'Persons Unknown,'
hold the baggage
This NBC summer series is a serialized mystery
By Tom Conroy
Jun 7, 2010
TV used to be a commitment-free medium. If one missed an episode of, say, “L.A. Law,” it was easy to catch up the next week.
But starting with “The X-Files” and peaking with “Lost,” more and more series have built themselves around a central mystery that requires and supposedly rewards scrupulous attention. A missed episode in season two could make a plot turn in season four unintelligible.
The recent final season of “Lost” made viewers question whether all that time and mental energy were worth it. Even the post-finale accolades from fans seemed tinged with relief that the damn thing was over.
NBC’s drama “Persons Unknown,” premiering tonight at 10, seems likely to draw out its central mystery for the life of the show, but it also seems likely that the show’s mythology will be less complicated and less fraught than those of “Lost” and such recent series as “Fringe” and “FlashForward.”
“Persons Unknown” probably won’t break any new ground, but the pilot indicates that the creators are at least competent. By the low standards of summer drama viewing, the series could provide a little diversion.
Paradoxically, if the show wins any fans, they may hope that it doesn’t do too well in the ratings. The premise is the sort of thing that could make for a fun 10-episode miniseries but would be stretched to absurdity if it lasted more than a couple of seasons.
In the premiere, Janet (Daisy Betts), an attractive mother whose husband has broken off contact with her, loses sight of her young daughter in a playground but is then abducted herself. She wakes up in a hotel where she meets a varied group of strangers who all say they woke up in the hotel with no idea how they got there. They soon learn that whoever brought them there isn’t going to let them leave.
Played by a familiar-looking group of TV actors, the abductees immediately begin to suspect that one or more of them may know more than they’re saying. In Janet’s case, both her husband and her mother have reasons to want her out of the picture.
But the pilot suggests a larger conspiracy. The hotel is in a remote movie-set-like town filled with surveillance cameras. The group’s alpha male, Joe (Jason Miles), is cagey about his past but seems to have a background in the military or intelligence.
At times, the pilot veers toward the sort of goofy-eerie details we saw in “Twin Peaks” and the recent “Happy Town:” For example, the town boasts a Chinese restaurant with an obsequious maitre d’, and a fortune cookie sets up the first cliff-hanger.
The premise is reminiscent of those mysteries set in a country house in which the wealthy proprietor, seen or unseen, torments a group of invitees. The plot of “Persons Unknown” may turn out to be an elaborate game someone is playing.
Like most country-house-mystery characters, the abductees are paper-thin. But that won’t be a problem if the plot is involving.
After six seasons of “Lost,” a twisty mystery that doesn’t take itself too seriously would be a good palate cleanser. The pilot leaves it unclear whether “Persons Unknown” is going in that direction. Interested viewers should give the series a second chance next week and then decide if they’re ready for a commitment.
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