A few days ago, ABC Family aired the pilot episode of their new show, Stitchers—a sci-fi series that’s one part time travel and another part detective story.
Episode 1 opens in media res when we see Kirsten (Emma Ishta) in her Catwoman-esque suit open doors without touching them and announces “I’m in.” An envelope in the foreground reading “Peter Brandt” and an oblivious couple getting it on tells us that she doesn’t belong here. The scene then abruptly shifts to a different scene in the same apartment, except now a bomb explodes as a man sits alone crying.
As you’re thinking WHAT JUST HAPPENED, we turn to a scene ten hours earlier, where we formally meet our protagonist, Kirsten Clark who is academically suspended for a dispute with her roommate, Camille (Allison Scagliotti). The two argue about their research and the dishes and we learn that Kirsten is a ridiculous computer genius with temporal dysplasia; she has no sense of time. Also, she’s stoic, a bit arrogant, and speaks like a computer.
After her suspension, Kirsten meets Detective Fisher (Damon Dayoub), who brings the news that her father has just killed himself. After some disagreement, Fisher dismisses her and notes that Kirsten is very calm, to the point of coldness. A screen in the background about a bomb interrupts their conversation. Kirsten becomes determined to find out the truth and sneaks into a Caltech office to hack into LAPD servers. Suddenly, she’s interrupted and kidnapped to a Chinese restaurant where she meets Maggie (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), who reveals she’s been watching Kirsten.
Here, we learn lots about Kirsten’s background, her deceased “father” is not her real father, and her condition means she can use math, logic, and memory to calculate time, but she has no idea what an hour or 20 seconds feels like. It’s also what makes her stoic and emotionless. Maggie reveals that Kirsten’s “aptitude” makes her perfect for the head of a secret project (the former “couldn’t handle it anymore”) and enlists her on a top-secret project: the Stitchers Project.
Here, casually dressed neuroscientist Cameron (Kyle Harris) takes over and introduces us to the science and minds behind the Stitchers Project. It’s a lot of banter and science-y talk but the gist is this: they need Kirsten to go into the memories of the university bomber, Peter Brandt, because they know he planted other explosives.
(image via The Disney Blog)
Kirsten gets submerged into a gigantic tank and we see the opening scenes again, as she and the team try to uncover Peter Brandt’s motivations and the location of the last two explosives. We learn the truth behind his actions: revenge for his dead wife, whose scientific research (Also, EVERYONE is a talented scientist. No exceptions) was stolen and sold. It’s pretty tragic and we can see Kirsten’s stoic mask begin to crack. Through the “stitch,” Kirsten listens to conversations and uncovers clues in a race against real-world time. She and Cameron become surprisingly good partners and even enlist her hostile roommate. (Who she just reveals everything to? Snitches get stitches Kirsten)
All seems well: a stitch in time saves everyone. However, there’s a twist to the Stitchers Project. Upon entering memories, Kirsten feels all of Brandt’s emotions: anger, passion, and even love. “I’m not a fan” she says. She’s a lot like an android learning what it means to have emotions.
Maggie then steps in and says they need her to enter her dead “father’s” mind next. Kirsten’s concluding words, “I’m in” bring the episode full circle.
Did you enjoy episode one? Don’t forget to tune in for episode two which premieres Tuesday, June 9th at 9/8c on ABC Family!
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