PILOT REVIEW: The Passage

THE PASSAGE

Starring: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Saniyya Sidney, Jamie McShane, Caroline Chikezie, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Brianne Howey, McKinley Belcher III, with Henry Ian Cusick, and Vincent Piazza

Based on the Novels by Justin Cronin
Created by Liz Heldens
Written for Television by Liz Heldens, Directed by Jason Ensler & Marcos Siega

IN SHORT: In case you want your sweet surrogate parent stories peppered with an apocalyptic dystopia

THE PREMISE:
Loosely based on a trilogy of novels, The Passage is centered on a secret medical facility called Project Noah run by Dr. Major Nichole Sykes (Caroline Chikezie) and ex-CIA operative Clark Richards (Vincent Piazza). They are conducting experiments to try to eradicate all types of disease. They need a child subject and enlist Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) to retrieve the 12 year old child, Amy Belafonte (Saniyya Sidney). As Wolgast is bonding with Amy, there are also strange things happening to the residents at Project Noah including former scientist Tim Fanning (Jamie McShane) and death row inmate Shauna Babcock (Brianne Howey).

THE REVIEW:
The Passage suffers from tonal whiplash and while part of the drama is something I could get interested in, the other is far too weird to ever make me want to watch another episode. I think hybrid types of dramas can work but only if you are a fan of (or at least can tolerate) both forms. These are two genres that are pretty far apart so I'll be surprised to see if this can really find much of an audience. I have a feeling that people who are the opposite of me: those who love genre and apocalyptic dramas will find the "father figure" story a little heavy-handed.

But that "father figure" story was easily the best thing about The Passage for me. That is partly due to my own biases but also due to the strongest two cast members in the pilot: Mark-Paul Gosselaar and young Saniyya Sidney. Gosselaar has been strong recently with a great turn in the tragically short-lived Pitch. He brings his nice mix of charm and sentimentality here as well. Sidney is a strong 12 year old and I would be interested to see her in a show that is more appealing to me. She had a great rapport with Gosselaar and a funny streak too. There are other strong actors in the show too including Henry Ian Cusick, who was an intriguing but underused character in the pilot.

The problem is I just have no interest at all in the dystopian, disease-raged vampire type creatures that made up the other part of the episode. It seemed done decently, but I am just completely uninterested in vampire type creatures bleeding from the mouth and showing superhuman strength. I am unfamiliar with the novel trilogy, but it appears that this show is not sure exactly what it wants to be given the seemingly equal time it gave to the two stories. Maybe they'll blend better in the future, but I won't be watching to find out.

BOTTOM LINE:
Well I'll not be back for another episode, but I'm curious to see the response to this show. I just felt like the tonal differences were too jarring to appeal to many people, but we'll see.