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The Event: Difference between revisions
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A commercial airliner hijacking. The discovery of a secret CIA prison deep within the mountains of Alaska, whose prisoners apparently [[Human Aliens|aren't human]]. A presidential press conference that could put the national security of the United States at risk. The mysterious disappearance of a young woman aboard a crowded cruise ship.
None of these incidents are "The Event".[[hottip:*:Nor are they [[Spell My Name With an "S"|"THE]] [[Lucky Charms Title|EV3NT"]].
''The Event'' is a drama/science fiction TV series by executive producer Evan Katz (''[[Twenty Four|24]]''). Told in anachronic order, the series tells the stories of several seemingly unrelated people whose lives intertwine as circumstances propel them toward some mysterious future happening known only as "the Event". The show premiered in the United States in 2010 on [[NBC]], and stars Jason Ritter, Blair Underwood and Laura Innes.
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** Averted completely since the mid-season break. The storytelling is now completely linear.
* [[Ancient Tradition]]: Dempsey claims to be part of a lineage of "Sentinels" who have protected the world from the aliens for thousands of years.
* [[Anti
* [[Apocalypse How]]: The aliens' home sun is on apparently on the verge of going supernova. Depending on how strong it is, this could place it somewhere between a Class 5 and a Class X-2.
** And Sophia's plan is now to {{spoiler|perform a Class 3a on humanity, in order to make room for her people}}.
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** Played straight with {{spoiler|Vicky, who was CIA agent once, until her boss framed her to cover his mistakes, which cost her a job and almost ended her life}}
* [[Cliff Hanger]]: Assuming the series isn't renewed for a second season, then it ends on one hell of a cliffhanger - {{spoiler|Simon reveals that his people [[Ancient Astronauts|used to live on Earth before humanity]], a terminally-ill Leila is revealed to be pregnant, Martinez's wife is revealed to be an alien, and, oh yeah, Sophia has the alien's homeworld ''teleported into Earth's orbit''}}. At least they knew to end the season/series with a bang.
* [[Cold
** Also {{spoiler|Sean to a traitorous contact}}.
* [[Cradling Your Kill]]: This happens to one of the Alaskan prisoners when he offers to detail the plans of the aliens living outside the compound in exchange for the release of himself and his girlfriend. His girlfriend, still loyal to Sophia, holds him close and tells him to keep imagining their future together while she stabs him to death.
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* [[Die Hard On an X|Die Hard On Inostranka]]: {{spoiler|Sterling}} in episode 12.
* [[Disney Death]]: Agent Lee, initially.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The secret prison conversation below is disturbingly similar to [[The War On Terror|a certain compound for holding dangerous individuals that would frighten the public]].
** Eerily played up further by references to Cuba in the conversation.
* [[The Dragon]]: Sterling was this at first for Martinez, but now, it seems as if he's become a failing [[Morality Chain]] for the President. As of episode 16, Senator Catherine Lewis has become this for Martinez (and seems poised to become a [[Dragon
** How? The Vice-President's not dead yet.
*** Oh, maybe because {{spoiler|the Vice-President tried poisoning Martinez?}}
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* [[ET Gave Us Wi Fi]]: {{spoiler|Thomas' involvement}} allegedly helped to push ahead the development of the atomic bomb by several decades.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: According to Vicky, she decided to stop working for Dempsey, after she learned about {{spoiler|his experiments on children}}
* [[Evil
* [[Exposition of Immortality]]: The extraterrestrials look just like humans, but live much longer and age slowly. Photos of these characters taken decades ago, but still looking just the way they do now, are often the only clue the human characters get that reveal the true nature of friends and family members they thought they knew very well.
* [[Face Heel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Before the revelation that her planet was going to die and the death of her son Sophia was pretty benevolent. Now she's concluded that [[Humans Are Bastards]] and will do whatever is needed to save her people including wiping us out.}}
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* [[Gambit Pileup]]: There are some serious plans going on in this show.
* [[Genre Blind]]: Jarvis' one weakness. He is an excellent manipulator, constantly makes everyone swallow his [[Blatant Lies]] and keeps up his flawless act ''even when he is called out on it'' - but in the finale he falls for one of [[The Oldest Tricks in The Book]].
* [[Genre Savvy]]: '''''James Dempsey'''''. Let's see, he understands that Martinez will be a good President, but further predicts both his and Sophia's shifts to [[Well
{{quote| '''Vicky:''' Why are you so interested in Walker?<br />
'''Dempsey:''' Because every time I put an obstacle in his path, he destroys it. }}
* [[Genre Shift]]: The show appears to be a conspiracy thriller (albeit one in [[Anachronic Order]]) until the very end when it shifts to science fiction when the kamikaze plane disappears into a big ol' ball of spacetime. On the other hand, the title itself is a pretty big hint. After all, you don't refer to things you understand (like terrorist threats or natural disasters) as "the Event."
* [[Government Conspiracy]]: Hiding the nature of the prison and the prisoners.
* [[Gray and Gray Morality]]: The US Government built a secret prison to detain the aliens until they gave the whole story, but the aliens themselves are no paragons of morality either, especially Thomas' faction which has apparently decided to go the [[Alien Invasion]] route. Meanwhile their are powerful people behind the government that apparently want to augment their lifespans by studying the very long lived aliens and keep it all in the shadows, killing anyone that opposes them. The only really "good" characters are Simon, Leila, and Sean (though Sean seems to be drifting more into [[Sliding Scale of Anti
** Later, {{spoiler|The formerly peaceful Sophia destroys the Washington Monument, killing scores of people and injuring hundreds more, to protect her people from a government raid. Then, President Martinez has an absolutely stone-cold look on his face as he orders Apache helicopters in to kill dozens of the aliens in retaliation for the attacks.}}
*** {{spoiler|They both get [[What the Hell, Hero?|called out on their actions by their own people]], further muddying the issue of who're the "good guys" in this}}.
* [[Guile Hero]]: Sean Walker in spades.
* [[Half
* [[Hazy Feel Turn]]: {{spoiler|Sophia}}
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Vicki
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* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: Both Sean and Leila are proving quite adept at this. President Martinez fits this as well (as of episode 15, when he started [[Character Development|to grow a pair]] and became more [[Growing the Beard|of an interesting character]].)
* [[Magical Database]]: Sean is able to access any information on Earth in record time, no matter who holds it, no matter how secret, no matter how protected, with his Macbook Pro and a flawless, extremely fast wireless Internet connection that apparently works from anywhere, including [[Planes Trains and Automobiles]].
* [[Mayfly
* [[The Mole]]: Simon served as one for Sophia, keeping her aware of Martinez's plans. And when he's discovered, he's able to escape the White House with aid from a scrambled voice on a phone, which would suggest that there's another mole in the White House (the President and Sterling certainly seem to think so).
* [[Monumental Damage]]: {{spoiler|The Washington Monument}} is destroyed by Sophia in order to get Martinez to back down during a standoff.
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* [[The Quisling]]: The Vice-President (though he comes across as [[Head in The Sand Management]]).
* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]]: Sophia and all the rest of the aliens.
* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: Both Martinez and Sophia [[Well
* [[Redemption Equals Death]]:{{spoiler|Maya}} has killed a fellow prisoner to keep Sophia's secrets and gave her own life to save {{spoiler|Sterling}}
** Also, {{spoiler|Thomas.}}
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** Quite possibly done because they knew the show's plummeting ratings would guarantee the show's cancellation after season one, and so things were streamlined to [[Wrap It Up]] and give the show's remaining fans a suitable [[Grand Finale]].
* [[Reverse Mole]]: Simon Lee is really an alien. At first he's a straight example of this trope with the Sophia's group having good intentions, {{spoiler|but after things go bad they go [[Knight Templar]] and he ends up deserting them}}.
* [[Sliding Scale of Anti
* [[Staged Shooting]]: When Leila gets the drop on Vicky, Leila manages to take her gun and fires, seeing Vicky tumble down the stairs from the impact. Later in the episode it is revealed that Vicky had previously loaded the gun with blanks, as part of a gambit to make her think she escaped so that she would call Sean.
* [[Switching POV]]: The flashbacks do this.
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** And {{spoiler|Thomas}} for {{spoiler|Sophia}}. Although this time it was [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|the rocket]]
* [[The Singularity]]: Near the end of the season/series finale, Simon reveals to Sean that "the event" is an evolution into a higher form for his people, but something that humanity won't survive.
* [[Tomato Surprise]]: {{spoiler|Leila discovers that she and her sister}} are [[Half
* [[Title Drop]]: In an exchange between CIA agent Simon Lee and Sophia Maguire during the pilot episode.
{{quote| '''Lee''': "''We may have a problem. He thinks he can buy his freedom back. Trade it for information...''"<br />
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* [[Took a Level In Badass]]: Sean has been doing this throughout the series. Leyla isn't quite there but she's catching up.
* [[Took a Level In Jerkass]]: The President, in response to constantly getting jerked around by Sophia and Thomas and losing control of the situation, is becoming increasingly short-fused. He was willing to risk a nuclear meltdown if it meant catching Thomas, and isn't even considering diplomatic options anymore. By contrast, Sterling seems to be mellowing out, and is more willing to consider working with Sophia.
** Actually, What's happening is more of a constant effort to [[Break the Cutie]] (or [[Bullying the Dragon]], if you remember that [[What an Idiot!|the people involved are messing with the U.S. President)]], leading into a [[Justified Trope|quite acceptable case]] of [[Beware the Nice Ones]].
* [[Too Soon]]:
** Jetliner [[Suicide Attack]] as a weapon against the United States complete with screaming passengers. Obviously NBC's hope is that nine years is enough for this to just be a credible dramatic threat and not stomach-turning to most of the audience.
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* [[Tranquil Fury]]: Becoming more and more Martinez' default setting.
* [[Vagueness Is Coming]]
* [[Well
** Thomas, the free leader of Sophia's people.
** And now Sophia herself has become one.
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* [[We Will Meet Again]]: Dempsey regarding Sean:
{{quote| '''Dempsey''': "''It's just that I have a feeling that this Mr. Walker and I will cross paths again... soon.''"}}
* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: Where's Leila's sister?
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Simon Lee to Sophia after {{spoiler|she destroyed the Washington Monument}}
** And similarly, Sterling to President Martinez after {{spoiler|blowing up two buses full of Sophia's people}}.
* [[X Meets Y]]: It's been advertised as ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'' meets ''[[Lost]]'' and been referenced as ''[[The X Files]]'' meets ''[[The West Wing]]''.
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