Emergence: Season 1

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Ratings

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6.3

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6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 31 Ratings

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Season Details & Credits

ABC | Season Premiere Date: September 24, 2019

Summary: Police chief Jo (Allison Tolman) finds herself in the middle of a conspiracy when she takes in a child (Alexa Skye Swinton) she finds at the scene of a mysterious plane accident with no memory in this thriller from Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters.

Genre(s): Drama, Suspense

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Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E13. Killshot Pt. 2
Air Date: January 28, 2020
tbd
S1:E12. Killshot Pt. 1
Air Date: January 21, 2020
tbd
S1:E11. Applied Sciences
Air Date: January 14, 2020

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Uncle Barky Ed Bark

Sep 24, 2019

Investing in ABC’s Emergence looks like it could be a winning proposition. And even if the suspense and premise begin to sag, there’s always Allison Tolman to keep hope alive. ... Tolman’s performance is thoroughly grounded. Read full review

Terry Terrones

Sep 20, 2019

The audience is left with more questions than answers after the one-hour premiere. ... These multiple mysteries are exactly what will get people hooked on “Emergence.” ... "Emergence" is fascinating. Read full review

Daniel D'Addario

Sep 24, 2019

It deserves a shot, at least on the basis of its first hour. With real tension, uncommon curiosity, and a knockout, chilling final shot, it’s a network pilot whose strength on its own merits is compounded by how unlike the rest of network TV right now it seems. Read full review

Robert Lloyd

Sep 18, 2019

Quite promising. ... [Allison Tolman] can fill the screen with thought. If it’s not quite fair to say that she single-handedly transforms “Emergence” from a decent genre show into something richer, it’s not far off, either. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Sep 23, 2019

Paul McGuigan (“Lucky Number Slevin”) directs the well-paced pilot of “Emergence,” but it suffers from that lingering mystery issue that plagues a lot of high concept shows like NBC’s “Manifest.” ... However, Tolman finds emotional, subtle beats that lesser actresses would miss, and Clancy Brown is an always-welcome presence (as are Donald Faison as Jo’s ex and Owain Yeoman as a reporter). Let’s hope they don’t get bogged down in a spiraling mystery. Read full review

Rob Owen

Sep 23, 2019

The concept isn’t overly complicated — no heavy mythology in the pilot — and the cast, including Clancy Brown and Donald Faison, has strong appeal. Read full review

Tim Surette

Sep 23, 2019

Maybe you've heard, but there's a lot of TV out there, and to play the long game with a mystery-box network show just seems like the wrong way to go. Read full review

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6.3

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User Reviews

Aryaman

Oct 13, 2019

ABC's Emergence is really on-brand for the network. Just like with Downward Dog, the network is really trying to anchor longevity for Allison Tollman but viewers just won't give her a break with review bombing Downward Dog and now this! Guys please just stop doing this! It's ugly and doesABC's Emergence is really on-brand for the network. Just like with Downward Dog, the network is really trying to anchor longevity for Allison Tollman but viewers just won't give her a break with review bombing Downward Dog and now this! Guys please just stop doing this! It's ugly and does real damage to not only the actor's career but also the network. If you have some honest things to say then say it but don't put reviews for the sake of bringing the score down! I mean just come on!!! Not every show can be a Game of Thrones, Lost, The Good Wife or Succession. But they can be Grey's Anatomy, Fringe among others if they are given a chance. So don't just write bad review for the sake of it. I have gone over some of the reviews and they are just saying 'bad vibes' 'i don't trust ABC'. I mean really!! What kind of message are they trying to send. It does not say anything about demerits of the show and how that fails to meet expectations. The reason I gave a 10 is because I want the show to succeed and do well for the talent involved and also because I find it promising that it will deliver on those promises. So here's my 'constructive review' of the first episode. So I'll do a premier review, a middle of the season review and then the finale.
Episode 1 - The opening sequence of the show was thrilling and kept me guessing right from the start. Allison's character is designed in a way to help us stay one step ahead of her. For e.g. the fake parents scene was something I knew right from the beginning but the way it unfolds in front of the character was interesting and adds to the naivety of the character. It is this naivety that help us sympathize with her and understand the story from her perspective. Her taking care of Piper is very Hopper and Eleven from Stranger Things but this seems fresh because of the way Jo is. She wants to protect Piper from anyone who would do her harm and that adds dept and an emotional foundation for their story which could have pay offs seasons later. Another interesting aspect of the show is its lighting. The nights seems really dark and mysterious with a tinge of delicacy. The way the lighting is shown on the characters make them seem delicate especially Jo. The directing was pretty standard, it didn't seem to do anything interesting with the pilot but the writing was one which I really liked. It did not give away plot points very easily except the fake parents scene. The kidnapping scene where Jo and everyone else are trying to find the housebreakers was also good and added real tension. Now, I really like that ABC is trying to market it as a mystery-box show when it clearly has science-fiction elements with Piper's telepathy powers (i'm going with it). The very end seem to suggest to me that Piper knows herself because the face acting sure seem to suggested that and when she takes out the chip from her side neck and then covers that area with her hair implied that fact. I don't know what Piper's origins are but I really hope that it's not an experimental accident because that would be just so boring! We've seen that on Stranger Things already so I don't want to see it happen again. My overall score for this episode: 7.5/10… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

youngandgrey

Sep 26, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really liked this show. Its pacing is good, the acting was excellent and the story is compelling. I think that I would have like to see a bit more of Clancy Brown's character. The story has elements of Stranger Things in it. (As a point of fact early in the show the main character needs a name and someone says "milly' in which might be a shout out to Milly Bobby Brown from Stranger Things). Its not gruesome except for the last 2 minutes. I would recommend this show to any of my friends and say that it is ok to watch with children over 10.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

bkristman

Oct 19, 2019

As with the last new show i reviewed,Evil ,this is really cookie cutter stuff that is very reminiscent of numerous other shows or films.
A kid with psychokinetic powers who is likely a cyborg being chased down by the government or MIB .
She is adopted by a kindly female cop and her fatherAs with the last new show i reviewed,Evil ,this is really cookie cutter stuff that is very reminiscent of numerous other shows or films.
A kid with psychokinetic powers who is likely a cyborg being chased down by the government or MIB .
She is adopted by a kindly female cop and her father . The cop keeps guns seemingly everywhere in the house and waves them around as if it's a tv remote.
Kinda comical that nobody seems to care.
There's a lot of deception practiced by the cop,the kid in this which is bound to backfire of course .
Poor series but the cop is body positive and a strong female role model.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

metabad

Nov 29, 2019

If I look into a mystery show about a girl that has psychokinetic powers and is probably AI these days, I don't expect anything new. I mean, it's ABC...
So it's no surprise we see mostly stuff we have seen before, but that's not really the problem I have with this show.
The problem is,If I look into a mystery show about a girl that has psychokinetic powers and is probably AI these days, I don't expect anything new. I mean, it's ABC...
So it's no surprise we see mostly stuff we have seen before, but that's not really the problem I have with this show.
The problem is, that it's a timid, boring, thrill-free, mediocre affair with low stakes and gender politics that are so obvious that the show and some of its male characters are simply embarrassing.

You see, it's a mystery show and I would like to get some suspense, maybe even a little excitement from it.
But after a few episodes, after the novelty has worn off, you would hope for the pace to pick up and the plot to move forward, maybe a little action, you know...
Well sure, things happen, you learn things about the characters, some characters involved in the affair get killed, and yet, everything somehow just plods along.

One reason for that is, that the stakes here are remarkably low.
Jo, the local police officer , hosts Piper, a girl they assume to be an android with special powers, at her house. The girl/android belongs to a big company that wants it back, as expected.
But in spite of this the main characters, Jo, who is a divorced single parent living with her daughter and her father in a house, don't seem to be in any danger. Neither is her ex-husband, who often drops by.

There is never a feeling of a threat, when they are at home, except for one night, but the intruder is after a device Jo obtained, not after the girl.
But you would expect that this big company would have minions who could terrorize the family until Jo would give in. Or they could put pressure on Jo's superiors. But that doesn't happen.
So the only character in 'danger' is Piper.
But she doesn't appear to be a human being, so we don't know what kind of danger she's supposed to be in.
So, as I said, the stakes for the main characters are low.

The fact that the family members are in no danger also evades an ethical predicament Jo could face:
Would she risk the lives of her family for a girl that's most likely not even a human being?
The show deliberately avoids this situation to emerge, because in this case it wouldn't be believable for Jo to keep Piper at her home.

Instead for thrills and suspense we get a lot of talking and driving around in cars and...gimmicks.
Like Piper having 'daydreams' in which she communicates with the owner of the company or his daughter.But these sequences don't move the plot forward, at least as of episode 8. It's just gimmickry.
And by episode 8, I got the feeling this will go on and on and on... Nothing really dramatic to be found, no suspense or excitement. I'm bored...

There's one other thing:
Never in my reviews have I ever dealt with 'female empowerment' stuff.
But in this show it's too obvious:
There are no male characters with authority or competence in this show.

Jo is the only one who has anything to say. The officer working under her is a wet blanket. A very nice guy but without energy, being kept on a need to know basis but who does what Jo wants him to do.
Her father is old, gentle and has cancer. Her ex-husband is just...there, talking, driving around in his car, that's it. He's not relevant to the plot. He's black-ish (Donald Faison) and is there probably for diversity reasons.
The journalist who contacts her, Benny Gallagher, is more dynamic, but he has nothing to say or to decide and in later episodes, we really don't see that much of him, e.g. sitting on a hotel bed with his laptop.

In episode 8, the Feds finally come, and the lead agent, having travelled probably hundreds of miles, has nothing better to do than to suck up to Jo, telling her what an amazing job she has done (???). He's not trying to mislead her, he really means it and comes across as a total douche. It's so embarrassing, I cringed. I couldn't believe what I saw.
The Feds have authority over local police, he's sent to take charge of matters, why else? So, wth is this?

As for competence: There are computer/tech experts, the woman trying to crack the stolen hard drive and Emily, a technical whiz working for the company. No men. The FBI agent is a joke (see above).
However, the 'bad guy', the owner of the company, is a man...of course.

Many shows are doing this and here, it's so obvious that it rubs me the wrong way.
I don't mind strong women as lead characters, but stop depicting men as weak, evil or irrelevant.

So, as you would guess, I don't recommend this show. I doubt that the time you invest in it will pay off.
Even besides the gender politics, the show doesn't deliver what you would expect from it.
There are enough other shows to pick from. So do that.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

UncleWillard

Sep 26, 2019

To be fair, I only watched the first 20 minutes or so, but it immediately seemed like so many other series, it turned me off. That and this idea that a small town sheriff can just tell the Feds to go sit in a corner when they are investigating something is so patently silly and over-used, ITo be fair, I only watched the first 20 minutes or so, but it immediately seemed like so many other series, it turned me off. That and this idea that a small town sheriff can just tell the Feds to go sit in a corner when they are investigating something is so patently silly and over-used, I got bad vibes. It may be unfair, and I may revisit/binge later, but I really don't trust ABC after the Passage debacle. This is a ham-handed family attempt at sci-fi and it looks to be a slog.… Expand

1 of 5 users found this helpful14

Seasons & Episodes

69

Series Overview
Season 1

69
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: September 24, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E13. Killshot Pt. 2
  Air Date: January 28, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E12. Killshot Pt. 1
  Air Date: January 21, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E11. Applied Sciences
  Air Date: January 14, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E10. 15 Years
  Air Date: January 7, 2020
- tbd
  S1:E9. Where You Belong
  Air Date: December 10, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E8. American Chestnut
  Air Date: November 26, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E7. Fatal Exception
  Air Date: November 19, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E6. Mile Marker 14
  Air Date: November 5, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E5. RDZ9021
  Air Date: October 29, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E4. No Outlet
  Air Date: October 15, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E3. 2 MG CU BID
  Air Date: October 8, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E2. Camera Wheelbarrow Tiger Pillow
  Air Date: October 1, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E1. Pilot
  Air Date: September 24, 2019