The Tomorrow People: Season 1

The new species of “homo superiors” seem to have everything figured out. They possess the special powers of the three T’s: telekinesis, teleportation, and telepathy. Although putting a slight damper on things is the fact that they can’t actually kill. It’s no fun for them, and it’s certainly no fun for us. Before he figures out who he really is, Stephen Jameson (Robbie Amell) thinks he has a problem: he keeps hearing voices in his head, he can’t focus, and he’s quite the wild child when it comes to school. But he soon discovers that he’s a part of The Tomorrow People, individuals with specialised powers listed above, who are also hunted down by Ultra, a powerful government group that aims to neutralise such advanced mutants for fear of any misuse of power or further mutations that may enhance their abilities even more. The Tomorrow People live hidden away underground actively trying to find new recruits before Ultra can get their evil hands on them, and it’s lucky that John (Luke Mitchell), Cara (Peyton List), and Russell (Aaron Yoo) found Stephen first, as he too, would have faced a nasty ending. When it comes to portraying the three T’s that would be immensely useful in everyday life, The Tomorrow People does have fun in incorporating them to the expensive-looking action scenes. It’s difficult to know how sustainable such scenes are on a freshman television show’s budget, but for the time being it’s fun to watch our heroes and villains zap their way around, using their force field telekinesis and communicate through mind-reading and secret call-outs. Plotwise it echoes the beginning episodes of Alias and Nikita as Stephen ends up as a double agent posing to work for Ultra and its leader Jedikiah Price (Mark Pellegrino) whilst secretly feeding information to the good guys. In fact there isn’t a whole lot of secrecy when it comes to what everyone’s thinking since everything is so clearly spelt out for the audience, and as with most action/adventure/spy shows that go down this route, it’s hard not to wonder why the characters, especially the antagonists, don’t take the easy way of proceeding with intelligence. But ultimately it’s the good guys we’re supposed to be rooting for, so it’s probably a good thing the villains tend to ignore the best,j most obvious solutions available. Nothing imaginative or original takes place when it comes to characterisation: Stephen has daddy issues (is there a superhero who doesn’t struggle with this plot thread?), who abandoned the family leaving him with his mother Marla (Sarah Clarke) and younger brother Luca (Jacob Kogan). Time spent with his new best buddies brings up questions as to Stephen’s whereabouts, ones he dodges well whilst concealing his secret identity from his family and also from his best friend Astrid (Madeleine Mantock). There is also a love triangle brewing, something that no American network television series can do without, especially the CW network aimed at young adults. Stephen begins to rely more and more on Cara for advice, but it turns out Cara and John are something of an item. We all know where this is headed and to be frank, it’s not something that’s particularly worth looking forward to. Most problematic however, is in the leading man, the other Amell, the younger cousin of Stephen Amell, who is certainly generous with the amount of time he spends showing off his toned physique (another requirement for a show like this), but when it comes to actually selling the plot, he is no way near as convincing as he should be. He is too awkward and somewhat robotic in his delivery, and as a lead this is possibly the most disappointing performance of this television season. Things take an absolute turn for the worse when he has to multitask - running and acting it seems, is too much of a stretch, and the awful narration that is a shameless copy of what they have been using on Arrow doesn’t help smooth things over either. The supporting cast is noticeably better: Mitchell and List do a good job, Yoo is an adequate comic relief, and Pellegrino is as devious and evil as he has been in many other shows in the past. Without a doubt the strongest appeal here is the potential in its action scenes. But there is angst coming. The show’s still young, and with some minor tweaks here and there, a lot of fun could be had in this silly but entertaining concept. Less talking (especially from Robbie Amell), more action will be what saves this show, although the numbers this is posting aren’t looking too great in its time slot.