In case you haven’t heard yet, Christian Slater has decided to give television another go by starring in ABC’s upcoming drama, The Forgotten. The premise is this: a group of experts led by Alex Donovan (Slater) — who are not law enforcement, though work with them (think Bones) — assist in figuring out the identities of “John Does” (or Jane Does) by way of a bit of detective work, crime re-creation and forensics. It’s their hope that, by discovering who these “forgotten” people are, they can help lead to an arrest or, at the very least, give a sense of resolution to loved ones. In fact, it’s that resolution that may motivate them over anything else.
Overall the pilot episode did nothing for me. There’s little to no chemistry between the people in Donovan’s team, and for a pilot episode we get very little background into who these people are, what they are like and what drives them (well, a little bit of that last bit, but just a morsel). There are opportunities to throw a little fun into the show, but they are never used, and there’s a sad lack of suspense so far. Where things really got interesting, and perhaps excuse the lack of character depth, is how the episode ends, though I may be reading into it all wrong.
First let me mention that I don’t consider this a spoiler, as I’m not really giving away a plot point to the episode. This is all just a theory, as the ending simply has a line of dialogue that raised an eyebrow for me and may just be chalked up to a poorly written scene. So, if you’re still skittish about this possibly being a spoiler, don’t read on. Although, fair warning, my track record for theories isn’t so bad.
In the final scene of the pilot, there’s a funeral. Alex Donovan is there, off to the side, with the rest of his team right next to him. The mother of the deceased comes up to Donovan and they have a little bit of dialogue, and then she thanks him. He says, “It’s not just me — a lot of people helped.” She replies, “Are they here with you?” and then looks around. He simply says, “They’re everywhere.” Then he walks off, the team in tow. Close with an unrelated voiceover.
Now, there are three ways to interpret that scene: 1) Donovan’s a dick, because he didn’t respond with, “Oh sure, here they are right here next to me. Take a bow, guys!” 2) the scene is poorly executed and the team should have been much further away, or 3) Donovan’s the only real person on the “team” and everyone else are just his alter-egos — they are all in his head, and when we see them talking to people, it’s actually Donovan talking, only as how he perceives himself at that time.
With that bit of knowledge, consider watching the pilot when it airs on September 22 (10 PM Eastern on ABC) and see what you think. There are at least a couple of instances where situation #3 doesn’t quite fit (like “you guys” references), but it’s still passable. I wouldn’t mention this so clearly here unless I thought it was a concrete twist, spelled out clearly to the viewer, so don’t kill me if #3 above turns out to be true.
Even if #3 is true, it’s a revelation that’s either much too vague or was too easy for someone to guess too soon. Honestly, I’m only going to continue on to the second episode just to see if my theory holds water.
Clacked by Keith McDuffee 
on Sep 17, 2009 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
That’s not a spoiler. They used that scene as part of the show’s promos. Don’t worry about it :)
Also, I haven’t seen the pilot yet (it’s being TiVo’d this evening), but from the scene you just described that I’ve seen in the promos, I’m not sure if it’s either of the three options you’ve discussed. Personally, I think they wrote the line wrong. I think what Slater’s character should have said was “we’re everywhere”, thereby making himself one of the non-cop, normal citizens that help with these “forgotten” cases. I agree with you that saying “they’re everywhere” distinguishes him in from the group he works with, even though I’m sure whoever wrote the script meant it as a general phrase to describe the type of people in The Forgotten Network.
Oh well, it’s whatever. They probably did it to make Slater’s character stand out, which is why they recast the role with him in it – so that people would recognize his name, watch the show, hear happy guest star characters that have been helped in the episode focus on him as a leader of the group (or as a loner who just happens to have helpers from “everywhere”), thus bringing Slater fans back to watch for better ratings. And yes, I’m being pessimistic about a show that I’m actually hoping succeeds.
I’ll probably have a better-formed opinion after seeing tonight’s pilot.
Well, that theory would make the show significantly better, but I don’t see it. Thinking back on the episode, for that to hold up, why would they have shown all of these “alter-egos” at their separate jobs?
I think it might be option 4, you the viewer could be one of these people that help, cause “they’re everywhere.”
*POST AUTHOR*
My thinking was that all of these people we see are how he sees himself. So, when we see ‘W’, that’s not really a different person, it’s Donovan as he perceives himself at that moment. Maybe one of his alter-egos is being a telephone worker, for example, and that’s how he perceives himself at that moment.
The only thing that puts a total halt on the theory is — in a couple of scenes — someone refers to two of the team members as “you guys” rather than just “you.” That could still, technically, but excused as what Donovan wants to hear, but it’s a stretch.
My other thought was that the twist could be that the rookie is the one with all the personalities. My only hint to this was when he was discussing how he “can’t be [Donovan]” and the woman says “none of us can.”
This would definitely make the show so much better, but sadly the writers aren’t as smart as I am. ;-)