THE CROSSING (2018) – TV Review

The Crossing (2018)
Directed by: Alex Zakrzewski, Alrick Riley, David Boyd, David Von Ancken, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Jeffrey G. Hunt, Ken Girotti, P.J. Pesce, Rob Bowman, Tara Nicole Weyr
Written by: Dan Dworkin, Deirdre Mangan, Evan Bleiweiss, Jay Beattie, Matt Olmstead, Michael Narducci, Rebecca Sonnenshine, Sabir Pirzada, Vivian Tse
Starring: Bailey Skodje, Jay Karnes, Kelley Missal, Natalie Martinez, Rick Gomez, Simone Kessell, Steve Zahn, Tommy Bastow

THE CROSSING (2018)
Created by Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin
Season One Review

Local Sheriff, Jude Ellis, is sent to investigate when bodies start appearing on the beach of his small town. Dozens of people, some alive and some dead, are found in the water, unable to explain how they got there. Before he can properly investigate, the FBI shows up and takes over the investigation. Rounding up the survivors, the FBI place the mystery people into a woodland camp to keep and eye on them and keep them under quarantine. Having initially interviewed a couple of people, Jude discovers that the survivors claim to be from the future and have travelled back in time to escape predatory evolved humans, known as Apex, who’ve been slaughtering humans in their time with a deadly virus. Their far-fetched story at first seems unbelievable to Jude, but when he meets an Apex for himself, who smuggled themselves through the time travel portal with the rest of the survivors, he begins to believe in their claims. With superhuman powers, Apex are a real threat to human life and this particular one, Reece, is no exception. Determined to rescue her daughter, Leah, who she’s was separated from during the crossing, Reece will stop at nothing to get her back but it seems the FBI have other ideas in mind for the refugees they have contained at the woodland camp…

ABC’s THE CROSSING premiered earlier this year and launched on Amazon Prime for TV fans in the UK. With a mysterious plotline of people washing up on a beach, practically out of nowhere, I knew I had to give it a go. Though more commonly known for his comedy roles, Steve Zahn takes the role of Sheriff Jude Ellis, a man with a complicated history having driven him to lead a quiet a life in a sleepy town where nothing usually happens. I’m guessing he wished he’d relocated somewhere else as he quickly finds himself knee-deep in the investigation of the mystery arrivals.

When the idea of Apex is first revealed, it’s hard not to make correlations between this and a well known sci-fi franchise that deals with humans time travelling because of a threat in the future. The series even names the Apex “Reece”, for God’s sake. At first, the premise seemed a little shallow and I wondered how it could differentiate itself from The Terminator and its countless other imitators, even if it isn’t man vs machines we’re discussing. Fortunately, the plot does thicken and many more plot threads appear which are infinitely more intriguing than that of Apex being a threat in their time and possibly our time.

Outside of the sci-fi storylines, what makes THE CROSSING work so well is the performances from the cast and the characters they’ve been given to work with. Steve Zahn’s Jude and his deputy, Nestor (Rick Gomez), are a double act that you can totally get on board with. They’re purveyors of truth and this town is theirs and no matter how much strong-arming from the FBI they encounter, they’re not willing to take it lying down, willing to go to whatever lengths it takes to get to the bottom of the events and to help the survivors. As a viewer, we’re instantly on their side. They don’t seem to mind bending the law and smashing through a few barricades in order to do the right thing which is what the survivors seem to need when the FBI get involved with their case. The focus on the different survivors works nicely too as we get to learn their stories from back home as well as their connections to the present they find themselves in. The characters are varied in personality and it’s great to see their storylines develop even though it’s more of a hint of what’s yet to come. Unfortunately, it appears as though THE CROSSING has been axed so we may never find out what those threads are. Regardless of this, the series does wrap up nicely in the final episode so all current storylines are concluded even if the more interesting ones have yet to properly begin.

As television programmes go,  THE CROSSING is an easy watch and feels very nonthreatening as it softly treads at its comfortable pace. This is not to say it’s boring though, as there are times which will make you sit up as it suddenly turns the action up a notch, usually when Reece is threatened and showcases her evolved Apex skills or when Jude and Nestor defy their superiors and become badass lawmen. It’s lots of fun to watch and I certainly enjoyed every episode as it dabbles with the thriller element as much as it does the sci-fi one.

Upbeat and intriguing with plenty of colourful characters involved,  THE CROSSING has its own story to tell and is well worth a watch for both casual and sci-fi fans. It’s just a shame we won’t get to see what juicy storylines it had in store for us.

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