Global Frequency

The Pilot

Based on the first issue of the comic, the main twist here is that instead of the menace being fought by experienced Frequency members, an ex-cop accidentally falls into Zero’s world when her operative is killed. The cop becomes our entry point to the story, something Ellis didn’t really bother with in the comics. It’s San Francisco, shot (in Vancouver, actually) in the noir-brutal style of Blade Runner, The Matrix, Se7en and some of the better X-Files episodes. A former Soviet sleeper agent has a chip in his head that boosts — and controls — his psychic ability to generate radioactive bursts. They’re getting bigger and more frequent as his chip malfunctions, and our newbie cop and a nerdy-but-beautiful quantum physicist have one hour to find the guy and figure out how to stop him before his final explosion — one that will take out all of San Francisco.

We learn that the Global Frequency is something of an urban legend. Everyone’s heard of it, but no one believes it’s real — like compassionate conservatives. The casting of Miranda Zero and Aleph is amazing. As Aleph, Aimee Garcia does not look exactly like the mohawked comic character (who varied from Asian to vaguely Eurasian depending on an issue’s artist), but she has exactly the feel of the character, sitting in a darkened computer room monitoring the situation, calling experts onto the frequency in a dozen languages. But Michelle Forbes as Miranda Zero? Holy crap. If you thought that movie kid looked a lot like the one on the Harry Potter book covers, or that Christopher Reeve really looked like Superman, you ain’t seen nothin’. Forbes simply is Miranda Zero. Read the book then watch the pilot, and it’s a bit eerie.

The look of the show is a bit … off. Well, it’s a bit rough. The stark lighting lacks a certain polish. That may be simply the wobbly legs of any new production – watch a first season episode of, say, Buffy or Seinfeld and you’ll see a similar lack of refinement – or it may be a deliberate attempt to keep a punkish rough edge, but it was bound to turn off television’s network puppetmasters. The plot moves at a frenetic pace, but if you buy the core premise, the story logic hangs together and provides enough twists to keep a viewer happy. Particularly welcome is when the team needs certain physical skills not available to them and the cop ends up knocking on a total stranger’s door to tell her that she, now, is on the Global Frequency. It’s the show’s most seductive premise made explicit.

The beauty of the series is the promise of worldwide action. The producers (mostly in John Rogers’ blog) promised some regular cast members besides Zero and Aleph, but with 1,001 people on the Frequency, new team members can be brought into any episode, and anyone on the Frequency can die at any time, a tension you won’t find on any show on television. Unless you’re one of those American Idol fans, I guess.

So new menaces and world travel every week, like Alias. Mysteries and conspiracies like The X-Files. A compelling catch phrase, and a logo crying out to be on T-Shirts (are you hearing me, Warren Ellis?). Yeah, the show is rough in places. Josh Hopkins as Sean Flynn is fairly solid and likable, but as Dr. Katrina Finch, Jenni Baird is almost hard to watch. Either her ability to render dorky idiosynchratic ticks is off the scale, or she’s just not a very good actress. But, hell, maybe they would’ve killed her in episode five. As an initial outing, the Global Frequency pilot is compelling television screaming with potential. There should be more.

Next: The Comics

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Tags: comic book, television, warren ellis