The Survivors : Pilot
Genre : Sci-Fi / Mystery / Drama
Showrunner: Tomas Alfredson
Writer : Mo Buck
Based on the French Canadian series
Cast: Brendan Fraser, Cara Buono, M. Emmet Walsh, Logan Lerman, Odeya Rush, Owen Vaccaro, Michael Mando and Jesse Bradford
Plot: 1964 - Gerald
(Brendan Fraser) swears in anger, catching his breath. In the dark of the
night, his face is lightened by a fire. A serial arsonist strikes in Montreal
and Gerald arrived too late, once again. He tears the police tape down and
kicks down the barriers down. His superior, Ben McRae (Jesse Bradford), the
first respondent to the scene orders him to calm down. Gerald says he can’t
take it anymore, he was this close to catch him in the act. Ben says he arrived
before him and he didn’t see anything, so Gerald wasn’t that close. Gerald keeps
cursing and Ben notes that he will need to confess next Sunday. Ben senses Gerald’s
anger and he takes him aside for a few moments. As the fire keeps burning
behind them, Ben tells something to Gerald.
Quick cut to Gerald, at home, throwing his glass across the room. His wife, Mary (Cara Buono), cleaning the dishes, begs him to keep it down so he won’t wake up the kids. She orders him to apologize to the Holy Father and he does, reluctantly. He says he can’t believe Ben is forcing him to take a week off. He’s certain Ben is forcing him off the case, he may be involved. He was the first respondent for seven of the ten last fires. Mary says Ben is a good man and Gerald is making this all up and it’s bad for him to resent anger. She orders him again to stop cursing, to no avail. She gets a little closer to him and whispers in his ears that they could use this time to take a little vacation. Gerald agrees that they could bring the whole family camping to Old Orchard Beach in the United States and Mary agrees. Their daughter, Sarah (Odeya Rush) surprises them kissing and Mary apologizes for the indecency.
The following day, Gerald asks Mary to pack his bag early in the morning and leaves to get their camping trailer from the camping site outside the city. Gerald drives his 1964 Pontiac Bonneville around Montreal and stops in a department store to buy a newspaper and cigarettes. He can hear Mary urging him to quit smoking, but he’s so stressed with the job that he can’t get himself to quit. He drives around town for a while and leaves the city.
Mary is struggling to retain control over her kitchen, with her three children, Charles (Logan Lerman), Sarah and Marco (Owen Vaccaro) all talking over each other next to their grandfather Horace (M. Emmett Walsh). As she serves the plates, she notices a mysterious man wandering near their house. She brushes it off and serves her family. She announces to the family that Gerald left town to get their camping trailer, they are going to Old Orchard. They are all excited to go and Horace says he’s not sure he’ll like it there. Marco makes a rude comment towards her grandfather and Mary threatens to wash his mouth with soap if he does it again.
During the day, Sarah tries some swimsuits on for her big trip and Mary catches her with she believes to be an outrageous swimsuit. She says they’re going to Old Orchard, not a whorehouse, God forbid. Charles, who was watching, says he doesn’t mind it and Sarah chases him through the house. Marco is playing checkers with Horace who forgot about the incident this morning and forgot his grandson. She orders Sarah to only bring one piece swimsuits and no shorts and it’s an order. She asks God to give her the strength to keep this house in order.
When Gerald comes back with the camping trailer, he sets shop outside with his cigarettes and beers and starts to clean the mess. The mysterious man from earlier comes up to him and introduces himself as Victor (Michael Mando). He tells Gerald he has some information about the arsons and he sets up a meeting with him tonight at midnight at the top of Mount Royal. Gerald finds it quite odd, but he accepts the deal after Victor says it may be involving Ben McRae. When Mary asks Gerald something by the window, Victor runs away. She asks him who he was talking to, but he says it was someone asking for directions. She asks him to come inside, they’re about to eat dinner. Gerald comes back inside and says the prayer before they eat. He reminds them that they are leaving tonight at eleven so they can spend the day at the beach tomorrow.
By 11 pm, Gerald is in his car and driving up the Mount Royal. He arrives shortly before midnight at the top, where he sees a parked van. He looks behind and sees his family, his father, with Marco asleep on his lap and his two other kids sleeping. Mary is asleep too. At midnight sharp, he sees Victor coming out of the van. Gerald rolls down his window and Victor checks inside the vehicle. He runs back to the van and then the screen turns to a bright white.
2019 - Gerald wakes up suddenly. His eyes struggle to adapt to the sun. It’s the early morning now. His family is still asleep, nobody moved. In his car, everything is the same, but in outside, everything changed. The van isn’t there and some threes are gone. He starts the engine again and he can’t seem to tune in a radio station. He drives down the Mount Royal and as he heads downtown, he sees that the city has changed and not just the city. Cars and people, nothing is the same. People stare at his car and camping trailer like they were from another world. He can’t seem to understand what people are looking at while they’re walking. Some people have it close to their heads, others in their hands and the rest bury them in their pockets. He drives through the same street he did a couple of hours earlier, but it has changed tremendously. He pulls over and park at the same convenience store. He thanks God that it hasn’t changed. He gets inside and gets a weird look from the customers and the cashier due to his retro outfit and fedora. He asks for a pack of cigarettes and the cashier tells him they don’t sell these. He swears and looks back in his car, his family is slowly waking up. He looks down at the newspaper and is amazed to see they are printed in color. The cashier asks him if he’s alright and he takes a good look at the date on the newspaper. He asks her, while starring at her piercings in disgust if they’re really in 2019 and she says yes as Gerald looks at Mary, panicking in the car and also looking at him.
Quick cut to Gerald, at home, throwing his glass across the room. His wife, Mary (Cara Buono), cleaning the dishes, begs him to keep it down so he won’t wake up the kids. She orders him to apologize to the Holy Father and he does, reluctantly. He says he can’t believe Ben is forcing him to take a week off. He’s certain Ben is forcing him off the case, he may be involved. He was the first respondent for seven of the ten last fires. Mary says Ben is a good man and Gerald is making this all up and it’s bad for him to resent anger. She orders him again to stop cursing, to no avail. She gets a little closer to him and whispers in his ears that they could use this time to take a little vacation. Gerald agrees that they could bring the whole family camping to Old Orchard Beach in the United States and Mary agrees. Their daughter, Sarah (Odeya Rush) surprises them kissing and Mary apologizes for the indecency.
The following day, Gerald asks Mary to pack his bag early in the morning and leaves to get their camping trailer from the camping site outside the city. Gerald drives his 1964 Pontiac Bonneville around Montreal and stops in a department store to buy a newspaper and cigarettes. He can hear Mary urging him to quit smoking, but he’s so stressed with the job that he can’t get himself to quit. He drives around town for a while and leaves the city.
Mary is struggling to retain control over her kitchen, with her three children, Charles (Logan Lerman), Sarah and Marco (Owen Vaccaro) all talking over each other next to their grandfather Horace (M. Emmett Walsh). As she serves the plates, she notices a mysterious man wandering near their house. She brushes it off and serves her family. She announces to the family that Gerald left town to get their camping trailer, they are going to Old Orchard. They are all excited to go and Horace says he’s not sure he’ll like it there. Marco makes a rude comment towards her grandfather and Mary threatens to wash his mouth with soap if he does it again.
During the day, Sarah tries some swimsuits on for her big trip and Mary catches her with she believes to be an outrageous swimsuit. She says they’re going to Old Orchard, not a whorehouse, God forbid. Charles, who was watching, says he doesn’t mind it and Sarah chases him through the house. Marco is playing checkers with Horace who forgot about the incident this morning and forgot his grandson. She orders Sarah to only bring one piece swimsuits and no shorts and it’s an order. She asks God to give her the strength to keep this house in order.
When Gerald comes back with the camping trailer, he sets shop outside with his cigarettes and beers and starts to clean the mess. The mysterious man from earlier comes up to him and introduces himself as Victor (Michael Mando). He tells Gerald he has some information about the arsons and he sets up a meeting with him tonight at midnight at the top of Mount Royal. Gerald finds it quite odd, but he accepts the deal after Victor says it may be involving Ben McRae. When Mary asks Gerald something by the window, Victor runs away. She asks him who he was talking to, but he says it was someone asking for directions. She asks him to come inside, they’re about to eat dinner. Gerald comes back inside and says the prayer before they eat. He reminds them that they are leaving tonight at eleven so they can spend the day at the beach tomorrow.
By 11 pm, Gerald is in his car and driving up the Mount Royal. He arrives shortly before midnight at the top, where he sees a parked van. He looks behind and sees his family, his father, with Marco asleep on his lap and his two other kids sleeping. Mary is asleep too. At midnight sharp, he sees Victor coming out of the van. Gerald rolls down his window and Victor checks inside the vehicle. He runs back to the van and then the screen turns to a bright white.
2019 - Gerald wakes up suddenly. His eyes struggle to adapt to the sun. It’s the early morning now. His family is still asleep, nobody moved. In his car, everything is the same, but in outside, everything changed. The van isn’t there and some threes are gone. He starts the engine again and he can’t seem to tune in a radio station. He drives down the Mount Royal and as he heads downtown, he sees that the city has changed and not just the city. Cars and people, nothing is the same. People stare at his car and camping trailer like they were from another world. He can’t seem to understand what people are looking at while they’re walking. Some people have it close to their heads, others in their hands and the rest bury them in their pockets. He drives through the same street he did a couple of hours earlier, but it has changed tremendously. He pulls over and park at the same convenience store. He thanks God that it hasn’t changed. He gets inside and gets a weird look from the customers and the cashier due to his retro outfit and fedora. He asks for a pack of cigarettes and the cashier tells him they don’t sell these. He swears and looks back in his car, his family is slowly waking up. He looks down at the newspaper and is amazed to see they are printed in color. The cashier asks him if he’s alright and he takes a good look at the date on the newspaper. He asks her, while starring at her piercings in disgust if they’re really in 2019 and she says yes as Gerald looks at Mary, panicking in the car and also looking at him.
There are some casting issues (like Logan Lerman seeming way too old for his character), but Brendan Fraser gives a strong lead performance and the pilot introduces a very intriguing central mystery that should provide plenty of material for future episodes.
The pilot not only features some great performances by the two leads, but it also leaves the viewer with a lot of unanswered questions and that's almost a necessity for a series with a central mystery. This formula makes me want to come back next week and that's all a pilot is about.
It's hard for me to give this series a rotten rating, but it is based on the fact that I think The Survivors will outrun its premise very quickly. It makes for a good first episode, but it another plotline than the fish-out-the-water story to keep my hooked.
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