FOX’s new crime drama series Minority Report, falling in the same universe as the 2001 film starring Tom Cruise, takes place ten years after the film. In the pilot episode, the pre-crime initiative that Tom Cruise ran for the police has been abolished and the three pre-cognitives with the ability to predict murder have integrated into society to live normal lives. However, the flashes of murders yet to happen still enter their heads. One of the pre-cogs, Dash, decides he wants to stop these murders once again and goes vigilante with one of Washington DC’s detectives.
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The Origins of the Pre-Cogs
The pilot opens with a little bit of history of who the three pre-cogs are. Agatha, Arthur and his twin brother Dash, who narrates the story. The children stand in a field, appearing to play hide and seek (though it really makes no sense why all three of them have their eyes closed and are counting to 100). They run across the field, which is being watched by a group of scientists who Dash says “saved their lives.” Throughout their childhood, experiments were conducted on the three of them to research how their psychic abilities could be harnessed. As people who saw the movie know, the three were then permanently used by the Washington DC police department to stop murders. When the program was abolished, the three were sent to an undisclosed location to hide from the rest of the world (though in the movie, it’s described that they were sent to live out their lives in peace, a tweak most likely made to add drama to the series). However, Dash decided that he couldn’t spend his life hiding and returns to Washington DC.
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A Few Seconds Too Late
Dash now lives in a crappy apartment in DC. He awakes on his mattress on the floor and rushes out the door. Dash still sees events before they happen, but for visions of murders, he is only given flashes which he tries to piece together. Without the help of Agatha and Arthur, it’s not as easy to piece these murders together in time. Dash rushes to stop a murder he sees where a man pushes someone out of a window, but is unable to determine the location alone and arrives there just seconds too late. Pre-crime is much more difficult without help.
Life Without Pre-Crime
Detective Lara Vega, a real go-getter of the Washington PD arrives at the crime scene of the murder that Dash was too late to stop. As she sharply and observantly puts together the events of the murder, she reflects on the days of pre-crime and how she feels things were much better back then. Dash, who hangs around at the crime scene sees that Vega is a real talent and might be someone who can help him. After speaking with Agatha about his frustration for not being able to stop crimes anymore, she begs him to come home. Dash stubbornly hangs up on her because he feels that doing this is his purpose in life, despite the danger. His visions will never go away and not doing anything about them will only eat away at his conscience. After another vision which gives him a glimpse at a face, Dash follows Vega to give her his sketch. She’s the only one with the resources to match it to someone. Vega is on to the fact that she’s being followed, and though Dash gets the best of her when she tries to corner him, she’s not going to let this mystery man with an anonymous tip just get away. Meanwhile, she takes the clue back to the station to try and make sense of it.
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Revenge Against Pre-Crime
One of Dash’s visions leads him to discover the next victim to be Olivia, the wife of political candidate Peter Van Eyck, who at one time ran the pre-crime division. He sees Olivia dying in front of Van Eyck, while on stage at a political rally. This leads Vega to believe that someone would be targeting Van Eyck’s family because pre-crime was responsible for putting them away for something they had yet to even do, completely ruining their life. Dash and Vega visit a center where the one-time prisoners of the pre-crime department stay in their old age. It is here that they meet a woman visiting her father, who was locked away for intending to murder his wife, as Dash, Arthur and Agatha had foreseen. Nowadays, he spends his time caring for and controlling messenger pigeons. The visit by Vega and Dash spooks him and he makes a run for it. With the political rally the next day and their only suspect on the loose, Dash and Vega have no choice but to try and stop the murder at the rally itself.
Vega’s Home Life
Having been very standoffish and sarcastic thus far, Vega brings Dash to her home where he meets her mother and little brother. He learns that her father was also a detective who died in the line of duty. Dash is somewhat surprised to see how warm and family-centric Vega really is. Dash in turn opens up to her about how upbringing and dealing with these flashes on a daily basis.
The Rally
Dash and Vega are finally able to track down the pigeon man, who it seems was in fact plotting his revenge. Just as they’re ready to make the arrest, his daughter comes to his rescue. After a huge scuffle that appears to knock her out, Vega arrests the man, just as Dash has a vision of Vega’s death. Realizing the man has a knife tucked away, he instinctively shoves him from Vega, pushing him to his death and saving Vega’s life. Dash makes a quick get away while Vega deals with the bureaucratic mess of the situation. The bottom line is that Van Eyck and his wife were both saved and Dash still remains under the radar. Vega is just as excited as Dash to work together like this again, as they both share a common desire; stopping crime before it happens. The final scene shows Dash and Vega staring out at the city, excited at the prospect of making a real difference.
Minority Report airs Mondays at 9pm on FOX.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
