Containment Series Premiere Review: Day 13
Ever since Containment was announced last year, I’ve called dibs on reviewing it.
The pilot starts off in Day 13, and the show does a great job of showing the utter chaos Atlanta seems to be in. It leaves the viewer in a sense of fear… what happened to make this situation play out?
And that’s what we get. The remainder of the episode is a flashback. We see patient zero, and the doctor who had contact with him die. And then things start to escalate. The city is put under a 48 hour quarantine, which we know turns into something of a blockade.
During this, we are introduced to our main characters, and this is where Containment falls short. I have zero empathy, or even interest in any of these characters. The two teenagers? I just roll my eyes every time one them says they love the other, but that’s just my old skeptical heart.
The stand-up, honest, fair cop and his commitment-phobe girlfriend? I don’t care about them either, because the first scene is literally laying out how rocky their relationship is. And Sabine Lommers, the lady in charge of containing this outbreak, just seems mean and a bit threatening.
The only people I find myself interested in are Jake and Katie, and in all fairness, it could just be because I absolutely adore Chris Wood. They are both trapped in a hospital, with Katie having to look after a bunch of young children (she’s their teacher), and Jake seems to have a good heart, but also some anger issues. I can already smell another OTP about to ruin my life, and it’s only been 45 minutes of television so far.
The problem with the pilot of Containment is that it tries to do so much. So much happens, and yet it almost feels like nothing is happening. There isn’t any focus, and right now, not a lot to like about many of the characters.
It could still be great, though. Of course, most pilots are hardly perfect, and it usually takes 3-4 episodes to get into the groove of things. Just look at the first couple of episodes of The 100. This show has the talent, and the perfect 13-episode green light to be a fast-moving, jaw dropping, drama.
With a lot of the characters split up between Atlanta and the barricade, and words like “bio-terrorism” being thrown around already, there’s already some shock value ready to be used. It’s going to be interesting watching these characters, some who don’t know each other, deal with the cards they have been dealt.
The pilot of Containment isn’t disappointing. It sets up so much, and can truly only get better from here; however, it also isn’t jaw-droppingly riveting. It will be so much fun to see how all this plays out, and which characters make it to out of this containment, alive.
What did you think of the pilot? Tell us in the comments below.
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Containment airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
Smriti Jasra
Smriti (a.k.a Sim) is a TV and comic book enthusiast, and has been since the days of Angel and Alias. She watches over 20 shows a week, and her perfect idea of a date is sitting on a couch with some pizza, while having the ultimate debate of Marvel vs. DC. When she’s not live-tweeting her favorite shows or working at her day job, she’s usually writing fan-fiction. Her favorite shows include: Arrow, The 100, Suits, The Flash and Kingdom. Follow her on Twitter: @simjasra