'The Event' recap: 'Change' We Can't Believe In

“What does this mean? What does this mean?” That was the pleading question that culminated the fall finale of The Event—the cliffhanger that was supposed to fire our imaginations and excite our anticipation for the next half of the season, which will arrive in late February. But the answer to the question was implicit, and Leila, the person posing it, seemed unwilling to accept the obvious, even as she held proof in her hands.

Similarly, “Everything Will Change”—which needed to accomplish so much in its last hour of 2010 to shore up my interest and trust in this series—was further evidence of a hard truth that needs to be faced: The Event is a bust. It would seem to need more than a little fixing, but regardless, I don’t think I’m convinced this is something that can be "fixed." What am I saying? What does this mean? It means that barring a miracle on par with a wormhole opening in the sky and zipping a plane across the country in a blink of an eye, I won’t be watching and recapping The Event when it returns next year. I’m sorry. I tried. But I’m out.

The proof that Leila held in her hands was a charred dossier filled with photos of her father, Michael Buchanan—photos that revealed that The Man Formerly Known As Luke From Gilmore Girls had lived more than a life or two, as he was one of these (apparently) eternally youthful Whatchamacallums that fell to Earth back in 1944. This not-so-shocking disclosure capped an episode filled with conspicuous references to age and exhibitions of aging. Vice President Jarvis scolded the president he tried to assassinate for not knowing his place and failing to embrace his puppet’s role in the elaborate rigged theater of power. “Let me give you some advice—as your elder,” Jarvis fumed.

The theme of power struggle between wizened folks and uppity whippersnappers was literally played out in the continuing contretemps between Sophia and her son, Thomas, who somehow, someway gained or regained all the rebellious, murderous gumption he lost in last week’s episode. And Sean—who spent the early episodes saving people left and right, even his enemies—screwed on his Dirty Harry and injected one of Dempsey’s henchmen with a syringe of mystery serum that the bad guy intended to push into Leila. Within seconds, the hale and hearty goon rapidly aged into a frail old man and died. (Though the headwound that never disappeared throughout the transformation bothered me: Wouldn't the quick regeneration of his body have patched that up?)

The upshot of these motifs and the demonstration of the drug’s effect would seem to portend… something. Is Decrepit Dempsey looking for a way to reverse his agedness—or could he be looking for a way to restart it? Perhaps Dempsey is a Whatchamacallum who came to Earth an old man in failing health, and has remained stuck in that state because our planet’s environment is rich with… preservatives? I’m intrigued by this idea—the only intriguing idea that I got from “Everything Will Change.” Transformation requires being subordinate to time, to participate in the natural laws of life and decay. The Whatchamacallums would seem to have the ability—at least on this world—to transcend this process; maybe Dempsey belongs to a subset of this perplexing population that doesn’t see the upside in life extension.

NEXT: Why The Event is not Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

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