Persons Unknown - The Way Through, S01E03

At first, this episode was pretty predictable...I thought. I guessed at what was going to happen next, and was right, and despite the increase in the scale of psychological terror on the 7 victims, it didn't actually seem uniquely desperate, but those last moments, in which we learnt the name of Janet (Daisy Betts)'s deadbeat husband, those were fantastic.

Don't get me wrong, the whole bate and switch with the gas masks was interesting and entertaining. It was a great opportunity to see some character development - Graham (Chadwick Boseman) gave his to Moira (Tina Holmes), Charlie (Alan Ruck) refused to give his up, and Blackham (Sean O'Bryan) was willing to do anything to have one. And Blackham certainly deserved to get a face full of gas when the mask betrayed him (though Moira and Tori (Kate Lang Johnson) didn't). Plus, I love how much Joe (Jason Wiles) continues to support Janet.

But the real excitement was with our investigative reporter, Renbe (Gerald Kyd). Not only did he get his life threatened a second time when he refused to drop the story on Janet, but he also found info about the mom and daughter on the corrupt Private Investigator's computer.

Too bad the PI got him right back. Is Renbe Janet's disappeared husband? Is that why he has taken an interest in this case? Or is the entire thing a ploy on the part of the P.I.? Either is very possible!

Which do you think it is? Is the P.I. simply trying to make more trouble, or have we finally located Janet's errant husband?

Persons Unknown - The Edge, S01E02

We are into week 2 of the 13 part mystery series about 7 individuals who have been kidnapped and trapped in a small town in the middle of nowhere. So far, no one has died, but that doesn't mean that we don't feel the threat and tension of mortal danger. And by the end of this episode, it really does feel like all the options for escape have been used up.

Last episode, we learned that all the prisoners were embedded with drug dispensers, causing them to pass out once they passed a certain point. Moira (Tina Holmes), the self-proclaimed psychiatrist, removed these from the back of everyone's legs. They were able to pass the point where previously 3 of them had passed out trying to leave the town, only for Janet (Daisy Betts) to have her face microwaved. Frankly, I preferred the drugs.

The episode really focused on that escape, with the group eventually making it past the microwaves after a lightning blot took out one of the guns and the stole the van belonging to the Chinese restaurant. Too bad that all that happened was that they drove in a big circle, arriving back where they started. If I ever get kidnapped, which I hope never happens, I really hope that I don't end up back in a place like that.

It wasn't until the very end of the episode that Janet's fortune was addressed. She was given a gun and the message to kill Joe (Jason Wiles) so that she might go free. Despite threatening him, she eventually just shot the camera in his room with all 6 bullets. Ominously, the camera was quickly retracted into the ceiling and replaced with an undamaged recorder.

As for what we know...we still don't know anything. But I think that makes it far more intense and frightening. What are your thoughts?

Persons Unknown - Pilot, S01E01

Persons Unknown reminds me a little of Harper's Island. It's a 13 episode miniseries which revolves around a mystery, and has the potential of being fabulous. Harper's Island did not meet that expectation due to some serious scripting and plot issues. Will Persons Unknown realize the potential that a show with its premise has, or will it disappoint me?

The premiere was good, though odd. I had expected something more along the line of Cube - 7 people locked in a building, cut off from the outside world, and that was it. Instead, we have been getting glimpses of the places left behind. Janet (Daisy Betts) has a daughter, a daughter who was the tool of her own abduction. I absolutely loved the fear that built up inside of me as Janet panicked, thinking her daughter was missing, only to have Janet kidnapped while her child was left behind.

Now that daughter is living with Janet's mother, a woman who I would not let near any child.

It isn't only the daughter we get to see. A journalist has also taken an interest in Janet's disappearance, and he is planning on pursuing her story. Will we learn more about what's going on from the outside than we do from the inside? Will the series end with him riding in, white knight style, to save our hero-victims? Or will any of them be left by that time?

That's right, death was introduced from the start. No one died, but Janet was promised, via fortune cookie, that she would be released if she killed her neighbour. Who exactly that note meant, I can't be certain, but is getting home to rescue her daughter worth her committing murder?

And, as interesting as Janet and her daughter and the missing husband are, let's not discount the rest of the cast. Joe (Jason Wiles) has a strong military vibe, comfortably taking control of most of the situations, but refuses to talk about where he came from. Sgt. McNair (Chadwick Boseman) comes across as a trained grunt, preferring to follow Joe's commands than take his own initiative, but he's also willing to risk himself to help his fellow prisoners. Is it all an act?

Moira (Tina Holmes) claims that she's a councilor, but her actions and behaviour hints at her being a patient. Tori (Kate Lang Johnson) seems to be a useless socialite, but perhaps she's more than just a pretty face? Blackham (Sean O'Bryan) came onto the scene as an aggressor, but he quickly teamed up with Charlie (Alan Ruck), and Charlie, the most interesting after Joe and Janet, wants to be in control, but is also the most unstable element of the lot.

So we've got 7 different and bizarre members of a forced household, as well as our outside forces, but we also have more people on the inside. What is with the group of Chinese people who run a restaurant? Or the night watchman? I really hope that those factors are also given proper weight and attention.

So, a successful premiere, giving me enough to bring me back, but not making it so wild as to scare off the milder element. Start watching it, because in 13 episodes we'll know what's what and it seems to me that we'll want to know it all.