Emergence Cast Reacts to That Shocking Reveal at New York Comic Con
Only three episodes in and fans know the answer to one of Emergence‘s big questions, “Who is Piper?”
On October 3, 2019, New York Comic Con attendees got a chance to screen the newest episode of the ABC series a few days before it aired.
Emergence Season 1 Episode 3, “2 MG CU BID,” the third installment of the series, sees Jo race to find a cure to save Piper from the effects of experiments she believes were conducted on her adopted child. Jo and Benny investigate eventually going to a source inside Kindred for help and a reported cure.
The cure in question happens to be a computer chip that needs to be uploaded into Piper. While the specifics of how the upload worked or what it did remain to seen, it draws the definitive conclusion that Piper is a robot.
The screening was followed by a panel with the full cast including Allison Tolman, Alexa Swinton, Owain Yeoman, Ashley, Aufderheide, Robert Bailey, Jr. Zabryna Guevara, Donald Faison, and Clancy Brown.
The cast was excited to share the episode with fans, and it was clear in the moments after the screening the audience still had more questions.
“We answered the question that everyone wanted to know! Who is Piper? And you still have more questions!” Donald Faison said to an excited and eager crowd.
Faison went on to talk about how he’s relieved that now he can actively draw parallels to the 80’s show he feels Emergence is most like:
“Everyone is like, ‘oh it’s like Stranger Things,’ and I’m like ‘No, Small Wonder!'” he shouted over a laughing crowd.
Small Wonder is a sitcom that ran from 1985 to 1989 that followed a robotics engineer who secretly creates a robot modeled after a human girl, and then attempts to pass her off as their adopted daughter, Vicki.
Over the course of the panel, the cast remarked about the pacing of the show. Several cast members said that they believed the question “Who is Piper?” would last all season but were told by producers that it would likely be answered in the first few episodes.
The cast said that it was a smart decision, after all, they still wanted the audience to be surprised by the reveal.
Even though fans of the show now know what Piper is, there is still plenty to explore, and that’s where Guevara’s Dr. Abby Fraiser will come in.
“Dr. Abby is going to find out some other things about little robot girl,” Guevara teased.
With more episodes to come this season, the cast pointed out exactly how few of the characters know what the audience does. Guevara went on to tease that even Dr. Abby doesn’t know the big reveal yet.
“There’s a reason why I don’t yet know what Piper is, and that maybe gets revealed later,” Guevara said.
Abby isn’t the only person who has yet to find out the truth about Piper. Aside from Benny and Jo, the rest of the cast still needs to be let in on the secret.
“A lot of the next few episodes is all of us finding out this big secret,” Bailey said.
The panel also gave the cast a chance to unpack the relationships establishing between the characters.
While lots of couples might be getting subtle nods early on, a lot of the focus of this panel was about the relationship between Jo and Piper. Tolman commented on how remarkable she thinks Jo’s sense of composure is.
“I think her ability to sort of compartmentalize, is really remarkable,” Tolman said. “I’d be freaking out if I were Jo.”
Turning to Swinton, she said, “You’d be out on the curb, girl! You’d be gone!”
“I’d be knocking on the door like ‘please let me in!'” Swinton responded.
Swinton was also asked what the hardest part of playing Piper is, and her answer hinted at one of the reasons why Piper might come across as creepy.
“The hardest part is that sometimes Piper has to sit still and not blink, and I feel like I’m gonna cry when I do that!” Swinton said.
“I just realized that the no-blink factor is what makes you so creepy,” Guevara responded.
—
What did you think of Emergence‘s big reveal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Emergence airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC.
Check out our coverage of New York Comic Con right here. There is more to come.
Follow us on Twitter and on 
Instagram!
Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!
Lauren Busser
Lauren Busser is an Associate Editor at Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer of fiction and nonfiction whose work has appeared in Bitch Media, Popshot Quarterly, Brain Mill Press Voices, and The Hartford Courant.