Caltrops - The Netflix Instant Forum





	[quote name="fabio"]Persons Unknown is obviously trying to fill the gap left by Lost. A woman is kidnapped, and wakes up with a bunch of other people (including dark past Iraq vet character from Lost) inside a hotel. After some pseudo tension of figuring out "puzzles" to get out of their rooms and into the lobby, they discover they're in an empty small town in the middle of nowhere. Surveillance cameras are everywhere. Bad shit happens if they try to leave the town. A bunch of Asian dudes show up to man the Chinese restaurant across the street, apparently prisoners themselves and responsible for feeding them. A hotel manager shows up to serve them but no one's talking. Survivor type challenges on notes are left in people's rooms, tempting people to fuck each other over for promised freedom or "immunity" to bad shit about to happen. Each episode balances playing along with trying to escape. The one thing this show has over Lost is all time is devoted to the mystery. No flashbacks. The closest you get is cutting back to the "real world" where a reporter tries to investigate the woman's kidnapping only to constantly have his life threatened. The shortcomings compared to Lost are lower production values and acting quality. The actual mystery itself also isn't quite as interesting as Lost's were, but then you have to decide if you'd rather have mysteries with glacial paces, or total devotion to slightly less interesting mysteries. Though it does occasionally have some great spooky moments (the ice cream shop). I'm not spellbound but I have been watching steadily. My complaints would include things being a little too "magical", where escape attempts should have worked but things are "magically" reset to keep them in the town which kind of erodes the tension. One character is the most overdone type A asshole since the father from Night of the Living Dead; more trite than compelling. Characters come up with the most complicated, failure prone escape plans without ever doing the most obvious thing (watching the Asians and hotel clerk 24/7 to see who and where they report to). Worth checking out. You'll know by the first episode or two if it's your thing or not.[/quote]