Of all of the new CW shows they sent me to review, this
is my favorite. I'm not really sure why it's premiereing
mid-season. I hope it does well. It reminds me a bit
of "Alien Nation" or "Roswell".
The premise is that aliens named Atrians crash-land here
on Earth, and we greet them with guns and violence. We put
the rest into camps. Honestly, the premise is all I have any
problem with. The Atrians are not all that different,
looks-wise, so I find it hard to believe that people would
be all that prejudiced against them. Sure, people are racist
and all, but a lot of that racism is based on perceived
DIFFERENCES, and these aliens are just not that different.
They look like humans with tattoos. Big deal! This might
have worked better if the show had been done back in the
80's, before tattoos became so popular. Now, it's a little
silly.
I do really enjoy the story, though, and the characters.
The show focuses on one alien teen, Roman, and the teenaged
girl, Emery, whose life he affects. When they're
little, he runs to her family's shed, and she feeds him and
keeps him until the government comes to take him away.
She thinks he's dead, but later he and some of his alien
friends are integrated into her school as a test to see how
it works. It is reminiscent of when black people were
forcibly integrated into Southern colleges (and that imagery
is not by accident, I'm sure). Emery is sickly, but gets
healthy by the time she is a teen, so it shapes her as a
person.
The story about the teens and how they do in the school,
and with their families, is very good, and the ending is
very shocking. I hope you can get past the rather silly
premise.
Video clips:
http://youtu.be/iz_XNnBJUkM
http://youtu.be/iZ-aYWzsmuI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DJ0kqEKIvc
More: WHEN THE ALIENS LANDED… — When Emery Whitehill
(Aimee Teegarden, “Friday Night Lights”) was 6 years old, an
alien spacecraft crash-landed in her small town and she met
Roman (Matt Lanter, “90210”), a 6-year old Atrian boy, who
sought refuge with her before being taken away by the
authorities. Ten years later, the two are reunited as the
first group of Atrian teens is about to enroll in high
school in a widely scrutinized social experiment to see if
humans and Atrians can live in peace. Both Emery and Roman
are surprised at the small-mindedness of their respective
communities. Roman’s sister, Sophia (Brina Palencia), is
excited to make new friends, but their fellow Atrians, Teri
(Chelsea Gilligan, “Big Time Rush”) and Drake (Greg Finley,
“The Secret Life of the American Teenager”), openly distrust
all humans. The human students are equally wary of the
aliens, especially the school’s queen bee Taylor (Natalie
Hall, “Pretty Little Liars”). Kind-hearted Grayson (Grey
Damon, “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters”) is drawn to Emery
but has a secret that could threaten their new friendship.
Only two of Emery’s friends – Julia (Malese Jow, “The
Vampire Diaries”) and Lukas (Titus Makin, Jr., “Glee”), seem
able to accept the Atrians. Emery and Roman find themselves
drawn together again but outside forces work hard to keep
them apart. Gary Fleder directed the episode written by
Meredith Averill.
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