The Truth Shall Rise: Cultural Forebodings in The Event 1.03 by Pearson Moore

Can we trust him?

Agent Collier weighed the question. It is a question we ought to be asking ourselves. Should we believe Blake Sterling? What are Raymond Jarvis' intentions? Is Simon Lee credible? Should we place our trust in Sean Walker?

After this episode we know we cannot even trust the expert opinion of a highly trained medical doctor regarding the most fundamental state of a human body. It goes without saying that we never should have trusted a group of men in dark suits to be the federal agents they claimed they were.

Most importantly, we should not expect that the truth shall rise from the 183 re-animated bodies that had been awaiting shipment to Brazil. A week ago Thomas said of the Avias 154 passengers, "We can use them." Now we understand those words. The 183 are neither statement of purpose nor threat of escalation. They are not present objective, but future potential. They are incubators.

Who Is Sean Walker?



The motel room scene told us more about Sean Walker than anything else we learned in the first three hours. Not only does he possess rare computer sagesse, but he knows the way people connect ideas in their minds, he is skilled in psychological manipulation, and he brings all of these talents to bear in constructing action plans on the fly.

He garnered MIT's attention as a high school sophomore when he successfully hacked high-security government computer systems. He must have received much more attention than that.

"NSA has great summer programs for gifted students like you. And you'll love the weather in Monterey. Come out and give us a try." The words were never said to Sean as far as I know. But I still remember the pitch from my senior year in high school. I was certainly not gifted, but I was the only high school student in Rochester, Minnesota studying the Russian language. Every Friday morning I pedaled my ten-speed to a junior high school, where the system's only remaining Russian instructor taught classes in German. In college, as I pursued a bachelor's degree in Russian, the CIA joined the mix of government agencies expressing interest in my "skill set". I did end up working for the United States government, though probably not in a capacity that any of the security agencies would have imagined or hoped.

Sean Walker did not exist "under the radar" as Sterling's assistant, Justin, told him. Sean's well-publicised hacker exploits would have attracted attention from several quarters. It would be difficult to imagine, for instance, that he did not receive offers of government employment. But more important to THE EVENT, private enterprises would have spared no expense to impress upon him the personal advantages to be gained through an association with their group. Would he have been able to resist the temptation of the millions of dollars they offered? Did he resist? Or does his rare ability to combine geeky hacker skills, psychological warfare tactics, and James Bond-like action plans indicate more than classroom training? On-the-job training is the only means of acquiring multi-faceted skills. In the motel room scene, the scent of advanced, specialised, post-graduate training was thick in the air. Methinks Sean Walker is much more than we know.

The Conspirators



Blake Sterling has captured our attention, while his political nemesis, Vice President Raymond Jarvis, has been content at the periphery of events. Both men were conspicuously absent during the attack on the President. Mystery looms around both men, and we have no reason to believe either of them acts selflessly for the country's good. In fact, we have adequate reason to doubt their stated intentions.
Sterling seems entirely too comfortable as an orchestrator of veiled conspiracy. He arranged for the transportation of wreckage and bodies to the Brazilian rainforest as if it were another mundane action of the typical work day. This is not the normal range of skill orientations I would expect in an intelligence officer.

Intelligence work demands more than anything else patience and discernment, for it values information and reliable analysis more than action. Spies in the field acquire legends and blend in with their surroundings not so they can blow up bridges or assassinate dictators or perform other 007 shenanigans, but so their governments can acquire broad strategic or tactical advantage over an enemy, gleaned from careful observation, information acquisition, and expert analysis of likely significance and intent. Sterling was most spook-like when he held the Inostranka file from the President. He seems very unspook-like in his role as conspiracy mastermind. That he is able to work confidently in this manner would seem to indicate as yet hidden skills, or more likely, hidden agendas.

Jarvis says little, and when he does, he attacks. His pointed words to Sterling constituted a statement of intent. A vice president is normally not a centre of power, but in this strange administration, Jarvis is most powerful indeed. He is the leader of the opposition party, every member of which is pledged to work unceasingly to bring down the Martinez Administration.

In recent years we know these efforts have grown increasingly foul in concept and execution. In 1998, after spending hundreds of millions of dollars to investigate President Clinton, the Republican-led House of Representatives could find no wrongdoing in the President's past, even as Governor of Arkansas. But they drafted articles of impeachment anyway, and the United States Senate put him on trial. A couple billion dollars and several months of the government's full attention were given to a stain on a blue dress. If they had been able to muster just a few more votes, Clinton would have been removed from office and could have been imprisoned.

Jarvis does not seem the type of man who would feel any discomfort at all in arranging a sequence of events that would put himself in control of the country. The elevation to President would be personal and political gain, a boon to his entire party, and a severe wound to Martinez's party. We have as yet no evidence of his involvement in the assassination attempt, but he would certainly at least be aware of, if not actively leading, his party's efforts to discredit and ultimately force the resignation, impeachment, or removal of President Martinez. Who investigates the investigators? We ought to ask also, "Who investigates those who agitate for investigation?" The Vice President should be foremost among those we place in the "suspicious characters" pool.

Factions and Lovers



Martinez and Jarvis do not form the only odd couple in this series, they are only the most visible example of the complicated, compromised, multi-layered, mixed alliances of this fascinating programme. The odd couple at the heart of THE EVENT is certainly Sophia and her beloved Thomas. Sophia once directed Thomas' work.
"It's critical that Thomas get free of here," she said on November 2, 1944. They have unquestionably communicated with each other in the last sixty-six years, and probably they have seen each other, too. Thomas appears to be following his own instincts, to Sophia's surprise and chagrin. Even though they now seem to have different agendas, I have to believe, based on the way they looked into each other's eyes, that they continue to long for the other's embrace.

Is anyone in the world driven by a single, undiluted, pure motivation? Even among those we designate heroes, martyrs to a cause greater than themselves, are there any who did not wish to withhold something for themselves? People like Blake Sterling seem artificial, most of all due to their incessant calls to serve king and country. "We must hide the truth, for the good of the country." If he ever read the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John (verse 32: "The truth will make you free"), he easily subsumes the passage's maxim to some greater priority. Sterling appeared willing to take any action to attain his objectives. He seemed more than happy to suggest the US Constitution would recognise no impediments to the coercive interrogation (torture) of non-humans.

We tell ourselves that pure motivations are best. But those who claim or practice greatest adherence to a single objective are often among those we most despise for their inhumanity. Hitler worked diligently to make the Third Reich the most powerful nation on Earth. Stalin was tireless in his work to raise Russia from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century in less than two generations. Both men were successful. Stalin, in particular, turned a mostly illiterate population into arguably the best educated and most innovative academic, economic, and military force on the planet. But who would say these advances were worth the twenty or thirty million lives he took in order to maintain his hold on power?

Much more trustworthy, it seems to me, are those who acknowledge multiple allegiances. Elias Martinez does not have to go about telling everyone he's working for the good of the country. We assume that. That is his job, after all. But we understand when he makes choices of governance that appear motivated by party or political expectation and not aimed at fulfilling any mandate to serve the common good. We understand, too, when he defies Secret Service policy to ensure the safety of his wife and son. He is, after all, husband, father, and leader of his party, as well as being President of his country.

We would think a political leader strange if he always held country first. In the first presidential debate between George Bush Sr. and Michael Dukakis in 1988, CNN Anchor Bernard Shaw posed this question to Governor Dukakis about his wife, Kitty: "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" Dukakis responded, "No, I don't, Bernard. And I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life. I don't see any evidence that it's a deterrent...." His passionless, dry response was taken as the sure sign of a lack of humanity. Dukakis lost the election by a wide margin; many credit his lack of passion for anything other than politics as being the primary reason for his crushing defeat.

The complicated agendas of the characters in THE EVENT are a welcome change from the single-dimensional clash of "good versus evil" that is at the heart of every cop show, crime drama, and medical series on television. I have seen two episodes of Law And Order--which means I have seen one more episode that was necessary to figure out the characters, motives, plot, and outcome of any of the hundreds of episodes in the series. I have seen one episode of House. It was more than enough. I now know that "differential diagnosis, people" must figure into a story at least twice during the course of any given episode.


In Memory of Edith Keeler



Mention Edith Keeler to any Trekkie and you will receive in return a thoughtful nod and verbal acknowledgement of the grandeur of the name. Keeler's name (http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Edith_Keeler) bears greater significance than any character other than James T. Kirk or Mr. Spock. It is as meaningful as the Kobayashi Maru (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru) has become to more casual moviegoers.

I will not divulge Edith Keeler's significance here. Hers is a story best experienced as originally performed, in Star Trek TOS 1.28, "The City on the Edge of Forever". The fifty minutes required to take in the episode are time well spent. Many believe "The City on the Edge of Forever" is the best hour of science fiction ever to appear on television.

Tonight we saw a variant of Edith Keeler's story, though it was a small part of the greater episode, and it carried not nearly the cinematic eloquence or emotional impact of "City on the Edge". But when Inostranka inmate number thirty-one, Mara, came to be with her lover, we knew from context her visit could not bode well for William.

Here is yet another reason to revel in the complexity of THE EVENT. There are objectives of such moment that leaders and even commoners are asked to sacrifice in ways almost unthinkable. Of William and Mara's relationship we know only that they loved each other. Their love was pure, and so deep that able-bodied Mara chose to give up her freedom rather than part from the injured William. Sixty-six years later, with William bent on telling all in exchange for his freedom, Simon Lee communicates the orders of the Commander in Chief to Mara. Sophia has to stop William at any cost; if Mara doesn't do it, she knows someone else will be called in, and William will suffer even more.

True Believer



Sophia appears to be willing to pay any price to prevent the divulging of any information regarding the Event. She is true believer, but a tragic figure, too. Thomas does not understand her willingness to remain incarcerated. And although she seems to share Simon Lee's compassionate concern for human beings, she is unwilling to allow even Simon's "warning" of the coming Event. She stands in the middle, torn not only by compassion, her responsibilities to her people, and her recognition of Thomas' growing core of followers, but also by her love for Thomas. Already his methods diverge from those she wishes to employ. Thomas has surprised her at least twice in these recent events. It seems likely she will be obliged, at some point, to endorse, disavow, or separate herself and her followers from Thomas and his team.

But Thomas and Sophia could be closer in method and motive than we currently believe. It seems to me quite possible that she and he were in agreement on the plan to assassinate President Martinez. Martinez knew more about Inostranka than any president before him, and he had a thick streak of righteousness and honesty pervading his political fibre, unlike the spineless presidents before him. That must have been a dangerous combination in Sophia's mind. If she was willing to sacrifice Thomas' love for the good of their project, would she not also be willing to sacrifice her life to prevent Martinez from releasing information and probing deeply into the ninety-seven's true objectives?

Sophia expressed shock when the airplane disappeared only seconds from crashing into them. A very credible possibility is that Thomas, driven by love for Sophia, abandoned the assassination plan specifically to save his beloved. We are not aware of any motivation Sophia might have had to murder or abuse the passengers of Flight 514. However, we do have Thomas' statement that "We can use" the passengers. This "use" of the passengers would seem to be yet another occurrence indicating Thomas' tactical or strategic separation from Sophia's guidance.

A Word About Snow



Band of Brothers.
I guess that's three words, but I am trying to express a single, simple idea. The scenes for Episode Six of Band of Brothers ("Bastogne") were shot on a movie sound stage, just like the scenes of the Brooks Mountain Range from November 2, 1944, that we have seen periodically over the last two episodes. In both cases the acting, lighting, and other technical aspects of the scenes were superb. But there is one particular in which Band of Brothers surpasses THE EVENT: Snow.

The artificial snow in Episode Three looks as if it were left over from the 1953 movie "Santa Clause Conquers Hollywood". It's awful. Pathetic. Everyone on the crew of THE EVENT should be obliged to watch Band of Brothers, Episode Six. They should be forced to view high definition close up screen captures, then long distance shots. Not one of these shots, close up or distance, contains a single image indicating artificial snow. Yet, the snow is indeed artificial. The authenticity of the Ardennes forest scenes is breathtaking, and I say this as one who was born in a land that sees snow six months out of every year.

There is no reason to use bargain-basement, mid-twentieth century artificial snow for a serious production that is going to spend a quarter of its time on an Alaska mountain. You can do better, the actors deserve better, and those of us viewing deserve better. Spend a few extra bucks on the snow. If you've already shot future snow scenes with this horrible, early 1950s polyethylene, re-shoot using the good stuff, run everything by David Leland, get his approval, and only then edit and print.

Okay, that's the end of the snow rant.

Set the Incubator at 43 Degrees



Body temperature is thirty-seven degrees (98 degrees Fahrenheit for those North Americans living south of the 49th). Normally bodies grow cold when they die, but in Yuma, Arizona, during the summer, the bodies would experience fifteen hours of forty-three degree heat. These bodies were warm, super-heated far above normal body temperature.

We can be sure that Yuma was not a random, unplanned destination, but now we have an additional criterion to consider in attempting to understand this choice of venue.

The re-animation of corpses at the end of the episode was no more accidental than the choice of Yuma as drop point. I have pointedly avoided any language indicating these bodies were "brought back to life" or "were resurrected". Perhaps this will have been found to occur, but I think this is highly unlikely.

Let us first consider the scientific evidence. The bodies were left for a day or more in a dessicating incubator set at around forty-three degrees. "Dessicating" simply means the conditions were dry, and incubator refers to a relatively low-temperature oven used in biological experiments. This was a high-ultraviolet incubator, too, and the exposed skin of any of the corpses would have been burned by the sun's radiation.

When the biological systems stop operating, they lose whatever protection they might have had from the hot, dry, high-radiation conditions. After several hours in these conditions the corpses would be lighter, due mostly to massive loss of water through evaporation. Any processes still occurring inside the corpses would proceed at greatly accelerated rates, due to the elevated temperature of the bodies, which would rise to the temperature of the surrounding air.

If re-animation is possible for bodies such as these, whatever exists after re-animation will be physically and biologically very different from whatever died several days before. But it seems unlikely that Thomas was interested in re-animation for the novelty or shock factors. He wished to "use" the passengers in some way. I believe the most likely explanation that he intended for the desert to act as a true biophysical incubator. He was growing something inside these corpses. Since they have now been re-animated, it seems likely that whatever he has grown inside them requires a living host.

The change he effected could be entirely neurological. Perhaps he merely planted in the brain of each corpse an idea, or set of ideas. "Sophia is the Messiah. Trust her with your life." Or maybe, "The good people at Inostranka saved us. Tell your congressional representatives and the President to release them from prison." Or maybe he planted instructions that will cause each of the 183 to assist in distinct and specific ways in tasks leading to the Event.

The incubation could have even more malevolent intent. Perhaps he grew dangerous pathogens inside the corpses. Once the re-animated and apparently healthy passengers are distributed back to the United States and Brazil they will release to the environment whatever deadly disease they are carrying. This could become a very effective form of extortion (release us and we will give you the antidote), or it could have a more direct, deadlier intention.

The third episode of THE EVENT was rich in character and plot development and shone much brighter than either of the first two episodes. If this episode is fair indication of the story to come, those of us signing on for the adventure are going to be very pleased with our choice.

Who can we trust? Which of our senses can we trust, and under what conditions? THE EVENT is delivering mystery, conspiracy, fascinating, dark characters, high doses of science fiction, and a bewildering array of questions. Just what I seek in a television show. I'm enjoying the ride!

PM