still inside, facing off with The Boss, Lucius Malfoy. It ends with the baddest-ass swordfight move, where Miles loses his own sword and then manages to turn around, grab his opponent’s sword and do the backwards stabby thing. You know it when you see it. It’s cool. The fight’s over and Miles surveys the carnage. Sigh. Guess he may as well peace out of there. I wouldn’t want to clean that mess up either.

Maggie’s stitching up the sword wound Miles got, even though she “wanted to let him rot” (did I mention that Maggie was/is the doctor?). But of course, Charlie couldn’t leave him, because FAMILY. Thankfully, Miles is like: “Kid, if I’m coming with you you’re going to have to dial it back a notch.” OR FIVE. JESUS KRIPKE. WE GET IT. So Uncle Miles is in, even though nothing actually has changed. “We’re all going to end up with our heads on a stick, but you’re welcome.” Aw, that’s nice.

In the morning, everybody has a little moment. Aaron caresses the magic usb pendant and looks concerned. Charlie gazes at a picture of her late parents, then at Uncle Miles. Miles pours himself another drink and flashes back to the night of the blackout.

After all the cars go dead, he and his friend, who he calls “Bass” figure they should head back to base. Base being US Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, and Uncle Miles being Sergeant Mile Matheson. His friend? Identifies himself with his tattoo, the same symbol we’ve seen painted on the Militia’s wagon, seared into the skin of the Militia soldiers. He’s Sergeant Sebastian Monroe. As in General Monroe, of the Monroe Republic.

That was a cool reveal. Did not see that coming. Although A. what kind of Marine doesn’t carry his ID with him? and B. What kind of douchebag tattoos his own last name and emblem on his forearm? Speaking of Monroe and his douchey tattoo, we see his base camp as he is delivered the message sent by Neville. He’s living the high-dictatory-life, with ice and scotch and a tent decked out with sorts of cool and beautiful looking Asian-inspired art (see again: Firefly). He looks concerned at the note.

Miles heads off into the light with Charlie, Maggie and Aaron, leaving at least a third of that single malt on the bar (both my mom and I wtf-ed at that). You’re probably going to want that if you’re going to be spending any more time with your annoying niece.

And finally, we get our J.J. Abrams/Lost final scene. Grace, the lady from the farmhouse, unlocks five different locks on her attic door, sits down at a desk and pulls out a magic tech pendant like the one Ben gave to Aaron! It glows and it powers up her Commodore 64 and she plays some War Games/enters some numbers she communicates with someone else out there who also has a computer. The Rebel Alliance! Excellent.

So! Sorry that was so long. There was a lot of exposition and I think I’m a little out of practice. Hopefully now that we’re past the Pilot we can get more into the nitty gritty of things.

Overall, I thought the Pilot was okay. Not great, but like I said, rarely are Pilots really great. I think they set up a lot of different things and have built an interesting world. I’m interested to learn more about most of the characters and their backgrounds, what led them to where they are now. I have some guesses and theories, but I want to hear what you guys think.

If you couldn’t already tell, my biggest dislike of the show is Charlie. I just don’t understand why she’s such an annoying brat. I don’t want to blame Kripke too hard, but maybe there’s something in it that Supernatural is about brothers and that I can’t really think of a strong female character on that show who wasn’t a demon or who survived/stuck around for longer than a few episodes (but in fairness, I’ve not watched more than a few episodes of the show and the rest of my knowledge comes from friends and fandom, so if someone wants to set me right, by all means). I’m just craving some Jane Epenson realness up in here. I’m not saying she has to be Katniss, or Buffy or Starbuck, or Sydney Bristow (or Emma Swan), but she also doesn’t have to embody every single aspect of the bratty teenager trope. Come on, show. I believe in you.

Apparently the premiere was the top-rated drama premiere on any network in three years – since V on ABC in 2009 – and I think NBC’s highest-rated premiere in like 5. But, on the other hand, it’s a sci-fi/fantasy show on network TV. Kripke sure seems confident he can avoid the problems of the failed shows of the recent past, but we shall see, shan’t we?

So let’s talk. Like? Love? Hate? Who’s your favorite? Do you want one of those cool USB necklaces too? Who’s hotter, Not!Nate or Uncle Miles?