- Title: Debris – Pilot
- IMDb: link
The “Pilot” episode of Debris introduces us to MI6 agent Finola Jones (Riann Steele) and CIA agent Bryan Beneventi (Jonathan Tucker) who work together to deal with alien spacecraft debris which has unusual properties after hitting the Earth. Similar to The X-Files and Fringe, the show sets the stage for bizarre occurrences which will need to investigated. Unlike those shows, however, we know what is causing the odd incidents (although not what kind of chaos the various debris may unleash as they have very different properties). There’s not much wrong with the first episode, although it feels like yet another of “those shows” which despite a solid set-up and weird stuff to investigate every week doesn’t quite do enough to sell me on coming back week after week. Will I watch another episode? Probably. Is it must-see? Hardly.
The first debris discovered allows people to teleport, which also introduces the idea of the lucrative black market for debris artifacts, while the one that takes up the majority of the episode involves manifesting a dead child back to life, through his mother’s grief, forcing others to relive his final day. The budget looks impressive for TV (at least in the pilot) and the set-up should allow for all manner of stories going forward (although the whole interagency secrets, while certainly plausible, feels counter-intuitive and awkward in keeping characters appraised of less information than the audience knows – as does the sudden reappearance of Jones’ father which no doubt will play a large role in events to come).