THRESHOLD: SEASON 1



1.1/1.2: Trees Made of Glass - 1.3: Blood of the Children - 1.4: The Burning - 1.5: Shock - 1.6: Pulse - 1.7: The Order - 1.8: Revelations




1.1/1.2: Trees Made of Glass

Written by Bragi Schut, David Goyer, and Brannon Braga
Directed by David Goyer and John Showalter

As I’ve said quite a few times before, one of the most difficult things about a pilot episode is the sheer amount of exposition that must be included. This must be balanced against the need to tell a complete and engaging story, because without that to gain the attention and interest of the intrigued audience, the series would be short-lived at best and DOA at worst.

It’s a very good thing that “Threshold” began its run with a two-hour premiere, which essentially took two episodes and merged it into one pilot. If that hadn’t been done, then the first hour alone would have been the kiss of death for the series. There’s so much heavy-handed exposition that it feels like the writers took the series bible and just gave characters dialogue. It wasn’t until the second hour that the story finally began coming together for me, once the mystery began to reveal its true depth.

The characters were at least strong enough to keep my interest from waning. Carla Gugino is someone I find intensely attractive, and she doesn’t disappoint in this role. She draws you into her character’s very lonely and terrifying world, and for someone with a lot of experience drawing up contingencies, she seems rather ill-prepared for seeing one through. That, and her team must have sounded good on paper, but in practice, there are a lot of issues.

Seeing these characters outside of their introductions, working in the field and dealing with the realities of being caught in the middle of an escalating government black project, is something I look forward to in the weeks to come. Just the fact that a “little person” is on the cast, with the biggest personality, speaks volumes. I think these are great characters with a lot of depth, and they’ve barely scratched the surface.

Of course, while I certainly focus on the characters and what they bring to the table, the aspect of the pilot that really caught my attention is the depth of the mystery itself. In terms of concept, I’ve read science fiction literature with similar themes, and while there are considerations inserted to make this a viable series for television, the concept has credibility. I love the idea of some unknown extra-dimensional race intersecting with Earth’s population for some unknown, possibly invasive, purpose.

While it certainly looks as if the purpose is invasive, that may not be the case. It’s just as possible that contact is highly dangerous for humans, and that this effort is meant to be a selective creation of a hybrid (or something similar) to attempt communication. It’s simply too early to tell. But just in the first two hours, elements of the mystery have been introduced that truly intrigue me. A lot of that “science” is pure nonsense, but it’s very well done and feels like it was designed with an answer in mind. (Braga, don’t screw this one up!)

A lot of my enjoyment of this series is going to be predicated on my ability to enjoy the characters, the ongoing issue of the rights of the team members, and the various pieces of the puzzle that are introduced. I say this because there are elements that trouble me. The basic situations in the two episodes merged into this single pilot are somewhat hard to swallow. For instance, after getting all of those soldiers involved in the investigation on the naval vessel, why was there a complete lack of support at the water treatment plant?

For that matter, Caffrey is in danger just long enough to establish that Gunneson is trying to communicate, so the audience can see that there’s a connection. As soon as that purpose is served, the backup troops rush in. It’s all a bit too obviously structured. The story could have flowed a bit better; after all, the character scenes, while still very expository at times, felt more genuine.

One other thing concerns me. For all the intelligent science fiction elements, there are far too many scenes that fell like scenes from the latest “Resident Evil” game. Alien zombies? That’s going to get old fast. I rather prefer the idea that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of related signals affecting disparate populations, any number of which can be used as the focus of an episode. If this “alien zombie” thing becomes too common, it could be the death of the show.

For now, however, I’m letting my appreciation of the good things overcome my annoyance towards the bad. If nothing else, Gugino is likely to keep me interested enough to see where things progress, and if the writers can get past clunky exposition and illogical action set pieces, then the mystery will be fun to watch unfold. So far, for me, this is another guardedly good start to a new series.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 7/10


*****
1.3: Blood of the Children

Written by Anne McGrail
Directed by Bill Eagles

This is the first episode after the pilot and follow-up aired on the same night, so of everything that has aired so far, this is probably the most indicative of the series’ formula. It left me a little concerned. I freely admit that the setting of the episode did nothing for me, since I don’t like most episodes that focus on young children, given their highly variable talent. I thought that it was a little too easy to have children in jeopardy.

But more to the point, I had a few issues with the concept as a whole. OK, so Caffrey’s reaction to the minor exposure to the alien signal is an indirect connection to those who are fully affected. This provides clues to the current threatening activity, which in turn provides the link to the case and an unconventional way to explore the case, which would otherwise be difficult. Meanwhile, the team continues to work out how the signal is spreading across the world.

What bothers me is that the team needed something like this to make them look into the possibility of exposure beyond the naval vessel in the pilot. They have an enormous amount of information at their disposal (as mentioned in the episode itself as a possible future problem), and yet something so obvious as a plane diverted into the area at the wrong time takes an incident like this to be discovered.

Surprisingly, the support personnel that were completely missing in the second hour of the premiere suddenly appear when it comes down to searching through the military academy. And yet when the time comes, Caffrey is on her own. This is one sequence that really bugs me. Caffrey’s on the run, so she picks a room (seemingly at random), and who just happens to be hiding down there? The main suspect, who comes up with the world’s lamest excuse for being there. And then, for some unknown reason, Caffrey sets off a sprinkler, which doesn’t set off an alarm, which would have been the only reason for doing so!

I suspect it was more about getting the lovely Carla in a skintight shirt, but that’s beside the point. The culmination of the situation doesn’t give me hope for the Threshold team. Shooting the screen shouldn’t have done a thing, if the signal was already being sent. The processor and modem would have been in the bottom portion of the laptop, which wasn’t hit. What I don’t get is why someone didn’t just shut down the connection node. It’s not like the academy could have that many, being in a relatively remote part of Virginia and having only one room with internet access!

So, back to my worry. I’m concerned that the scope of the episodes will be this narrow every week. Or perhaps not every week, but enough to become annoying. The responsibilities of Caffrey and her team are so broad, especially given the growing number of affected humans, that this “on point” approach is not the best use of resources. If Caffrey were to go down in the field, what would they be able to do?

It’s telling when the point of the episode is laid out so clearly (using a silly-looking display) in the final scenes. OK, so they now know that the signal doesn’t affect pre-pubescent members of any species, and that the affected want to propagate the signal by any possible means. This seems to ignore the fact that parts of the signal in the second episode were already affecting people for no apparent reason. There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed before I’ll feel as though this series is reaching its potential.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10


*****
1.4: The Burning

Written by Brannon Braga and Dan O’Shannon
Directed by John Showalter

After the last episode, I was a little concerned about how the concept for the series would evolve. This episode actually covered some of those concerns while bringing up a number of new ones. There’s still something of a consistency to the show, but some comments from the characters suggest that liberties could be taken in the future.

My main concern is this idea that the aliens are so advanced that they could simply violate the laws of physics at will. Now, to a certain extent, I recognize that this is a reasonable direction for the concept to take. These beings are dealing in higher-dimensional physics, and that cannot be accurately predicted. However, when the Threshold team makes a bold announcement of what they’ve discovered, effectively setting the ground rules, the writers shouldn’t break those rules casually.

My concern is something that Caffrey suggested early in the episode. In short, she was questioning whether or not they could be sure that the signal has a limited range. If that concept is tossed out the window, then it undermines the central premise. In essence, any contingency plan would be meaningless, because in the end, one cannot prevent what one cannot predict.

For instance, why wasn’t the young woman tied up right next to the 100-year old probe affected by the signal? I didn’t buy that for a second. Other than the fact that she looked rather fetching in her tight T-shirt and panties, what was the reason for keeping her alive, if not to expose her to the signal as well? Was it simply to put somebody cute in jeopardy to generate audience sympathy?

On the subject of what the writers did effectively, I thought the mystery itself was rather well executed and the idea of probes being sent to Earth a long, long time ago may explain why so many people were responding to the signal in the second half of the premiere. In fact, it may be that certain people are more susceptible to the signal because their ancestors were exposed to a weak version of the signal after the probes arrived.

It was good to see the team conducting a logical investigation, though I’m still not certain why the one person intimate with the Threshold protocol is constantly in harm’s way. The writers even have the characters address this in a vague manner right at the beginning, but the question remains. The characters continue to explore issues of civil rights during emergency situations and impingement on their own private lives, but not enough to be truly satisfying as yet. I personally found the whole issue of the wedding invitations to be silly.

This wouldn’t be an episode of “Threshold” without some glamour shot of Carla Gugino looking like she’s going out on the prowl, and the end of this episode doesn’t disappoint. I’m also pleased with the idea that this is a situation rapidly widening in scope, bringing up the obvious question: can the Threshold team really do anything to stop what’s coming? How can they, when they don’t even know the true scope of the situation? I expect that this concern will continue to crop up as more elements of the “invasion” are unearthed.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10


*****
1.5: Shock

Written by Andre Bormanis
Directed by Tim Matheson

I’m beginning to have serious concerns about this series. It has some very good elements and a lot of potential, but it just doesn’t seem to be coming together. Granted, some series are just rough for a season or so, but in this day and age, it takes a strong showing right out of the gate to stay alive. I suppose there’s little else on Fridays right now, but that doesn’t mean that the audience will continue to support a series that seems to have internal logic problems.

I’m finding it very hard to believe in the character of Molly Caffrey. In the pilot, she seemed to be very competent, and while they really played up the sex appeal, the writers let Carla look smart at the same time. Now, while every episode has the requisite buoyant bosoms in a really right shirt and stylish skirt and boots, her credibility has been terribly compromised. Here’s the thing: for someone who keeps talking about how she has a plan, the Red Team is completely reactive.

That’s what bothers me. These are good characters, and their various issues are becoming a good reason to watch the show. But this “contingency plan” is a complete crock. It seems to have little political support, especially considering the fact that this is quite obviously a matter of national security. It’s also quite clear that Threshold can’t predict something that is entirely predictable.

What is learned in this episode? Caffrey already knew that the “infected” were trying to broadcast the signal by any means possible, so why did everyone seem so shocked at the idea? As soon as they knew that microchips were involved, they should have figured out what Park’s goal was. That part of the story was clearly designed to force the showdown at the end of the episode.

Now, one thing I do recognize is that a plan is only as good as the people who implement it, and in this case, Threshold is getting a mixed bag of support. But Caffrey’s decision to keep the threat completely hidden from public knowledge is clearly not the best play. There are other ways to accomplish the same goal, and this episode exposes that gap in logic. Caffrey was able to give Rossi a good enough cover story to gain her cooperation, so why not the public?

I’m not saying that she should say anything about the alien incursion or even the signal. But the public could be alerted regarding the missing crew member as if they were fugitives, terrorists, or even suspects in a child abduction. It just takes creativity, and that’s what I don’t see happening. Maybe some of these things are happening, but I haven’t gotten a strong sense of it. (Like…why not just smash the damn transmitter with a big rock and be done with it?)

What have we seen so far, in the course of five episodes? A team changing in unexpected ways, due to exposure to the signal that they are trying to stop from spreading. The one person who knows the ins and outs of the plan, who constantly runs out into the line of fire. A contingency plan that is entirely reactive, based on incomplete analysis of the scope of the threat. And that’s just scratching the surface.

I hold out hope that this is something the writers are doing intentionally, and that the tide will turn in the near future. But I’m concerned, because there’s plenty of reason to believe that this is the way the series is going to progress. This series needs to tighten up the plot a bit and deepen the character development. Right now, in my point of view, there’s not enough to sustain a long-term series.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10


*****
1.6: Pulse

Written by Mike Sussman
Directed by Bill Norton

I’ve been down on this series lately, largely because of my own impressions of where the concept would logically progress. Granted, that’s fairly arrogant, and it would be easy for me to say that it’s all a matter of preference and my own particular tastes. But then the writers dropped this episode into the schedule, and suddenly, they’re doing things the way I had hoped they would.

One thing I liked about the series from the beginning was the conflict between the needs of the Threshold Protocol and the individual rights of the team members and/or the general populace. In essence, I was under the impression that Threshold could pretty much do whatever they wanted, with impunity, to get the job done. Granted, there is a certain value in the inter-agency give and take that could happen instead, but the premise itself is geared towards abuse of power, not frustrations over lack of authority.

That’s why this episode is such a good example of what this series can and should accomplish, and why I think the writers are still trying to strike the right balance. In the previous episode, it was all they could do to get minimal support. In fact, in some instances, the back-up was woefully non-existent. This episode is in stark contrast: instead of having inter-agency issues, vast resources are at the fingertips of the Red Team, right down to a secret EMP bomb.

Using such an extreme measure against an entire city like Miami is the kind of thing that should be status quo for this series. The threat is that vast, after all, and they apparently have the authority to pose as agents of other government agencies without penalty. They can immediately and without penalty revoke individual civil rights. They can bring about public and private financial ruin at the drop of a dime, and they’ll get full support in doing so. That’s very different from the circumstances of the previous episode.

And logically, at least from my point of view, any agency with such responsibility would need that kind of authority to get the job done. Caffrey and the Red Team would take stock of a situation, determine the scope, and mobilize local, regional, and national resources to resolve the issue, and move on. In other words, as the contingency expert, Caffrey should be focusing on the big picture. She’s far too hands-on, and in this episode, at least, we get to see the consequences.

Karen wasn’t the most memorable or sympathetic character in the world, but it definitely put Caffrey in a particular bind. Caffrey wants to believe (and really needs to believe) that the alien bio-forming can be reversed. That’s important because if it’s not possible, the stakes are greatly magnified with every marginal success. If it’s all or nothing, then Threshold must take extreme measures early to prevent mass infection.

That’s the logic driving this episode, and that’s why I enjoyed it. The Red Team should be struggling, like Caffrey in this episode, with the knowledge that they need to do terrible and calamitous things in the name of saving humanity. Over time, it should weigh on them. Caffrey’s just the beginning, and over time, it should be interesting to see if she hardens her response to the point of being harsh with members of her team who haven’t gotten to that point.

I also like the idea of the alien signal being like a computer virus, to a certain extent, though it raises a rather interesting continuity question. If that’s the case, the signal probably should have been propagating before this point. Still, it could make sense that this is the first mass broadcast of the signal, which would explain why this is the first time the signal has imprinted itself everywhere.

We also now know that once the process of bio-forming begins in a biologically adult human, male or female, the process cannot be stopped. However, studying the process from inception to complete conversion is an important step in learning how to counter it. I see the Red Team coming to terms with the fact that the infected will be lab rats and little else, because they really don’t have a choice. If the writers stick with this kind of extreme circumstance, they could get into the character exploration more deeply, and that would be a good thing.

One last point. The reason why I think this “big picture” response is so critical is the nature of the series itself. The circumstances from episode to episode shift and change. Consequences seem to be left aside for the moment. For instance, the decision to drop the EMP bomb on Miami wasn’t the start of a long-term containment battle. It was done, the casualties were light, and the team moved on. If the series keeps that wide scope going, then the Red Team should also be dealing with a wide scope of authority and resources. Episodes like this are the perfect example.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4

Final Rating: 8/10


*****
1.7: The Order

Written by Anne McGrail
Directed by Norberto Barba

At this point, the series should be moving out of the introductory phase and into the complication phase, at least from the point of view of the typical season arc structure. That being the case, the question is whether or not this episode, in relation to the series to date, presents a compelling enough story to justify the faith of its audience.

I look at a series like “Invasion” and admit, despite my issue with the pacing, that the story is going somewhere. There’s a structure to the story and a few themes are actually emerging that could be fun to watch. While “Supernatural” is far more episodic, the characters are intriguing and there’s a sense of highly consistent style and approach. “Threshold” is still trying to find itself”: the characters are strong, but the storytelling is all over the map.

The past few episodes are a good example. In “Shock”, the Red Team and Threshold struggled to get the kind of broad-based support that they should be getting without much question. “Pulse”, the previous episode, turned right around and presented Threshold as an operation with vast discretionary powers and abundant resources. This episode jumps right back into the precarious waters of “Shock”, and it’s not a good thing.

In a way, however, this issue of funding and political support, however tiresome, pushes the characters into roles that are a bit more appropriate. It’s still not perfect, but it’s getting there. Caffrey should be the one behind the scenes, directing the activities and dealing with the larger issues. It should be a struggle for her to keep it all together, and people should be questioning her decisions to ensure that her personal issues don’t get in the way. I just didn’t like how it was tied to frustrating budget questions. (Sorry, but I get enough of that in the real world!)

This forced the other team members to take on more responsibility in the field and figure out their internal dynamic. I liked that a lot. In particular, it’s fun to see a bunch of science geeks with little or no field experience trying to work out the kinks. This episode’s central mystery was a nice bit of misdirection, and it even had some intriguing implications. If they had determined that the fish and other marine life were being infected, it really would have been the end of it all. As it is, it’s hard to imagine how marine life wasn’t infected, given how the rest of the episode progressed.

Beyond the cute intern, who got a swift and unfortunate lesson in sleeping around, there was that mutated cat. I must say, the first time it was on-screen, my wife and I just about laughed ourselves silly. That was some terrible effects work! But it begs the question: why wouldn’t marine life, even very tiny marine animals and plant life, become infected in the ocean below the original signal?

Anyhow, I really didn’t care about the team member that died, because quite frankly, I had no idea she was even part of the team. That’s not a good sign. This episode was supposed to have resonance with the audience, because we were clearly supposed to care. Instead, it just happened. Caffrey, who was supposed to be worried about Senate intervention, manages to order a Senator’s plane shot down with little or no consequence. It’s all a sign of inconsistent storytelling, and that’s not a great sign.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10


*****
1.8: Revelations

Written by Andrew Colville and Amy Berg
Directed by Thomas Wright

I continue to wonder how Caffrey, in all her tight-white-shirt hotness, thinks her plan will be even remotely successful. The alien incursion is far too complex for the Red Team to contain, let alone address, and things just get worse over time. The revelation about the Big Horn and its forest of wacky alien crystals ought to just about bury Threshold as a contingency plan. After all, if the algae on the driftwood was bad enough to cause problems in the previous episode, imagine what exposure to the Big Horn and basic sea currents will accomplish!

Not only that, but the infected are trying to infect everyone they can, screw up the agriculture, and in the meantime, directly attack the Red Team and Threshold. In other words, the infectees have a plan, and they seem to all be on the same page, through a combination of genetic memory and shared subconscious. They’re already working together towards a common goal, and because the Red Team doesn’t know the scope of the alien effort or the final purpose, they don’t have a prayer.

Now, that works on a certain level, if one is ready to accept a fatalist series. But I don’t see that happening on a mainstream network. Even “BSG” is a dark series grounded in a humanity with hope. Right now, the message of Threshold is that the plan can barely keep the aliens from winning on Day 1. If I knew that the series was going to last the minimum three seasons that David Goyer keeps talking about (the Threshold, Foothold, Stranglehold concept), and that the plot would really delve into that darker material without network interference, then I wouldn’t be concerned.

But this is the kind of series that has limited appeal, and considering that this first phase of the series was on the bubble for so long, can anyone be sure that the story will be told? I would like to think that it would survive, but I’m fairly realistic about such things. If the series is going to slide into desperate territory, and the general audience turns away, how long will it be before the network demands that Caffrey and her team take a different, more positive direction?

One thing that the writers will need to do is focus on the characters even more than they already have. Character is king, and it’s a big reason why “Invasion” is gaining momentum after a slow start. “Threshold” had a strong beginning in terms of character, but now it feels a bit aimless. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong, but I stand by what I’ve said before.

Caffrey and her team are beginning to fall into the kind of general plot format popularized on “Stargate SG-1”. The Red Team knows about the threat. The public doesn’t. The Red Team is part of a secret black project with wide discretionary powers, but there are political forces gathering against it, who minimize the alien threat. The difference here is the nature of the threat and the utter lack of “off-world” travel/allies. As I said, that makes the situation a lot more desperate.

I think that the concept doesn’t really mesh with the desire to put Caffrey in stylish clothing and in the field, where she can look damn fine, while also running a broad response to a worldwide threat. The focus needs to be on the besieged Red Team and how their personal philosophies and morals are compromised by what the response to the alien threat requires of them. When that happens, the material works great. The actual “cases” are, so far, hit or miss. Focus on the characters, get people to identify with their angst, and the concept will attend to itself.

As for this episode, there were some great creepy moments, especially when the genetic modifications came along. The best parts, however, were the religious questions, which struck to the heart of the alien plan. What if the alien incursion is not the invasion that it appears to be? What if the Red Team is resisting something that is meant to be a benefit? Or are the exposed team members beginning to think that way because of their previous exposure? Again, it comes down to the characters and how they react to events as they unfold. More focus on those aspects could help the series survive long enough to convince the network to let the concept play out more than a single season.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 7/10





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