Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Recap of Series Premiere: NBC’s New Crime Thriller “Crisis” Puts You On the Edge of Your Seat

SuzeeBehindtheScenes will be following some new shows. The first of many recaps to come is NBC’s new show “Crisis”. Some have described it as 24-like, but will it have that staying power? The first episode had twists and turns, and left you dangling. Read on....
                                                                                                                                                                    Recap by: Diane Hunstein
Ready?  Breathe in. 

The show opens with a man in a field, activating a security override on a computer while an FBI agent comes running toward him.

The next scene jumps to earlier in the day, with parents dropping their teenagers off at Ballard High School in Washington D.C.  The students are boarding a bus for a weekend field trip in New York for
volunteer work.  By the strong security presence, we get the sense that these are privileged kids with powerful parents.  One exception is Beth Ann, who is not at all happy when her dad shows up as the sole parent chaperone.  It is immediately clear that Beth Ann is not on good terms with her father, Francis Gibson.  The President’s son boards the bus, and the bus is escorted by Secret Service agents riding in two separate vehicles .  The vehicle which transported the POTUS son to the school has two agents inside – one veteran (Hurst) and one rookie (Marcus Finley). Agent Finley is grateful to have been chosen at the last minute for the assignment, his first, since the agent usually on duty called in sick.

Promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-AGf5RLR0M&feature=youtu.be

Hurst orders the other Secret Service vehicle ahead of the caravan to secure a restaurant stop.  Shortly after, there is a police car blocking the deserted road, which brings the bus and Secret Service SUV to a halt.  Hurst and Finley get out of their vehicle and speak to the police.  It quickly becomes clear that something is amiss, and Hurst proceeds to shoot and wound Finley.  Hurst is obviously part of a sinister plot, and the men who had set up the roadblock board the bus and usher the visibly shaken students, the teacher and Mr. Gibson into a truck.  The youngest student, Anton Roth, falls down and a wounded but capable Finley gets up off the ground, snatches Anton and runs into the woods for safety.  One of the hostage takers goes after them, and everyone else leaves in the truck.  There is no cell phone service in the area.

Martha Byrne utters "Help Me" in the promo.
We are introduced to FBI Director Olsen and FBI Agent Dunn, who are spearheading the investigation.  It is stated that the parents of the kidnapped students don’t respect authority, because they think they are the authority.

The show’s scenes alternate between the unfolding investigation and the unfolding events surrounding the hostages.  The distraught parents gather with Agent  Dunn.  One of the parents, Meg Fitch, is the estranged sister of Agent Dunn and the CEO of a global IT company.  It is discovered that Mr. Gibson is a former CIA analyst with a reputation for not having been able to handle the physical aspects of the job.  Anton’s dad, who works for a satellite television company, is not responding to the FBI. 

Finley and Anton find an abandoned house and have enough time to set up a plan before the hostage taker who has been hunting them down comes through the door.  They are able to outsmart him, and while Anton escapes to the roof, Finley fatally shoots the man, who is the brother of one of the other hostage takers, Koz.  Finley and Anton make it to safety, but not before Anton’s dad activates a security override for the satellite system.  The hostage takers compel Mr. Roth to do this, and he complies with the hope of getting his son home.   The override causes a surveillance drone to crash just minutes before it was about to locate the hostages.

The hostages have been taken to a mansion, and Mr. Gibson quickly hatches a plan to attack the guard when he comes through on his rounds.  The guard overpowers Mr. Gibson, cuts off one of his fingers, and takes him to the control room, where it becomes immediately apparent that Gibson is the boss of the entire diabolical scheme.  This is one of many twists in the show.

Gibson has a flashback which reveals a little bit of his motive.  He was forced by his best friend Koz to take the fall for the failed Operation Lenox during his stint at the CIA.  In another twist, it is revealed that one of the students, Amber Fitch, is really Agent Dunn’s daughter.  Her sister Meg had raised her from birth.   The show wraps up with Meg getting a call from Gibson, instructing her to do certain things in order to get Amber back.  How far will she and the other parents go to rescue their children?

Breathe out, and stay tuned.

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