PILOT REVIEW: The Crossing

THE CROSSING

Starring: Steve Zahn, Natalie Martinez, Sandrine Holt, Tommy Bastow, Rob Campbell, Rick Gomez, Marcuis W. Harris, Grant Harvey, Jay Karnes, Simone Kessell, Kelley Missal, Luc Roderique, Bailey Skodje

Created by Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie
Written by Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie, Directed by Rob Bowman

THE PREMISE
The Crossing is a new sci-fi drama about a small Oregon town that is upended when refugees start showing up, fleeing a war. The sci-fi element to this is the refugees are escaping the United States from 180 years in the future and coming back to the "gold old days" of America, a.k.a. present day. At the center is local Sheriff Jude Ellis (Steve Zahn) who is clashing with Federal Agent Emma Ren (Sandrine Holt) while also working with one of the refugees who showed up later, Reece (Natalie Martinez). Rounding out the rest of the cast are agents and refugees, including some who may have special powers and others who may have been around a lot longer than the ones who just arrived.

THE REVIEW
Lost was an iconic show on ABC but it premiered in 2004. Here we are nearly 14 years later and networks, especially ABC, are still trying to find the next one. In fact, the announcer said right before The Crossing premiered it was "from the network that brought you Lost." So while there were definitely intriguing elements of The Crossing and I'll get to that, there is no part of me that thinks it is going to have a different fate than shows like Invasion, The Event, Resurrection, Believe, Last Resort, The River, etc. And that is to say, it has a cool hook for a premise, but it seems likely it will open a lot of doors and will either struggle to answer things
and/or get cancelled before it has a chance to.

Of course, as is so often the case with these shows, it is a good premise. I like the idea of a time travel show but where present day America is trying to figure out future America, not to mention being seen as the "good old days." I know it's not the first time travel show to deal with the future, but it does feel a little bit different especially after the onslaught of time travel shows last season that all went to various times in history. The opening was bizarre and although the premise is interesting, it was a slow burn. The show struggled to immediately have a "moment" which is important in pilots for shows like this.

The cast is solid though I feel like I have seen a lot of them on failed ABC shows over the years. I liked Steve Zahn as the sheriff even if he's playing the common type of authoritative small town leader clashing with the feds. Sandrine Holt and Natalie Martinez are always solid and I feel like I've seen them in a lot of shows. They've actually always reminded me of each other so I don't know how good it is that they're in the same show and playing very different types of characters. So I liked some elements of the pilot, I just know where this is going to go and I don't mean the exact story, I mean the general trajectory. Maybe someday we'll truly have the next Lost, but I don't think it will be a show that's so transparently trying to replicate that lightning in a bottle.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Against my better judgement, I'll probably watch one more.