In the first episode of season 1 of No Tomorrow, “Pilot,” we meet Evie, a quality-control assessor whose neat-and-tidy life is thrown into chaos when she meets Xavier. Xavier has a plan to live life to the fullest because he believes the world is going to end in eight months and twelve days. Though Evie thinks Xavier might be crazy, she cannot help but be drawn to him and his way of life. The show’s premiere has a bit of a pacing issue, but the leads are charming enough to make it work.
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Is the World Ending or is Xavier Just Crazy?
The series opens with a look at Evie’s life, pre-Xavier. Evie (Killjoys‘ Tori Anderson) has a boring office job and an overbearing boss with very bad breath who casually announces that she just fired someone. Luckily for Evie, her co-worker’s firing creates an opening on the Cyber Hugs team. Evie’s friend and colleague, Kareema, has no interest in this job, but Evie is all for it. The job would let her travel around the world while researching the charities their company donates to. It’s her dream job. Alas, when Evie mentioned her interest in the job to her horrible boss, Evie’s boss harshly listed the many reasons she would not be right for the position.
Later that day, Evie tells her friends that she finally saw her dream guy again. Kareema thinks this guy is a just an attractive stranger Evie’s projected all of her fantasies onto, but Evie says he’s not a stranger because they met one time over a rutabaga. Evie and Xavier (Galavant‘s Joshua Sasse) had a little meet-cute at the farmer’s market, but Evie ran off after Xavier introduced himself and she’s been kicking herself ever since. She wants a do-over. As luck or fate would have it, Evie gets that do-over after a package — a box of beer, brand name “Carpe Diem” — arrives on her doorstep addressed to Xavier.
After a chaotic conversation with her sister, Evie decides to deliver Xavier’s package and seize the opportunity to meet him again. After a humorous sequence in which Evie borrows a neighbor’s baby stroller to carry Xavier’s beer, Evie finally makes it to Xavier’s place. She is thrilled when he says he remembers seeing her around the neighborhood. She is less thrilled by the taste of his weird beer so he offers her something else to drink to make up for it.
In checking out Xavier’s place, Evie realizes that he lives a very different life than she does. Not only is his home straight out of a SkyMall catalogue, but he also shares Evie’s love for traveling. Only Xavier has actually traveled, whereas Evie always finds some excuse for why she can’t. The two spend a bit of time together and Evie discovers that Xavier doesn’t actually have a job to pay for his fun lifestyle. He tells her it’s because he has to live while he can and that does not include working in a cubicle. Evie worries that Xavier might be sick, but that is not the case. As Xavier explains, “The world is ending.” Evie is shocked into silence, and Xavier goes on to say that “The apocalypse is, you know, nigh.”
Evie, of course, freaks out because she thinks Xavier is nuts. Xavier explains that he used to be a regular guy who wore khaki pants and worked as a copy-editor for a science magazine. One day, he read about an asteroid that would be passing by Earth in exactly eight months and twelve days. But due to global warming, Xavier thinks the asteroid will actually impact Earth. Evie points out that NASA would probably tell them if the world was going to end via asteroid, but Xavier isn’t convinced. He says it checks out because he did the math. (He has a whole Apocalypse Theory comprised of 223 slides.)
While Xavier gives Evie a look at the asteroid he thinks will end humankind, he says that he’s made calls to “everyone” in an attempt to get the word out about the upcoming apocalypse. Xavier thinks the apocalypse is an opportunity for them to start doing all the things they want to do instead of what they have to do. He shows Evie his “Apocalyst” of all the things he wants to do before the end. He tries to do one thing off his list every day. He tells Evie to pick something off the list and they’ll do it together. Evie reads over the list and notices that one item on his list has to do with her. It turns out that their meeting at the farmer’s market was as memorable for him as it was for her. He believes it was fate that she showed up on his doorstep, but Evie needs some time to think things over.
Evie Takes a Chance
The next day at work, Evie asks her friend Hank what he thinks of Xavier’s theory. Hank is a conspiracy guy, but he has a very different — though equally crazy — belief of how the world will end. Later that day, Evie is talking to her family about Hank’s theory when the conversation shifts into a discussion of Evie’s life-long stage fright. (We see poor Evie throw up on stage when she tries to sing in her 4th grade play.)
The conversation is interrupted when Evie’s ex, Timothy, shows up at the family gathering. Timothy is an adorable but incredibly soft-spoken guy who seems perfect for Evie, at least on paper. Her family is thrilled when Timothy proposes to Evie out of the blue, but Evie doesn’t know what to say. She asks him for time to think about it. (This is why you should never propose to someone in public. The potential for embarrassment is way too high.)
Evie’s mom and sister give her a hard time about not saying yes to Timothy’s proposal. They have many reasons why they think she should go for it, but Evie isn’t convinced. When she returns home, Xavier is waiting for her. Xavier has brought her some boring, normal beer as an excuse to ask her once again if she wants to pick something off his Apocalyst. After Xavier says he “chose” her because he finds her charming and wants to spend time with her, Evie agrees to do something from his list. The first few options are a no-go, but Evie eventually lands on something they can do.
Evie and Xavier then go for a dune-buggy joy-ride with Big Carl. Evie has so much fun, she asks for a second go. Thanks to the excitement of the day, Evie and Xavier end up sleeping together. The next morning, Xavier tries to get Evie to blow off work and spend the day with him, but they compromise and agree to hang out later that night. Before Evie leaves for
work, Xavier asks her what would be on her Apocalyst. After stating a few small things like putting aluminum foil in the microwave and riding a pogo stick, Evie mentions her desire to
sing in public. Alas, she eliminates that possibility due to her stage fright.
That night, when Evie meets Xavier to come up with something good for her Apocalyst, Xavier has a surprise for her. He put her name into a raffle and she won. What did she win? The
chance to sing with the band. Evie freaks out, but eventually gets into it thanks to a strip tease from Xavier.
Xavier Goes Too Far
Alas, Xavier’s carpe diem attitude does come with a significant downside. Because Evie opened up to him about her domineering boss, Xavier wrote an insulting email to said boss that included a resignation. Evie is horrified at Xavier’s actions, but Xavier is convinced that she will thank him one day.
With her life in chaos thanks to Xavier’s intervention, Evie goes to Timothy for advice on how to get her job back. Thanks to Timothy’s advice, Evie is able to convince her boss that someone else hacked her account and sent the insulting email. After a bit of sucking up, Evie’s boss agrees to give her the job back, on one condition. Evie’s boss has a crush on Hank and wants Evie to help her find a way to win his affection without breaking any fraternization rules.
An Accident Saves Evie’s Life
Evie gets home to find a pogo stick waiting for her. This is apparently Xavier’s version of an apology. Still, Evie decides to give it a go but ends up falling off and hitting her head. At the hospital, Evie is told that while she only sustained a mild concussion from the pogo accident, they found something during her tests. Evie has a heart condition that causes her heart to beat too fast. She is told they need to take her into surgery right away.
Evie wakes up from surgery surrounded by her family. They tell her that she is out of the woods because early detection was key with this condition. While Xavier crossed the line by costing Evie her job, he also kind of saved her life.
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Evie Makes Some Changes
After her near-death experience, Evie goes to Timothy and tells him that she isn’t ready to get married. Timothy is heartbroken but says that he is determined to move on from her. As Evie leaves, we see that talking to Timothy was the first thing on Evie’s Apocalyst.
Evie then heads to Xavier’s. First, she confronts him for interfering in her life by trying to make her choices for her. Evie tells him that not only is she keeping her job, but she’s applying for that position she wants. He may have helped her learn to seize the day, but she will be doing it at her own pace. That being said, Evie does like him and she thinks they should keep hanging out. They agree to spend the next eight months ticking off things from both their lists.
Evie and Xavier re-start their relationship by doing something off Evie’s list. Yes, the aluminum test is silly, but it is also fun and leads to more kissing. Of course, their fun is interrupted when Xavier’s cousin Jesse shows up. Jesse has just escaped from prison because Xavier didn’t want him spending his last days locked up. How will Evie deal with this crazy new problem? I guess we’ll find out in the next episode.
What did you think of the series premiere of No Tomorrow? Did Joshua Sasse’s charisma win you over to Xavier’s side despite his insane antics or do you think Evie is better off without him? What about poor Timothy? Do you hope he sticks around despite the end of his relationship with Evie? Did any of the show’s minor characters stand out to you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
No Tomorrow season 1 airs Tuesday nights at 9/8c on The CW. Want more news? Follow our No Tomorrow Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
