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The American Embassy
"Living is about making mistakes, dying is about wishing you'd made more." - Dewey Johnson
Episode 1.01, "Pilot"
Written by James Parriott
Directed by Andy Tennant
Air date: 03/11/02
Welcome to the series premiere of The American Embassy. Created by James D. Parriott (Dark Skies,) it follows the exploits of Emma Brody (Arija Bareikis,) the new vice consul assigned to the United States Embassy located in London. A native of Toledo, Ohio, Emma decides to make a fresh start in England after finding out her fiancé has been cheating on her. Wanting to do something important with her life instead, she assures her mother (and herself) that she isn't running away from her problems.
During the long and dull plane ride to Britain, Emma meets up with Doug Roach (David Cubitt). Handsome and charming, the two hit it off immediately after some witty bantering, and proceed to make out in the bathroom. It feels a little unbelievable at first, especially since Emma just came out of a bad break-up, but there's definitely chemistry between the lead characters, and as the episode progresses, their relationship began to grow on me. To Emma's dismay, she later finds out that Doug is actually working for the CIA, and apparently he has quite a reputation. One of her co-worker refers to him as the "evil cowboy from the dark side," and a "heartless, arrogant spook."
A stranger in a foreign land, Emma finally makes it to London in one piece, but her luggage didn't. She is then immediately put to work after going straight from the airport to the embassy, and her first case deals with a man who stripped naked in the lobby. It turns out that Dewey Johnson (David Eigenberg, Sex and the City) is a drifter, and after spending all of his money and letting his visa expire, he has nowhere else to go but to harass the embassy until they send him on a plane home. As if that isn't enough to keep her busy, her next assignment involves a child custody dispute. It seems that the dad kidnapped his own daughter, Liv Faulkner (Hallee Hirsh) and fled to England with phony passports. Feeling sorry for the girl, Emma decides to let Liv stay with her while they wait for the mother to show up a few days later.
Since the airline lost her baggage, she has no choice but to borrow formal wear from her eccentric and cross-dressing neighbor Gary (Michael Cerveris) for an upcoming banquet. At the party she encounters James Wellington, (Jonathan Cake) an actual lord and the godson of Prince Charles, who later confesses to Emma that he is attracted to her, but the problem is that he is engaged. Unfortunately, men are the least of her worries at this moment, because Liv has taken off without telling anybody. Feeling lost and dispirited, Emma regains her confidence after speaking to the deputy chief Janet Westerman (Helen Carey) and obtains some friendly advice from Dewey.
Emma finally finds Liv in the boat she and her dad were living on during their stay in London. She tells Liv that running away won't solve anything, and encourages her to talk to her mother in regards to what she wants. In the closing moments of the show, just as Emma is coming off of an emotional high from completing her tasks, a car bomb explodes just outside of the office. Seeing the damages and the bodies outside of the embassy, Emma faces the harshness of life and reality as she witnesses Doug's futile attempts to revive Dewey. It is then that she decides to move on, that this is where she will begin her journey. She is no longer afraid of making mistakes, and it's okay if she isn't perfect.
I really like The American Embassy, and I feel that it did a lot of things right in the first episode. It oozes with chemistry between the characters, although not all of them are fleshed out yet, such as the consul general Elque Polk (Jonathan Adam) and vice consul Carmen Jones, (Davenia McFadden) but they are tastefully introduced which makes me want to know them more. For the most part, the show is presented through Emma's narration of the events as she is writing to her sister Jules, and her punching away at the laptop reminds me of Carrie from Sex and the City. I'm keeping an open mind right now, but sometimes her voice can run into the danger of being monotonous.
I think Parriott did a good job with the script, it was fast-paced, upbeat and contains a lot of witty exchanges. I see the show as a lighter version of The West Wing, because it doesn't get bogged down by the technical aspects of politics (at least not in this episode) which can get boring for casual audiences like myself. Yet I believe the challenge for Parriott in the future is to give the series some substance and pertinent issues, while balanced with the romantic side of the plot. I don't know if it's intentional or not but there seems to be a common theme between Emma, Dewey, and Liv -- each of them is running away from something, and they all find closure by the end of the hour.
I would also like to comment on the direction. I love the contrast between the opening and the ending scenes. In the beginning, we see Emma running through the woods - all is tranquil but she feels aimless and confused, meanwhile in the end, she is surrounded by chaos, but at the moment her future becomes clear to her, she is sure of herself and knows exactly where she's going. The use of slow motion, and black and white shots are really effective, especially in the last few minutes. We hear nothing except for the music and Emma's thoughts, but we can feel the pain and the tears just by the emotion portrayed by Bareikis and Cubitt as they embrace each other.
I am definitely looking forward to the next episode, and I sincerely hope that you'll join me as Emma continues her adventure at The American Embassy.
Episode Rating: 8 out of 10
- Zalasta
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