Pilot
November 23rd 2006 19:00
Day Break is a new ABC tv show, taking the place of Lost during its hiatus. The premise is that a cop relives a particular day of his life over and over. Presumably, this will last until he gets it right, figures out who the bad guys are, fixes everything. It's a similar idea to the movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray, but where the movie was a comedy, the television series is a drama.
Taye Diggs plays Detective Brett Hopper, falsely accused of murdering an Assistant District Attorney. An ensemble of talented actors keep the tension and mystery going. A well thought out plot and the occasional action scene provide for gripping drama. I recommend this one and I might be watching it even if Lost wasn't on.
Iteration 01
The Pilot starts at 6:17 in the morning. Officer Brett Hopper wakes up at his girlfriend's house and they get up. They seem happy together, but there is an underlying tension. Rita suggests skipping work and driving up the coast, but he can't; he has a meeting with IA about his partner. Things go wrong: he trips on his gun belt, he cuts himself shaving, he breaks a small plate with a palm on it. Somebody watches him through a camera as he leaves.
He goes to get his morning coffee and finds out assistant DA Alberto Garza has been murdered. He runs into a woman who seems awfully nervous when she realizes he's a cop. He helps her pick up her stuff and she runs off, but then he notices a post-it note with a phone number on it. He runs after her and gives it back. As he does so, a bus narrowly misses a collision with a car, but it swerves towards the woman. He pushes her out of the way, saving her life.
Hopper walks to his apartment and checks his mail--just some ads, it looks like. His neighbors meet him at his door and tell him plumbers came yesterday, his dog barked all night, and now they have a leak in their apartment, too. He enters and his apartment has been trashed. No one is there except for his dog Brandeis.
Nine messages are on his machine. Six hangups from his sister, Jen. He calls her and asks what's wrong and she begs off and hangs up quickly. The next message is from Damien, who says the safe house was raided. Police break down his door and Detective Spivak arrests him.
Detectives Troy and Spivak question him. Hopper is innocent, but they have evidence against him. They found the murder weapon in his closet. He tells them someone is framing him and Rita is his alibi. He has no motive anyway. They book him.
While he is being fingerprinted, his partner Andrea walks up to him and asks what's going on, then she immediately tells him not to talk to IA. He cuts her off. A bushy-bearded man makes a fuss and is stilled by officers. Next Hopper calls his lawyer Baxter, who seems very interested in Damien, the informant from the compromised safe house.
As he is being escorted between buildings, he sees two men watching him with the camera we saw earlier. Hopper meets with another lawyer, Coburn, who seems to think he can get Hopper out quickly. He has brought Jen up to see him. They talk and he sees that her arm has been badly bruised. He says, "I'll kill him," just as Chad Shelton, his former partner and Rita's ex-husband, who will also be prosecuting Andrea, walks into the room. He asks, "Who are you killing now?"
Chad escorts Hopper to an elevator and they leave the guards behind. They chat in a rather hostile manner. Chad threatens him. Hopper asks if he knows more than he's saying, and Chad answers yes.
Hopper is judged a flight risk and goes to jail to await trial. Late that night, he is kidnapped from his cell and taken to a quarry. The two men who were watching him with the camera earlier that day are there. One seems to be the mastermind.
They show Hopper video of Rita being shot, then of Jen walking to school with her children. They assure him that Jen and the kids are okay--for now. He needs to confess to the murder of Garza. If he doesn't, they can hurt everyone he loves. The Mastermind tells him, "For every decision, there's a consequence."
Iteration 01 ends with Hopper receiving an injection in the neck. It's only a mild sedative, the Mastermind tells him.
Iteration 02
He is surprised when he wakes up at 6:17 in Rita's bed again. He starts out thinking the previous iteration was only a nightmare, but then things happen exactly as they did the previous day. The scene from the window is the same. The news shows the same news. He goes to get in the shower and realizes his side hurts from where he was kicked in the quarry. He checks his neck and the cut is there. He leaves Rita's apartment in a hurry.
He skips his morning coffee and retrieves his mail, then goes straight to his apartment. He is there earlier, so he misses his neighbors, who we hear arguing down the hall. Brandeis is there waiting for him.
Hopper checks his phone messages. When he gets to the seventh one, the one from Damien, he realizes this is the same day and he digs through his apartment until he finds the gun. He drops the gun off a pier and goes to the hospital to get Rita. She has called in for a vacation day. He turns to leave and the woman from the coffee shop whose life he saved the day before is being wheeled in and is in very bad shape. He realizes she was hurt because he skipped his coffee and wasn't there to save her.
He goes to the school where his sister works as a teacher and runs into her husband, Randall, the principal. He throws him into a trophy case and tells him never to touch his sister again. Hopper tells Jen to get the kids and go. She asks him what he did.
Scene changes and he's in a shopping area. He meets Andrea in a clandestine meeting. He tells her he needs her help and promises that he didn't talk to IA about...but she cuts him off before he finishes. She asks him about Garza, but he hasn't said anything to her about that. She's set him up. Plainclothes police converge on him and chase him through the area on foot. He escapes by hiding under a subway platform. Unfortunately, Detective Spivey has guessed that he would do that.
Detective Troy and Spivey question him. He says they have nothing. Troy asks if they will find the murder weapon off the pier. Hopper waits in a holding cell and he sees the bushy-bearded man, but this time the man just looks at him.
Hopper uses his phone call to call his answering machine. He listens to the entire seventh message and finds out that Damien wants him to meet him. The eighth message begins with a woman's voice saying he should have received a package, but his time is up and the officer hangs up the phone for him.
Hopper meets with Coburn who scolds him for assaulting his brother-in-law. Hopper tells him to get Jen and the kids somewhere safe and not to worry about him. Chad arrives to escort him upstairs. This time Hopper has the upper hand and they fight. Hopper wants to know what Chad was hiding the day before. He thinks it has something to do with Rita's disappearance. Even handcuffed, Hopper gets the better of him and escapes, leaving Chad handcuffed in the elevator. Hopper takes Chad's vehicle.
He hides in Andrea's house until she gets home. He holds a gun on her and she looks surprised to see him. He accuses her of cuttin g a deal with IA and she admits to it. She denies that she took a payoff from anyone (what she's accused of). Apparently, he's been avoiding her for the last six months and she's a little annoyed that he wants her help now. She asks if his problem has anything to do with the Latin Disciples. Hopper is surprised she knows of it.
He tells her he's working for the U. S. Attorney's office. They'd flipped Damien Ortiz against them, but the trial is tomorrow and Damien is gone.
There's tension between them, but she agrees to help him. She gives him a gun and he leaves, telling her he's going clubbing.
He enters a nightclub and the bouncers take the gun off him. Two men grab him and take him to the roof. They throw him off. He falls onto the next floor. Damien comes up and asks why he sold him out. Hopper tells him he's on the run for murder, which Damien didn't know.
Damien says he woke up at the safe house and the Feds were gone, the house was empty, and some Skinheads were coming for him. He ran. Damien tells him the deal is off and Hopper chases him downstairs to the alley. Men appear from a car and fire at them, killing Damien and capturing Hopper.
They take Hopper to the same quarry and he tells them he'll do whatever they want, just don't hurt his loved ones. They show him the same video of Rita being shot, then they give him the sedative.
Iteration 02 ends with the bad guys walking out of the quarry and leaving Hopper there. Iteration 02 also ends the pilot episode, but the second episode of the season, "What If They Run", showed immediately after.
Taye Diggs plays Detective Brett Hopper, falsely accused of murdering an Assistant District Attorney. An ensemble of talented actors keep the tension and mystery going. A well thought out plot and the occasional action scene provide for gripping drama. I recommend this one and I might be watching it even if Lost wasn't on.
Iteration 01
The Pilot starts at 6:17 in the morning. Officer Brett Hopper wakes up at his girlfriend's house and they get up. They seem happy together, but there is an underlying tension. Rita suggests skipping work and driving up the coast, but he can't; he has a meeting with IA about his partner. Things go wrong: he trips on his gun belt, he cuts himself shaving, he breaks a small plate with a palm on it. Somebody watches him through a camera as he leaves.
He goes to get his morning coffee and finds out assistant DA Alberto Garza has been murdered. He runs into a woman who seems awfully nervous when she realizes he's a cop. He helps her pick up her stuff and she runs off, but then he notices a post-it note with a phone number on it. He runs after her and gives it back. As he does so, a bus narrowly misses a collision with a car, but it swerves towards the woman. He pushes her out of the way, saving her life.
Hopper walks to his apartment and checks his mail--just some ads, it looks like. His neighbors meet him at his door and tell him plumbers came yesterday, his dog barked all night, and now they have a leak in their apartment, too. He enters and his apartment has been trashed. No one is there except for his dog Brandeis.
Nine messages are on his machine. Six hangups from his sister, Jen. He calls her and asks what's wrong and she begs off and hangs up quickly. The next message is from Damien, who says the safe house was raided. Police break down his door and Detective Spivak arrests him.
Detectives Troy and Spivak question him. Hopper is innocent, but they have evidence against him. They found the murder weapon in his closet. He tells them someone is framing him and Rita is his alibi. He has no motive anyway. They book him.
While he is being fingerprinted, his partner Andrea walks up to him and asks what's going on, then she immediately tells him not to talk to IA. He cuts her off. A bushy-bearded man makes a fuss and is stilled by officers. Next Hopper calls his lawyer Baxter, who seems very interested in Damien, the informant from the compromised safe house.
As he is being escorted between buildings, he sees two men watching him with the camera we saw earlier. Hopper meets with another lawyer, Coburn, who seems to think he can get Hopper out quickly. He has brought Jen up to see him. They talk and he sees that her arm has been badly bruised. He says, "I'll kill him," just as Chad Shelton, his former partner and Rita's ex-husband, who will also be prosecuting Andrea, walks into the room. He asks, "Who are you killing now?"
Chad escorts Hopper to an elevator and they leave the guards behind. They chat in a rather hostile manner. Chad threatens him. Hopper asks if he knows more than he's saying, and Chad answers yes.
Hopper is judged a flight risk and goes to jail to await trial. Late that night, he is kidnapped from his cell and taken to a quarry. The two men who were watching him with the camera earlier that day are there. One seems to be the mastermind.
They show Hopper video of Rita being shot, then of Jen walking to school with her children. They assure him that Jen and the kids are okay--for now. He needs to confess to the murder of Garza. If he doesn't, they can hurt everyone he loves. The Mastermind tells him, "For every decision, there's a consequence."
Iteration 01 ends with Hopper receiving an injection in the neck. It's only a mild sedative, the Mastermind tells him.
Iteration 02
He is surprised when he wakes up at 6:17 in Rita's bed again. He starts out thinking the previous iteration was only a nightmare, but then things happen exactly as they did the previous day. The scene from the window is the same. The news shows the same news. He goes to get in the shower and realizes his side hurts from where he was kicked in the quarry. He checks his neck and the cut is there. He leaves Rita's apartment in a hurry.
He skips his morning coffee and retrieves his mail, then goes straight to his apartment. He is there earlier, so he misses his neighbors, who we hear arguing down the hall. Brandeis is there waiting for him.
Hopper checks his phone messages. When he gets to the seventh one, the one from Damien, he realizes this is the same day and he digs through his apartment until he finds the gun. He drops the gun off a pier and goes to the hospital to get Rita. She has called in for a vacation day. He turns to leave and the woman from the coffee shop whose life he saved the day before is being wheeled in and is in very bad shape. He realizes she was hurt because he skipped his coffee and wasn't there to save her.
He goes to the school where his sister works as a teacher and runs into her husband, Randall, the principal. He throws him into a trophy case and tells him never to touch his sister again. Hopper tells Jen to get the kids and go. She asks him what he did.
Scene changes and he's in a shopping area. He meets Andrea in a clandestine meeting. He tells her he needs her help and promises that he didn't talk to IA about...but she cuts him off before he finishes. She asks him about Garza, but he hasn't said anything to her about that. She's set him up. Plainclothes police converge on him and chase him through the area on foot. He escapes by hiding under a subway platform. Unfortunately, Detective Spivey has guessed that he would do that.
Detective Troy and Spivey question him. He says they have nothing. Troy asks if they will find the murder weapon off the pier. Hopper waits in a holding cell and he sees the bushy-bearded man, but this time the man just looks at him.
Hopper uses his phone call to call his answering machine. He listens to the entire seventh message and finds out that Damien wants him to meet him. The eighth message begins with a woman's voice saying he should have received a package, but his time is up and the officer hangs up the phone for him.
Hopper meets with Coburn who scolds him for assaulting his brother-in-law. Hopper tells him to get Jen and the kids somewhere safe and not to worry about him. Chad arrives to escort him upstairs. This time Hopper has the upper hand and they fight. Hopper wants to know what Chad was hiding the day before. He thinks it has something to do with Rita's disappearance. Even handcuffed, Hopper gets the better of him and escapes, leaving Chad handcuffed in the elevator. Hopper takes Chad's vehicle.
He hides in Andrea's house until she gets home. He holds a gun on her and she looks surprised to see him. He accuses her of cuttin g a deal with IA and she admits to it. She denies that she took a payoff from anyone (what she's accused of). Apparently, he's been avoiding her for the last six months and she's a little annoyed that he wants her help now. She asks if his problem has anything to do with the Latin Disciples. Hopper is surprised she knows of it.
He tells her he's working for the U. S. Attorney's office. They'd flipped Damien Ortiz against them, but the trial is tomorrow and Damien is gone.
There's tension between them, but she agrees to help him. She gives him a gun and he leaves, telling her he's going clubbing.
He enters a nightclub and the bouncers take the gun off him. Two men grab him and take him to the roof. They throw him off. He falls onto the next floor. Damien comes up and asks why he sold him out. Hopper tells him he's on the run for murder, which Damien didn't know.
Damien says he woke up at the safe house and the Feds were gone, the house was empty, and some Skinheads were coming for him. He ran. Damien tells him the deal is off and Hopper chases him downstairs to the alley. Men appear from a car and fire at them, killing Damien and capturing Hopper.
They take Hopper to the same quarry and he tells them he'll do whatever they want, just don't hurt his loved ones. They show him the same video of Rita being shot, then they give him the sedative.
Iteration 02 ends with the bad guys walking out of the quarry and leaving Hopper there. Iteration 02 also ends the pilot episode, but the second episode of the season, "What If They Run", showed immediately after.
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Comment by pegasus
Poker Addict
I'm sure to be a regular viewer of this show.
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
It's nice to hear of something well written and fast paced. When will it be in Australia.
katyzzz
Comment by Adele
Lost Fanatic
Day Break TV
We'll get eleven episodes of Day Break before Lost comes back. I wonder how close Hopper will come to solving the mystery in that time.
Comment by Adele
Lost Fanatic
Day Break TV
I don't know if there are plans to send this one overseas. It's still in its trial phase in the US. My guess is that it will be popular enough to export.