TV REVIEW: Star-Crossed Pilot Episode

Star Crossed is the new and very heavily trailed CW teen drama. The show premiered on 17^th February 2014 in the US and stars Aimee Teegarden, Malese Jow and Chelsea Gilligan. The pilot episode was shown at last year’s San Diego Comic Con to mixed reviews. This review will contain minor spoilers from the pilot.

PLOT

About an epic romance between a human girl and an alien boy when he and eight others of his kind are integrated into a suburban high school 10 years after they landed on Earth and were consigned to an internment camp.

WHY I WATCHED

Malese Jow who I first saw as Anna in The Vampire Diaries is the reason I paid attention to this show back when it was known as Oxygen and was being paraded around in the run-up to Comic Con. I kept hearing about the show as she tweeted out details and behind the scenes photos.

WHAT I THOUGHT

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this, the problem with all the hype is that you get the major media outlets trying to pigeon hole a new show into something that viewers will understand, as if we viewers have absolutely no imagination. One of those pigeon holes that stuck out to me and almost sent me to the hospital with an eye rolling injury was that Star Crossed was a “Romeo & Juliet” tale featuring an alien boy and a human girl, this was indeed somewhat accurate it could be argued but I think that sells things short.

I can only hope that there will be a decent amount of plot time dedicated to the differences between the culture, like West Side story but with less singing perhaps. On a more serious note the performances so far have been pretty good, I know it was just the pilot but I’m optimistic that they are going to keep it at this level. I have to make special mention of Malese Jow who has at least in the pilot the most emotional range to work through as her character contemplates her own mortality.

As for the rest of the cast we have more placeholders than real characters as to be expected as this is only the pilot, we have the racist bully, queen bee and of course the competing love interest with a few actors that CW fans will recognise from other network shows. Those I know I think more than capable of bringing and some of the new ones I find intriguing, what can I say? I’m a sucker for a tough girl.

I am not sure where this will go, though the pilot does suggest something very close to war at least brewing after the fallout at the end of the episode. Furthermore, I am not sure about how this will fare in the endless chase for ratings but I for one am happy to watch as many episodes as CW choose to release.