NBC’s show “Crisis” will make its debut this Sunday, March 16 at 10 p.m.
The inaugural episode begins with a school trip. A high-class high school in Washington, D.C., the school where the children of powerful people attend and are going on a field trip to New York to do some service work, among them: Amber Fitch (Halston Sage), daughter of big-shot CEO Meg Fitch (Gillian Anderson); Beth Ann Gibson (Stevie Lynn Jones), whose father Thomas Gibson (Dermot Mulroney) is chaperoning the trip much to her chagrin; and the President’s son himself. Protecting the bus (well, one student in particular, really) are Secret Service Agents Hurst and Marcus Finley. Hurst is a long-time pro at this job while it’s only Finley’s first day doing any real Secret Service work. While on a Maryland highway, the bus is attacked, and all of the students (and Dermot Mulroney) are kidnapped. That is, of course, just the set-up of the show. Giving away anymore details about the plot would be doing a real disservice.
Crisis is an incredibly plot-driven show. There are a lot of characters, and they are always scheming, plotting, and double-crossing. It’s really great fun — twist after twist after turn are packed into the hour (with commercials), although at times it can be a little much. While some of the twists and plot points can feel a little far-fetched (part and parcel for thriller territory), it is always fun to experience just where the show takes you. There’s never a dull moment to be had here. This is genuinely exciting stuff, endlessly suspenseful with enough humor to create levity in an impossibly grim scenario.
There is a lot of plot to digest here. With so much plot going on the show can struggle to provide more than sketches for some of the principal characters. The reason for this does not have so much to do with lack of imagination or skill on the part of writer Rand Ravich; indeed, the pilot is well-crafted, tense and tightly plotted. There is just so much going on here, so many characters to follow, so many plot lines to develop, that there’s just not enough time to create human beings within the time constraints. But hey, it’s a TV show — there’s eleven more hours left in the season. There’s plenty of time to add complexity to them (this is just our introduction, after all). As it stands now, they act and react genuinely and with emotion, and there is enough to these characters so that when they find themselves in impossible situations, you fear for them and root for their victory. It can only get better from here.
The tense writing is served well by the cast. The key players give high-energy, layered performances from the lead actors. Even the minor supporting characters are well played, giving glimpses of depth to what are essentially plot devices. Everybody is led through the complicated maze of events by some fine direction by Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, Salt), who keeps the show gliding along in its breakneck pace without ever letting it get away from itself. This is a good and bad thing. While the pace keeps the show brisk and you on the edge of your seat, I can’t help but feel it could have benefitted from slowing down just a little here and there. There are hardly any moments to reflect on a plot point and think about what it means (story-wise and philosophically; there’s some real things, especially in the light of recent tragedies, the show gives you to think about). Despite all that, Crisis is simply a joy to watch — fun, entertaining, and gripping.
Crisis has a really great start here. The pilot episode, while certainly flawed, shows great promise for what could be some of the most entertaining (and hey, even smart) network television to come along in a while.
-Stephen Jones
