Persons Unknown: Season 1

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 73 Ratings

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7.2

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7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 73 Ratings

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Season Details & Credits

NBC | Season Premiere Date: June 7, 2010

Starring: Jason Wiles, Lola Glaudini, Alan Ruck

Summary: Seven strangers are kidnapped and find themselves in a strange and empty town.

Creator: Christopher McQuarrie

Genre(s): Drama, Horror, Suspense

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Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E13. Shadows in the Cave
Air Date: August 28, 2010
tbd
S1:E12. And Then There Was One
Air Date: August 28, 2010
tbd
S1:E11. Seven Sacrifices
Air Date: unknown

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

Keith Staskiewicz

Creator Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) is no stranger to pretzel-twist plots and out-of-the-left-field surprises, and his new series, about a gaggle of strangers, abducted and abandoned in a CCTV-monitored ghost town, promises both in spades. Read full review

Randee Dawn

For now, "Persons" is delightfully weird and foreboding. Read full review

Paige Wiser

The premise is intriguing, although it's difficult to watch without backseat driving. Read full review

Alessandra Stanley

This new suspense drama, about a small group of people who wake up as hostages in an empty, creepy hotel, has promise, but it also has familiar and ominous signs of a short life expectancy. Read full review

Rob Owen

A series that doesn't give viewers enough reason to care in its premiere episode. Read full review

Peter Swanson

The real problem with the pilot is not with the situation, it's with the people placed in it. Not only are none of the seven characters particularly interesting, they simply fail to react realistically to their bizarre circumstances. Read full review

Hank Stuever

Persons Unknown utterly fails to entice. Read full review

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User Reviews

bmargie

Aug 29, 2010

I loved this show. It was the only show I looked forward to this summer. The only thing that was dissappointing was the ending. It didn't answer the questions it said that it would. I really hope that they pick it up for another season so they can further develop.

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Renbe

Aug 31, 2010

Very very successful mini series. Specially it was great final episodes. Persons Unknown resemble Lost and Saw. Really awesome series. Playfulness, fiction... everything wonderful.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

surinder

Feb 29, 2012

Hi, i have watched many series but i find this persons unknown series interesting due to how the mind works when someone is abducted. i really enjoyed it cause if this is to happen in real life how will someone react. As how janet cooper would do anything to go back to her daughter. Well iHi, i have watched many series but i find this persons unknown series interesting due to how the mind works when someone is abducted. i really enjoyed it cause if this is to happen in real life how will someone react. As how janet cooper would do anything to go back to her daughter. Well i guess thats how i will react if i want to get out in the situation. Further more all the characters played are good and each has an individual weired background. The ending should have been more dramatic and there should have been two survivors. Well i m looking forward to see the season 2 and hope to watch it soon and cant wait to see what is the level 2 .Well being in malaysia i have to watch it through internet .… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Rienye

Sep 10, 2010

I really had some high hopes for this series. I liked the season premiere felt this would be another Lost but a little more twisted. Instead i feel so detached from all the characters who are either trying to act really hard or just don't have any skill to bring their character to life or,I really had some high hopes for this series. I liked the season premiere felt this would be another Lost but a little more twisted. Instead i feel so detached from all the characters who are either trying to act really hard or just don't have any skill to bring their character to life or, dare i say it, the writers have lost the plot. Granted, I haven't finished the season yet ( i have another 3 episodes to go), but if things don't improve I wouldn't miss it if got cancelled.
Being directed by Jonathan Frakes, i'm hoping this doesn't get all convoluted the way Dollhouse did.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Kibbles99

Aug 29, 2010

Halfway through the first episode I realized exactly what this show was about -- creating suspense and tension in a fictional vacuum of impossibility. It is an attempted summer-time diversion from the tedium of reruns and second-string programming -- and a failure, at that. It is exactlyHalfway through the first episode I realized exactly what this show was about -- creating suspense and tension in a fictional vacuum of impossibility. It is an attempted summer-time diversion from the tedium of reruns and second-string programming -- and a failure, at that. It is exactly what it attempts to supercede. However, despite the aggravation of it's twisty-turny, tongue-in-cheek writing style which is designed to lead the viewer via a nose-ring into a smugly concrete wall, there are a few shining points. When the vehicle is obscured, genuine moments of humanity are revealed. Certain interactions between the characters are charismatically empathic and succeed in the goal of alleviating moments of summer boredom. The greater setting of the town is a laughably unrealistic anachronism from the days of the twilight zone, or possibly the x-files, yet the cozy pedestrian environment of the hotel, bar and barbershop are where you will find your disbelief suspended. Worth a watch on a languid summer eve? Perhaps. Do the writers deserve raining blow after blow to their genitals for their unabashed smugness? To be frank, that is the only question I would tune in for a second season to see answered.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

Tss5078

Dec 23, 2015

Persons Unknown is absolutely the worst type of television show there is. I say this, because over the course of 13 episodes, this show went from being one of the most clever and imaginative things I've seen to being complete and utter garbage. If that wasn't bad enough, this mini-series hadPersons Unknown is absolutely the worst type of television show there is. I say this, because over the course of 13 episodes, this show went from being one of the most clever and imaginative things I've seen to being complete and utter garbage. If that wasn't bad enough, this mini-series had high hopes, and even though they knew the show was a one shot deal, the producers actually had the nerve to end the whole thing on a cliffhanger, something that really bothers me to no end.

The show begins admirably, with seven strangers from all walks of life, waking up alone, in a brand new, but abandoned hotel. After coming together, they realize they are in a fully functional town, the only problem is, that they're the only ones there. As they explore, they find that they are confined to this town by an impenetrable barrier. At the same time, a reporter looking into the mysterious disappearance of one of the victims, uncovers a cover up, one that could cost him everything.

For the first four episodes, this show was incredible, the kind of show that had you on the edge of your seat, craving as much knowledge as you can find. If the show had continued on this mysterious path, following the strangers attempts at escape and distrust of one another, it would have been phenomenal, but that's not what happens. After the four initial episodes, the show starts to get weird, to the point of being absurd, and those mysterious story lines, became as obvious as the nose on your face.

Jason Wiles stars and will always have my admiration for portraying Bosco on the long running cop drama, Third Watch. Here he plays the un-elected, mysterious leader of the group, who no one is really sure of. Wiles manages to do a terrific job of keeping the audiences attention focused on him, in what is now an obvious attempt to take the focus off the holes in the story. Wiles is joined by Daisey Betts, who out of the entire cast, was really the only person one could relate to and feel an attachment for. Aside from them, the rest of the cast seems to just be props in this sorted game, that just never makes a whole lot of sense.

Persons Unknown started off with a bang and crossed the finish line with a whimper, as the story just completely falls apart and descends into chaos. By the end of the series, I couldn't tell what was going on anymore, nor did I really care all that much. This show had such potential, but as it progressed, it just continually failed to live up to the hype.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

AdamTango

Sep 1, 2010

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The show looked promising at first and I got into it until after a few episodes...by the end of the series, you don't really get too many questions answered...I feel a bit let down overall. I felt like they had a good plot going for them and then they messed it up with the ending. Oh well. It was exciting at first and then it got boring. I almost wish they would have exposed or stopped the organization, but they didn't. They ended up on a boat. What does the program do exactly? They see who can survive their tests...they're gathering data that suggests that humans have no free will...wow...evil...… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

SEE ALL 13 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

49

Series Overview
Season 1

49
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: June 7, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E13. Shadows in the Cave
  Air Date: August 28, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E12. And Then There Was One
  Air Date: August 28, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E11. Seven Sacrifices
  Air Date: unknown
- tbd
  S1:E10. Identity
  Air Date: August 21, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E9. Static
  Air Date: August 7, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E8. Saved
  Air Date: July 31, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E7. Smoke and Steel
  Air Date: July 24, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E6. The Truth
  Air Date: July 17, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E5. Incoming
  Air Date: July 5, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E4. Exit One
  Air Date: June 28, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E3. The Way Through
  Air Date: June 21, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E2. The Edge
  Air Date: June 14, 2010
- tbd
  S1:E1. Pilot
  Air Date: June 7, 2010