ABC's Emergence avoids the pitfalls of past Lost copycats

The Hollywood Reporter

Many shows have tried and failed to capture the Lost formula. from FlashForward to Resurrection to Invasion. "It serves no purpose to pretend that the new ABC drama Emergence is not a successor to this string of failures," says Daniel Fienberg. He adds: "It's with tempered pleasure that I can report the pilot for Emergence is well above average by Lost spawn standards. It sets a mood well, doesn't abuse its mysterious trappings and is carried by a thoroughly charming cast. Of course, pilots haven't necessarily been the problem for the ABC shows in this space and ABC hasn't been able to provide any subsequent Emergence episodes, so it's hard for me to assess whether even the most casual of investments will be rewarded. One failing consistent to many of these ABC duds has been needless initial complication and if I were to list my favorite thing about Emergence, it's that it's atypically clean, narratively," revolving around a police chief played by Allison Tolman and a mysterious little girl who just survived a mysterious plane crash. "It's here that most insecure shows would layer in obligatory place-holder conflict to keep things tense while the mythology wheels are spinning," says Fienberg. But Emergence avoids the past pitfalls and makes the viewers care for its storyline.

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• Allison Tolman brings to the role the warmth and shrewdness she did to a similar part in FX’s Fargo: "It’s a pleasure simply to watch her think through the case, and a pleasure granted often given how much the case becomes Jo’s whole life," says Daniel D'Addario, adding: "It’s hard to know if the audience will be there for Emergence, given how frequently attempts at crafting supernatural hits have fallen short in the recent past."
• Emergence's pilot seems like it's trying to duck Lost comparisons
• Allison Tolman likes that her character isn’t the kind of woman we’re conditioned to expect when we’re watching a female police chief on TV: “I find that a lot of those shows, the heroines drink like a man and, like, her dad never loved her,” she says. “There’s all this dark past, as if that’s what's needed to justify a woman in this position in a dangerous field. I think you could just be a normal woman and choose to work in a dangerous field.”