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The Event Season 1 Episode 4

A Matter of Life and Death

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AIRED: Oct 11, 2010

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8.2

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Episode Summary

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As the White House tries to deal with a biological threat, they realize the only hope of resolving the issue is to crack Sophia during an interrogation. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Collier discovers Victor's secret life while searching for Leila, a businessman with undisclosed intelligence about the White House appears out of nowhere, and Vicky and Carter continue to hold their hostages.moreless

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Fan Episode Reviews (5)

Not what I expected.

8.0

By pavlosnumerouno, Nov 14, 2010

I like this series, however I am a little surprised, I was under the impression that each episode would end in an event, the first three were, the plane vanishing, all the survivors found dead after the plane landed safely, and the third all the survivors coming back to life, But where was the spectacular event in this episode. I wouldn't call a communal nose bleed spectacular, or the girls faked escape. so I am little disappointed.

I can only hope it doesn't happen again, it would be a bit of a let down for such a clever storyline.

pavlos.

This line is added only so I can post up this review, so please ignore it.moreless
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Not a good sign..

7.5

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Nov 14, 2010

After last week, which took some of the best elements of 24 and other high-octane television dramas, the show showed signs of cracking under the pressure, proving it doesn't have the writing chops of any of the shows it's basing itself off of. Sure, the episode had some good moments and it slowly began to move the plot forward, but that doesn't help the writing.

I didn't have a problem with most of the episode. I enjoyed learning about Sean and Leila's past and also a little more about President Martinez. It's important for the show to start building these characters up a little bit, because at this point, I feel nothing for any of the characters, and even the more interesting ones seem to be nothing but hollow shells of characters. Unless the writers can come up with some better and more compelling backstory, I'm worried it'll be difficult to care about anything happening to the characters.

Sean and the FBI agent (it's bad that I can't remember her name.. says everything that needs to be said about the characters) narrowly escape the attack on the FBI building in Arizona and they begin searching for Vicky and Leila. They visit Texas first, where they find Vicky's mother and son. Meanwhile, President Martinez struggles to figure out what to do with the passengers on the plane after they raise from the dead. Sophia refuses to admit what happened, but does actually give him some usable information by giving him the name of the person in charge of moving the plane and raising the people from the dead: Thomas (Clifton Collins Jr.). We also get one of the most insane, pointless and overly complicated plans by the people holding Leila. They want to get ahold of Sean, so they set up this elaborate scheme to help Leila escape and get to the police so she can call Sean. It took nearly thirty five minutes for us to get through it, and it annoys me that we wasted so much time on something that could've been resolved in just a few minutes.

Sure, the show is still holding my interest, but I'm slowly starting to realize that this show doesn't seem to be making the right moves at this point, and with its ratings dipping lower and lower, it can't afford to be giving us sub-par episodes like this.moreless
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A Matter of Life and Death

9.0

By TrueTvWatcher, Nov 14, 2010

A Matter of Life and Death was another great episode of The Event. This episode was perhaps not as shocking as those before it, however it was suspensful and kept me on the edge. There was more back story to each of the characters, and we are slowly starting to put pieces together. I think that this episode allowed for the characters to gain more depth and momentum. Some scenes made it really easy to connect to the characters. There is a lot going on and it is really fun piecing every thing together. I thought that the pace of the episode was good. I look forward to seeing how things play out and what happens next. The end was a bit of a surprise.moreless
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Needs a little more spicing up or it will probably be canceld after the 8th episode.

7.5

By fossil1211, Nov 14, 2010

It does keeps you interested with the conspiracies going on in the background of both sides.

Hal Holbrouck was the voice on the phone talking to Vicky. My guess he must have been someone in charge of guarding the aliens in the past who still has a lot of influence behind the scenes. Holbrouck is so old he may have been the first one to have had contact with the aliens in 1944. I would not be surprised if the Vice president or the head of the CIA is involved with Holbrouck as well. In a previous review someone said that maybe Vicky was forced into this in order to protect her son. Maybe, but I do not see it because she seems to like what she is doing (killing) to much.moreless
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A slower paced episode with plenty of character history and development to fill the void.

8.5

By VConn, Oct 15, 2010

This episode was reviewed y a tv.com writer(Tim Surette?) who described it as slower than the first few episodes and he was right but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

This episode provided insight to our hero Sean and his girlfriend Leila as well as Michael. Michael's wife said he used to fly internationally before he took the job which allowed him to stay home more - Could it be he left the job working with the people running this conspiracy or did he leave the pilot job to start that job? Because it seems evident he was involved with them at some point which explains why he was ordered to pilot that plane.

We got a brief glimpse of Sean's life growing up and it could be that his father is the guy with Vicky holding Leila hostage I guess we'll find out next week.

We also seen Leila was moved from Miami to Texas - These guys really get around don't they. She promptly escaped but as we learned that was just a ploy by Vicky so that they could lure Sean out of his hidey hole. It was actually a rather clever yet simple idea, Why should they do the work of finding Sean when they can just get him to come to them and on their terms, Should be good to see how he and Agent Collier get out of it especially since when they were last seen they were headed to Colorado(Damn cell phone battery dying).

Vicky it turns out as well as being a double crossing evil homicidal b*tch is also a mother and her son is apparently hiding out with her mother both presumably under a false name as Sean and Collier discovered, It makes you wonder why, Is she a willing participant in the conspiracy, Did they threaten her family? Why is she hiding them and why cant her son see her? So many questions so little time to answer them all.

President Martinez also had a slightly more aggressive role in this episode and we learned more of Sophia and her people.

Thomas threatened Martinez to release Sophia and their people or people(humans) would die next time as opposed to going into a death like state and then waking up only to start dying from some weird virus that causes monster nose bleeds which is never a good sign, So apparently instead of killing people slowly Thomas will kill us quickly? Upon hearing this threat and receiving a mysterious phone call via a cell phone hidden in David's school bag Martinez goes to Sophia who sticks to her not cooperating stance before finally cracking a little and telling Martinez who made the call and giving hints to his personality that may explain his more hostile point of view, Given that he is a "natural leader" it could be fair to assume he is Sophia's political rival(Or Deputy who wants the top job) in the alien society, Sophia it would seem is happy to go along at her own pace and adhere to whatever plan she has presumably been working on since 1944 and it does appear that she has a plan. Whereas Thomas seems to prefer a more violent plan and Sophia seems worried that he might sway some of her people to his way of thinking which would probably force her to act I think.

So while there may not have been much action this week there was still plenty to keep us entertained and the Leila escape thing really sets the stage for what can happen next, I can't wait for more of The Event.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Jason Ritter	Sean Walker
Sarah Roemer	Leila Buchanan
Taylor Cole	Vicky Roberts
Ian Anthony Dale	Simon Lee
Scott Patterson	Michael Buchanan
Laura Innes	Sophia Maguire

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Julia Campbell	Val Buchanan	Guest Star
William Russ	Police Chief	Guest Star
Rosalind Chao	CDC Doctor	Guest Star
D.B. Sweeney	Carter	Recurring Role
Heather McComb	FBI Agent Collier	Recurring Role
Gonzalo Menendez	Air Marshal Dan Taylor	Recurring Role

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Episode Photos

Scott Patterson as Michael Buchanan and ...

© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Bill Smitrovich as Vice President Raymon...

© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Bill Smitrovich as Vice President Raymon...

© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Sarah Roemer as Leila Buchanan and Taylo...

© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- On the "previously on The event opening. when they show that Leyla has been kidnapped, they show her making a call asking Shaun to get her. This hasn't happened yet and will happen on this episode.
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QUOTES (3)
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- Blake: As we discussed, you're not running the investigation into the assassination attempt--I am.
  Jarvis: And you know how I feel about that.
  Blake: Oh, yes, I remember your insinuation quite clearly. And i chose not to be offended by it.
  Jarvis: That's all you have to say?
  Blake: The President and I have our differences. But the idea of me having anything to do with trying to kill him... is absurd. If only because that would put you in charge.
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- Sophia: Oh, thank you. It's all so delicious.
  Christina: That's because I had nothing to do with it.
  Martinez: Ha. I managed to marry a Cuban girl who doesn't cook.
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- Sophia: Oh, that's amazing. A refugee comes to this country, pregnant, poor, alone, and a generation later, her son is the President. This is why your country is truly great.
  Martinez: I couldn't agree more.
  Christina: Um-hmm.
  Sophia: So you understand why I am hopeful that you will welcome my people the way that this country welcomed yours. My dream is that one day my people will sit around a table like this and tell their immigration stories, and it will seem no more strange than a tale of a fishing boat from Cuba.
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NOTES (2)
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- Although credited, Hal Holbrook only has a brief voice-only appearance.
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- International Airdates:
  Canada: October 11, 2010 on Citytv
  Sweden: October 17, 2010 on SVT1
  UK: November 5, 2010 on Channel 4
  Czech Republic: February 5, 2012 on Prima COOL
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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- ADD ALLUSIONS from this episode.