001 - Pilot
Summary
We are introduced to the team. The newbie, who serves as the one who needs things explained so that we the audience can hear the explanations, is Martin Fitzgerald, who transfers to Missing Persons from White Collar.
Maggie Cartwright disappears one night after going home. Though she’s successful and climbing the corporate latter, things aren’t as good as they seem. She wants to run away to Nepal, but ends up being kidnapped by a coworker in tech support who felt dissed when she didn’t want to go to Nepal with him.
Rating
Pilots tend to be good on first viewing but seem lackluster a couple years down the road (assuming a series lasts that long) because we (and the actors and writers) then know the characters better, whereas at the beginning things are still being felt out. WAT is not immune to this limitation. However, with that caveat in place, this is a great pilot: interesting premise, interesting characters (and I’ll admit I lust after Danny), and good story. Though WAT will get better, I’m still going to give it 4 stars out of 4 because it grabbed me and held me, which is what a pilot should do.
Discussion
This story is a bit convoluted. WAT episodes generally have a misdirection or two (or three), and with each misdirection we learn a bit more about the missing person. It adds a bit of complexity and interest to the story. This tale, however, seemed all over the place. And yet the motivation of Maggie is totally believable.
She’s climbing the corporate ladder and doing very well at work, but she’s lonely. She has an affair with a married coworker, and it’s been broken off. She previously abused cocaine, cleaned up, but goes back to it just before disappearing. I can totally understand her desire to just take off, leave it all behind, and return to a happier place, which for her was Nepal.
Notes
The set used for the FBI offices is only in the pilot, no other episodes. They definitely stepped up, but the pilot set is more accurate based on government offices I’ve seen. But this is TV, and pretty matters. I’ll admit I like the set used the rest of the series.
Jack wears a colored shirt and gray suit, but quickly that changes; white shirts and dark (black, mostly) suits become his normal work apparel for the rest of the series.
Martin is the son of Victor Fitzgerald.
Samantha is dating someone called “Doctor Fred”. “How is Doctor Fred?” asks Jack. “Busy and unavailable. Just the way I like them,” responds Samantha.
Quotes
Jack: As you all know, we have a new member of the team joining us today: Martin Fitzgerald. Let’s make sure we give him the frosty welcome that all rookies deserve.
Martin: So where do we start?
Jack: Right now we don’t know if she’s been kidnapped, or murdered, or killed herself, or run off to Rio with her dermatologist. We’ve gotta work from the inside out. Once we find out who she is, odds are we’ll find out where she is. In most cases, after 48 hours they’re gone.
Martin: I think he’s sleeping with her, the way he’s talking about her, and she’s climbing that corporate ladder pretty quick.
Jack: He may be in love with her, but he’s not sleeping with her. Never even thought about it. He’s gay.
Martin: What, because he called her a fireball?
Jack: No. ‘Cause he was checking you out.
Vivian: Where is she going.
Danny: Maybe to booty call.
Samantha: Your mind is always in the gutter. There was no call.
Danny: Tom Wilkins, 11:48.
Martin: In my experience, there’s usually not a 3-hour lag between the call and the, uh… delivery.