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ABC’s Emergence series premiere recap: Pilot

By Kelly Shanaphy

EMERGENCE - "Pilot" - Beyond explanation . beyond understanding . lies the truth. This character-driven genre thriller follows a police chief who takes in a young child she finds near the site of a mysterious accident who has no memory of what has happened. The investigation draws her into a conspiracy larger than she ever imagined, and the child's identity is at the center of it all. ABC's intriguing new drama series "Emergence" premieres TUESDAY, SEPT. 24 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (ABC/Virginia Sherwood)ALLISON TOLMAN, ALEXA SWINTON
EMERGENCE - "Pilot" - Beyond explanation . beyond understanding . lies the truth. This character-driven genre thriller follows a police chief who takes in a young child she finds near the site of a mysterious accident who has no memory of what has happened. The investigation draws her into a conspiracy larger than she ever imagined, and the child's identity is at the center of it all. ABC's intriguing new drama series "Emergence" premieres TUESDAY, SEPT. 24 (10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT), on ABC. (ABC/Virginia Sherwood)ALLISON TOLMAN, ALEXA SWINTON /
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Emergence is the latest mystery series revolving around a plane.

While the premise isn’t exactly new,  ABC’s Emergence debuts with a near-perfect and incredibly entertaining pilot. Mystery thrillers always seem to be a bit clunky as series struggle to introduce the world, the plot, and the characters in less than an hour. However, this show manages to do all with relative ease thanks to a fantastic cast.

Alison Tolman (Fargo and Good Girls) is the Peconic Bay police chief, Jo Evans, who is clearly well-liked by everyone in town. From her introduction, it’s easy to see why people respect her. She’s full of calm authority and empathy, something that’s bound to come in handy later on. There’s a mysterious plane crash which somehow disrupts the cell signals and shuts off the power. The scene is a bit of a mess, but Jo is more interested in a young girl (newcomer Alexa Swinton) found at the crash site.

The girl, who sweetly adopts the named Piper later in the episode, is a scared mess. She doesn’t seem to remember anything but Dr. Abby Fraiser (Gotham‘s Zabryna Guevara) gives her a clean bill of health. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse when NTSB shows up demanding to see the girl as well as her charts. Piper manages to escape, and Jo finds out that this NTSB are actually a group of imposters who got to the scene first.

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Thankfully, Piper was just hiding in Jo’s car, so the two safely head to the latter’s house. While Jo is a bit uneasy, her father, Ed (Billions‘ Clancy Brown), and daughter, Mia (Ashley Aufderheide) welcome Piper into the fold easily. In fact, Mia immediately sees her as a new little sister and Jo finds it a bit endearing. However, while she’s off at work Piper gets to spend the day with Ed. From there we learn that he’s a former 9/11 firefighter who is now struggling with cancer. Emergence sprinkles some of Piper’s unusual powers throughout the pilot, like her ability to mess with electronics and how she knows the medication isn’t helping Ed.

Meanwhile, Jo has to deal with her own set of problems. The fake NTSB is clearly watching her house and she knows something fishy is going on. She meets a Reuters reporter, Benny Gallagher (Owain Yeoman), who mentions he has some information about the plane. Namely, it came from a Homeland Security base and what the official cover-up will be. To make matters worse, a man and woman step forward claiming to be Piper’s parents. Jo sees through them immediately, but when she goes to run their fingerprints the couple vanishes.

Jumping into panic mode, she has her ex-husband Alex (Scrubs‘ Donald Faison), grab the girls and her father to his cabin. Rather than try to hide information to keep everyone safe, Jo decides to reveal the truth. She thinks someone is after Piper but isn’t sure why although she promises to keep the young girl from harm no matter what. Easier said than done though since the faux NTSB shows up and tries to get to the family. Jo manages to protect everyone until they can get to the basement to slip out the window. Unfortunately, this is exactly what NTSB wants, and they grab Piper before anyone can realize.

Mia yells for her mom to go after her, which Jo is already doing. The chase doesn’t last too long since the truck mysteriously flips and seemingly kills the couple inside. Luckily, Piper is perfectly fine and Jo is able to bring her back home. Meanwhile, Jo heads to the precinct to chat with Chris (The Night Shift‘s Robert Bailey Jr.) who got the official story from NTSB of an unmanned drone crash. He doesn’t believe the story at all and confides as much in her. She believes him and also reveals she’ll be hiding Piper rather than putting her in the system. While he looks mildly uncomfortable at having to do something illegal, like turn a blind eye, he does agree. How long will that loyalty last though?

As for Piper, clearly things aren’t what they seem. She adores Jo and even stays up in her police jacket waiting for her to come home while Mia passes out. However, despite her adorable surface, it’s clear Piper knows a little more than she’s letting on. In the bathroom, the sound of water reminds her of being engulfed in it before she takes a boxcutter to her ear to cut out some kind of device. It has the same symbol on it that she saw on the television earlier with Ed, and Piper casually tosses it down the sink. Without even a care, she washes the blood off of her hand and neck before using her hair to cover up.

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Finally, Jo meets up with the reporter and the two share their details. The weird card she recovered from Piper’s fake parents is handed over and they agree to form a partnership. He doesn’t have proof yet, but it sounds like Piper could be the key to solving everything. Especially because we’ve seen what happens when she’s scared. While Jo comforts the young girl saying she knows the crash wasn’t caused by her, Emergence is definitely hinting that it could be.

What did you think of the pilot? Will you keep watching Emergence? Be sure to tell us in the comment section below!

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