The Event: “The Beginning of the End” with “Arrival” Sneak Peek

Hello The Event fans,

Last week we saw the attempt to infect a major shopping center with the disease obtained from a dead WW1 soldier who died from an extremely deadly strain of the Spanish flu.

When that failed due to the daring-do of Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) and Vicky Roberts (Taylor Q. Cole), The Russian air stewardess, Alexandra (Angela Gots) released the disease on a commuter bus, killing all within it. Dr. Liu (Alexandra Bokyun Chun) was able to use the the data retrieved from this to gauge the effect of the strain on ordinary people.

Finding the disease killed the human population too quickly, yet did not effect the Aliens at all, it was decided to use Leila (Sarah Roemer) to Trans-mutate the strain to act more slowly, allowing it to be spread more effectively among the native population.

Simon Lee (Ian Anthony Dale) got to Blake Sterling‘s (Zeljko Ivanek) house and they both escaped in a stolen car. they surmised the best way to reach President Martinez (Blair Underwood) to get the antidote to heal him, is via the First Lady, Christina Martinez (Lisa Vidal).

Acting President Raymond Jarvis (Bill Smitrovich) ordered an air strike to a warehouse in which Christina had told him Blake and Simon were hiding. Simon and Blake however, had escaped the warehouse and no bodies were found in the wreckage of the storage facility.. Jarvis fired General Ambruster (Blue Deckart) and Agent Peel (Roger Bart) knew Jarvis was not the Commander In Chief they wanted. Upon finding out the warehouse was a diversion and finding out Christina Martinez was in on Blake’s plan, Jarvis knew he was in deep trouble.

We ended with the antidote being hidden by Simon in a bouquet of flowers which Christina had bought for her husband, then, as she prayed softly we saw her remove the filled syringe and give the antidote to Martinez in his hospital room. We saw Jarvis realized he was going to be in deep trouble for his role in the attempt on Martinez’s life, Sophia watching as Dr. Liu infected Leila with a nasal introduction of the infection. Sophia’s home world ever closer to incineration and Sean, with Vicky in pursuit of the Aliens.

The Beginning of the End

We open in a desolate scene of dead humans laying out in a town. All are dead or close to it, as Sophia Maguire (Laura Innes) is walking along, calling out “Hello?” to anyone who might still be alive. She is stopped at a car in which a young girl is still alive, asking if she is a doctor. Her little brother will not wake up and with a small gasp, Sophia sees a toddler laying dead beside the little girl who then asked Sophia “Why is everybody sick?” Sophia has no answer for her and the little girl starts to yell at Sophia “It’s YOUR FAULT!! Why won’t you HELP ME!?” through the closed window of the car and hitting the window.

Sophia wakes up. This was a dream she had been having. It calls into question whether or not Aliens actually dream. I say Why the heck not? I would think any sentient being would be able to dream. Sophia seems horrified by what she dreamt. Sophia wakes on a cot in the Evacuation center they have set up Dr. Liu is saying the trans-mutation of the disease with Leila is successful and apprizing her of the timeline.”In two weeks twenty-five percent of the world’s population. … In five, ninety-eight percent”

Sophia stops her “We…we only have to make room for our own people. There has to be a way to control the disease. To limit the number of deaths”. “There isn’t” Dr. Liu replies “The strength of the pathogen, is uncontrollable.” Sophia looks very remorseful as Dr. Liu finished “Sophia, We need to bring our people here.” Sophia asked then the question “Does need always justify the action?” Shaking her head ‘no’ she adds softly “This goes against everything we believe in” but Dr. Liu says in my almost exact words: “If the situation were reversed, they wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to us”. We see Leila laying there in the room with them bathed in sweat and very sick.

Back in ICU/CCU, Christina Martinez is speaking to her secretary at the doorway as the monitors on President Martinez start to indicate changes in his vitals. The doctor comes in and looks him over stating the EEG levels are showing improvement. Higher level brain activity. Christina says “He’s getting better…” but the doctor is hedging. pointing out it is anomalous brain activity but seems to feel they are not out of the woods yet.

In the Evacuation shelter with Carlos and Sophia among others, Carlos says they have everything in place on their home world and their people are ready to arrive. Gerard has the Portal activated and it must remain on for several more hours. but there is a reconnaissance satellite over Tibet -Where the Portal array is actually located- Gerard, the alien involved there at the Portal site is worried about detection.

Jarvis is on the phone in his office talking to Sophia. “I’m not comfortable blindly doing your bidding. If you want me to do something I need to know why.” Sophia tells him about the Satellite “I know the satellite is shared by NATO, but operated by your NSA. I need it… redirected. The NSA refers to it internally as E3175” she asks Jarvis to repeat that back to her, which he does. She thanks him, using his first name “Raymond”. Jarvis then tells her about Martinez’s improvement in hospital. “Meaning you didn’t stop them getting the counter agent to him” Sophia finishes. Sophia tells Jarvis that he must not let Martinez re-enter the equation as it would jeopardize everything.. for both of them. Jarvis asked for assurance that the American people would be spared. Sophia in a bold-faced lie replies “I give you my word.” They hang up and someone asked Sophia “You know by the time the pathogen is released and people start getting sick that he’ll know he’s been duped.” Sophia answers “By that time, it’ll be too late.”

In a bar, Blake meets up with Simon Lee meet up in a local bar They talk over Martinez’s improvement and Simon tells Blake Sophia had sent a team to Siberia to find the weapon. Blake said that this makes sense. citing a few weeks ago the government found out about ice core samples being analyzed by a scientist. “What was it?” Simon asked. “I don’t know, but I think they found it” Blake surmises. He talked about the Air Moscow flight’s military escort being waved off by Jarvis. They both then see the news on the bar’s television about the Mall evacuation. I had thought the accomplice involved was named “Devon” but it was… as cited by Simon Lee, a guy named “Roman”. Simon tells Blake that Roman is one of their people. Blake murmurs “A Terrorist attack…. and a dead sleeper”

Sean and Vicky are -where else?- in a car driving through Washington. Vicky is looking through the sleeper’s wallet, hoping for clues of where he, or the others may be holed up.

They found an address and go there to find it is what appears to be a sweatshop. They ask the workers there if they have seen this man and all say ‘no’. So off they go to the upper levels of the building. As they both sneak about, Simon grabs Vicky and we now see Sean with a gun to Blake Sterling’s head and Simon with a gun to Vicky’s head. Standoff. Shortly, they all are aware of who the other is, they know now they are on the same side, so to speak.

Next, in Dr. Liu’s sector, Leila is on the bed, restrained and Dr. liu is instructing the others that she needs more data points of how he virus replicates in the culture medium. “Initial indications are good” she says, sounding pleased. Dr. Liu walks over to Leila asking ‘What’s her Status?” The other says “Body temperature is rising, heart rate and blood pressure dropping”.

Dr. Liu tells him “We need to keep her alive for producing the virus. Increase her IV Fluids and give her a corticosteroid.”. Leila -able to speak, says “please… Please don’t do this… kill all those people…” Dr. Liu tells her: “If we had a choice, we wouldn’t, but we don’t. We’re just taking back what is rightfully ours. Your father should have told you… We were here first.”

Sophia is now addressing those in the evacuation center: “We’ve determined the most efficient way to spread the pathogen is by using three parallel distribution channels. The first team will release the pathogen in the immediate region; They will contaminate a food processing facility that ships products to supermarkets In six different states. within days it will spread across the eastern seaboard.”

She continues: ” The second team will contaminate currency at the bureau of Engraving facility in Virginia in time for the monthly reserve bank distribution. This will effectively spread the disease on a nationwide basis.” We see the graphics of the predicted spread.

Sophia concludes: “The third team will release it in the international terminal at Dulles Airport, at a time that will maximize global crossings by infected passengers. In five days, the vast majority of the human population… will be dead.”Sophia looks genuinely saddened, but again, she is driven to save her own people.

She pauses and says “This is the last time we’ll be meeting as a group, until it is all over. But I want each of you, in your own way to honor and mourn the loss of life, but also to remember why we are doing this. For our survival”.

Jarvis is ordering the redirection of the satellite. He is told it will take about two hours to redirect. Jarvis understands and disconnects. Jarvis then goes in to see the doctor who is attending to Martinez. As Jarvis leaves the ICU, he sees Christina coming up the hallway to him, her face a picture of fury. He starts to offer a word of support, only to feel the sting of a resounding slap from Christina. “I know you poisoned him!” She said angrily.

Pointing her finger at him as if to say Shut-Up! She starts to rant at him about almost losing her husband, their son losing his father because of Jarvis. She is going completely “Gangstah” on him, as the kids these days say. She continues to spear at his face with her finger as she says “I will hang you out to dry! I’m going to tell your wife and children what type of a…” Her lava-like explosion is quelled by someone coming in to tell them Martinez is awake. They rush in, except for Jarvis and the preliminary indications show Martinez is indeed recovering, amazingly well. Martinez and Christina visit and kiss, happily. Martinez asks Christina what has been happening and she tells him about Jarvis, Blake and Simon, who got the antidote to her for him.

Sean, Simon, Blake and Vicky are going through cabinets and drawers at the building where we last left them. “Notes, receipts, anything that might lead us to Sophia’s new location.” Simon tells them. Blake remembers Vicky being in the CIA and how she went rogue when he to work in Washington. Of course, Vicky denies all knowledge. They speak of Michael and the escape, when they hear the trash collectors come to get the scheduled collection. They stop the collectors and are delving through all the papers they can find. Blake then gets a phone call from Martinez.Blake hears Elias’ voice and we sense he is crying with relief at hearing President Martinez right now. Blake fills him in on things and Martinez is now determined to get back to the White House.

We are back in the Alien’s Evacuation center and the tanks of the pathogen are being readied for distribution. Carlos calls Sophia, to tell her everyone is ready at the infection sites. We see people we can presume to be of their world putting on badges, uniforms and at lockers etc, as if they are employees. We see a worker among vegetables and fruit and then someone at the Engraving facility having a quibble over a new drying agent being delivered (The pathogen, of course). The ‘human’ demands further confirmation of this order from a district supervisor upon which time the ‘alien’ shoots and kills the human worker. Sophia, on her ever-present iPhone is seeking status reports. All her people in their respective positions reply “In place and Ready” Sophia commands: “Time to begin!”

Sean is now trying to hack into the NSA along with him are Blake, Sterling and Vicky. Blake looks on, impressed; “Ever think about working for the government, Mr. Walker?” he asked. “Not while Vice-President Jarvis in in office” Sean replies. “Well, we have that in common” states Blake.

Sean accesses the site and only needs the key to get in. Sterling tells him they killed his, “…but Agent Peel was kind enough to lend me his”. They are in the site now. They use time stamps from images, Roman’s receipts and triangulate to another location. Simon tells Sean to go forward in time at this new building. They are over the Evacuation center, in my opinion.

Dr Liu is now in her section saying “At five thirty, all distribution channels will be spreading the pathogen. I have live feeds from the CDC that will allow us to follow this is real time.”

Sophia looks at Leila “What about her?” Dr. Liu replies “We’ve harvested enough viral cells from her.” Sophia interjects “No, what about her… her condition?” “It’s unclear how long her immune system will be able to fight off the virus. Could be hours, Days…” Sophia looks at Leila and says softly “She’s suffering.” Dr. Liu replies “It’ll only get worse” Sophia sighs saying “Then, just end it. But do it quickly and painlessly” Uhm, where have we heard THAT before?

In the Alien’s center, they are preparing the pathogen canisters for transport. Sophia asks Carlos: “Well, are you ready?” Carlos replies in the affirmative and we see vehicles leaving the building. At the same time, Sean, Simon Lee, Vicky and Blake are in the car heading to the building. Sean is handing ammunition out and Simon sees the scroll. Asking what it is, Sean tells him it was given to him by “Someone who claimed to have protected us from your people.” Simon, now interested asked what else he had been told. Sean said “I don’t know. He didn’t tell me anything … I have to idea what it is or… what it says.”

Sean looks at Simon asking “Do you?” Simon tells Sean “If you could read it, you’d know more than he was telling you” “About what?” Sean asked. Simon sighs as he drives and replied “About us. Why we’re here, and about what happened”. The discussion stops as the vehicle approaches the large building we presume to be where the Others had been working from. Inside the building, we see Dr. Liu coming in to Leila, with two vials and a syringe on a tray. We see Leila fighting the restraints on her wrists as we hear the appliances being brought out. Cue a window, through which we see Vicky running. It is a window at a Guarded entrance. Vicky uses the “I ran out of gas” ruse to get the two guards to stand down long enough to tell her to move on as Blake fires into the window from the side.

Dr. Liu is filling the syringe, and tapping air bubbles out of it (I ask: WHY do they do this? The shot is to KILL someone. Why care about the air bubble?) as she tells Leila. “There won’t be any pain. The first injection will put you to sleep, so you aren’t awake for the effects of the second one” In other words, a heavy Anesthetic, like Phenobarbital, followed by a Potassium Chloride chaser to stop the heart…abruptly. Leila moans and looks like she is crying.

Now we see a worker in the alien’s building pushing a stack of coolers which I presume are carrying infected specimens. Sean and Simon force this guy to detour and start questioning him about who else is in the building. ‘Five and the prisoner…. a girl.” Dr. Liu starts to give Leila the first injection, but Leila wrestles out of the restraints and goes Kung-Fu on Dr. Liu. Struggle ensues and Leila uses the tranquilizer syringe into Dr. Liu’s neck to knock her out. Finally freed, Leila runs off to one of the plastic-sheeted walls at the same time as Sean reaches the wall on the other side.

She warns Sean, but Sean already knows what Sophia’s plan is. Leila tells him she is infected and she can’t let him come in, or he will die. She tells Sean all their plans are in the laptop over there on a table. “They plan to release it by five-thirty”.

.Jarvis is in the Oval Office as the door opens and Jarvis says “I thought I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed” He see Eli Martinez coming into the office. Martinez walks up to the desk telling Jarvis to “Get out from behind that desk and get the hell out of my office!” Jarvis replies he has every right to be here. The cabinet enacted the twenty-fifth amendment and appointed him as acting President.” Martinez gets closer to Jarvis “I know, you tried to kill me… I know about you and Sophia…”

Jarvis says “I don’t know what you’ve been told, but if you’re talking about the Peace Agreement I’m currently negotiating with Sophia…That wouldn’t have been possible while you were at the helm… Please, Richard, Help me out here” To which Agent Peel responds “You’re on your own here, Raymond” Jarvis continues “Everything that I have done has been to guarantee the safety of the American People…” Martinez interrupts “Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night, Ray? Your actions have only served yourself and ONLY you!” Jarvis levels off at Martinez saying “Whether you like it or not, I am the President of the United States!” Martinez, said “Not for long… Not for long!” “Well, we’ll see about that, Eli.” Jarvis countered There needs to be a vote that you’re capable.” Pointing out the strokes and that he will demand tests to the President’s ability to come back to office.

Blake and Simon are trying to get into Dr. Liu’s Laptop. So far not having any luck. “I’ll take it from here” says Simon getting up to leave. Sean is in the medical sector with Leila as they talk about what if and Sean says they should move. When all this is over, they should move. Maybe to Portland, Bend or anywhere but Boston. “That’d be really nice” Leila said. “But you have to find Sophia… And stop her. Do it for me”

In another part of the building, Simon is reviving Dr. Liu. Simon looks at her and says “Now, you can rationalize all you want to, but deep down you know what you’re doing is wrong.” He sounds sincere in trying to talk to Dr. Liu. His voice was such I would follow him anywhere.

He continues: “According to Leila, all we need to know is on that laptop…over there. So all I need from you, is your password, Doctor. That’s all”. Dr. Liu tells him “Don’t you see? It’s too late. It’s pointless” Simon gets up, sighing “Suit Yourself…” and comes back with a power drill to her and threats, (…His voice no longer sweet and sensitive!) Simon ultimately gets her password for the laptop. They get the data they need…. Now, what to do with this information?

The SUV speeds up the streets with our heroes in it as we see the pallets of money being prepared to be processed at the engraving facility while one of the Others pushes the tank of pathogen to replace a normal one.We then see another of the Aliens in the airport terminal looking at his watch and the schedule of flights.

Sophia on her phone in a car saying “Jarvis has just confirmed the satellite has been diverted. Carlos replies “I’ll have Gerard power it up. Where are we on the pathogen?” “We’re right on schedule, but leave that to us. Your job is to power the array” replies Sophia We now are at the Portal center in Tibet and Gerard saying “We’re ready to activate, on your order” Sophia, smiling says “Proceed”. Gerard tells his colleague at the activation point: “Activate.”

The Portal comes alive with a blue column of light from the ground and we travel up, up, up through the skies where we see a view from space with a blue ball of energy building and coming to life above the Earth….

My Take…For what it’s worth…

We have seen the Aliens begin in this series as a tattered, forlorn group of human-like people from a crash site in Alaska. Detained for over 65 years they don’t age as we do. We find they have been misled and lied to by the powers that be and now the they have escaped their prison in Mount Inostranka and established contact with their world in a galaxy of over eight million light years away (NCG-253) to find their own people are facing certain death from a supernova.

They have gone from those who we might be friends with to a ‘people’ bent on their own survival at any cost, even if it means wiping out the native population on this world to meet that goal. Sophia is, as we are led to believe their actual leader. She is the matriarch of what most thought were a peaceful race. Refraining from harming benevolent civilizations. Sophia, in her desperation and apparent heartache over the killing of her people in Government-ordered attacks now sees this place as hostile. Releasing her people from an oath they took to harm no one, she has started the process of winnowing the native people here to make room for her own people to come here via a Portal array… Sort of what could be called a ‘wormhole’. She seemed shocked that the virus could not be stopped once it started to spread.

We have, in earlier episodes, followed an elderly man by the name of Dr. James Dempsey. (Hal Holbrook) He was a billionaire from working in big Pharmaceuticals and seemed a bit looney, if not downright evil. When he was in the Jura Mountain range (France) at an archeological dig, netting him information about an ancient tribe called “The Sentinels”. The Sentinels, who have been here for over three millennium , as he was telling Vicky Roberts in his house in France, were a group who “Have been given the task to protect the native population of earth from ‘Them’.” (Said as he pointed upward).

Dempsey then ordered Vicky to be killed, apparently knowing full well that a young man called Sean Walker would rescue her. Sean did, in fact, come through and Dempsey told them what was going on between the Sentinels and Sophia’s people. Now in this last episode. Simon and Sean were talking about the scroll Sean had received from Dr. Dempsey just before Dempsey committed suicide.

Their discussion, and what Dr. Liu told Leila in the medical sector leads us to believe the Aliens have been here for centuries. There had apparently been a major conflict between the Sentinels and the Aliens. While in a chamber in the Jura Mountains, we saw a cave paiting and tatoos on Dempsey’s arms as he said the ‘Guardian Angels’ are “Very, very real”.

I’ve heard folks describe the Book of Enoch being relevant to Dempsey’s story. There are a number of historical references to ‘Those from the Heavens’ so regardless of one’s religious beliefs, I include The Book of Enoch in summary for your edification.

A Summary of the Book Of Enoch is as follows:

1. The Book of the Watchers (chs. 1—36). Enoch is a righteous man who has received heavenly visions. The book is a collection of revelations regarding divine judgment. It describes the rebellion of angels. The fallen angels, called “Watchers,” have sexual intercourse with human women, who give birth to a race of wicked giants. The giants lay waste to the earth and humanity, and so become the occasion for the flood, in which they are destroyed. But once their demonic spirits are released from their dead bodies, these demons wreak havoc in the world until the end time of judgment.

2. The Book of the Similitudes (or Parables; chs. 37—71). Enoch again receives heavenly visions, which are interpreted by angels. The primary character of these revelations is the “son of man.” Other titles employed to name this messiah figure are “the Chosen One” (the most common title), God’s “Anointed One,” and “the Righteous One.” This heavenly being is God’s agent for the final judgment and vindication of the righteous.

3. The Book of Astronomical Writings (or Heavenly Luminaries, chs. 72—82). Visions of heavenly and earthly occurrences advocate a 364-day solar calendar, as opposed to the controversial lunar calendar. Enoch describes to his son Methuselah his journey through the stars above the earth, guided by the angel Uriel.

4. The Book of Dream Visions (or Animal Apocalypse, chs. 83—90). Enoch recounts two visions to Methuselah. The first vision is of the sky falling and the earth undergoing cataclysmic disasters as a result. The second vision takes the form of an apocalyptic allegory describing the history of humanity from the creation of Adam to the final judgment. In it, humans are represented as animals and angels are represented as human beings. The apocalypse details the relationship of Jews with Gentiles and the end-time judgment.

5. The Book of the Epistle of Enoch (chs. 91—107). This epistle is written by Enoch for later generations. Righteousness and wickedness are contrasted throughout the letter in order to show that goodness and truth will be rewarded by God, but evil and sin will be punished by God. This sober eschatological prophecy admonishes readers about the final divine judgment.

–Of course there are plentiful sources of reading or deeper study of this material if one so wishes to do, I only offered the short version for this review.–

So I am curious. Are we to think perhaps that outside of theological hypotheses that the ones from the sky are in a nuts and bolts reality, Space visitors? Could this be what was meant by Dr. Liu and the Others as “We were here first”? Perhaps the Others started out as peaceful but they obtained too much of the human characteristic of desperation and in a sense Greed, thereby becoming “Fallen Angels”? This is why I so look forward to next weeks Finale. I want to see the people come, see what Sophia has done and punish her severely.

I really do hold to a belief of a truly advanced people existing out there. Maybe not ‘PEOPLE’ as we would know this to mean, but beings of an inner vision arriving and doing the right thing. It is one of the reasons I cannot accept the almost constant Doomsday story lines of many Science Fiction stories. I would like to believe better of any species, really, Reptoid, Humanoid or otherwise. Included below is entire episode “The Beginning of the End” from NBC.

I had hoped those in NBC’s decision making powers would grant a second season, but alas. If not, perhaps another station would pick this show up for a second season. Be sure to watch live, or with On Demand to help the ratings! Monday night, 9/8C tune in for The Event! In the meantime, included below courtesy of NBC is a sneak peek of what appears to be the NBC “The Event” series finale “Arrival”!

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Regards,

Celtica (Jen)