Emergence Review: 15 Years (Season 1 Episode 10)

The search for Piper begins in earnest on Emergence Season 1 Episode 10, “15 Years,” with varied results. 

One of the most interesting things about “15 Years” is its approach to point of view. It exhibits a wonderful kind of patience in excluding Piper for the vast majority of the hour. 

There would be an urge here to get a peek into Piper’s side of things as Jo and the rest look for her, but it rightly doesn’t do that. It knows it can still tell that story another time, and it’s much more important to see Jo and the family’s reaction to what is happening. 

Getting to the bottom of the mysteries is all well and good but what “15 Years” particularly understands is that is secondary to its character’s emotional state and how they cope with one of their own being missing.

Not every show of this genre would care about that and it makes it all the more laudable. 

This is one of the things that Emergence continues to do really well: it knows when to take its time. While this is a show that has demonstrated it’s quite adept at shaking the board, it is also excellent at letting characters truly deal with the things that are happening. 

For instance, when Jo and Agent Brooks discovers during this episode another AI individual like Piper, the show allows them to have a full scene of them talking over the implications of what that means and how it affects them. The show slows things down and allows characters to have meaningful conversations about the things happening instead of assuming we know. 

The series has no problem picking up the pace but it knows, even more, the importance of slamming on the brakes every now and then. In real life, things happen, then you have to sit there and digest it, deciding for yourself how you feel and how you move forward. 

Throughout these scenes, it’s the performances that really come through and make them work even more than they already should. Allison Tolman continues to be the driving force on the show with an endless amount of charm and wit along with compassion. The great twist she brings this time is the quiet devastation she feels at Piper’s disappearance. 

Tolman is great at playing Jo with this endless amount of hope and drive and to see that get chiseled away slightly with the notion that this might not have a happy ending for Piper is crushing. Tolman is particularly exceptional at delivering an array of emotions through just her eyes and it never fails to be emotionally crippling. 

How the episode ends is also interesting and leaves us with the notion that maybe we’re at a part of the story without any villains, at least not in the way we did before. Kindred was simply a power-hungry executive and Emily was someone that did duplicitous things in order to be loved, but Benny and Helen might be something else entirely. 

A lot of that comes through with Piper and how she seems to be responding to the situation. This isn’t someone with a gun to her head or that has been altered but rather one that has a mission now that can’t be deterred. It’s a different variation of Piper that seems to be playing upon the same theme. 

Will that continue to be true? We’ll see as the season goes into its final two episodes. 

What did you think of this episode of Emergence? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Emergence airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC.

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