Meteors Are Made of Glass
Episode 1 of Chosen whisks us across to the most boring town in Denmark, Middelbo. At least it was anyway, until a meteor hit 17 years back. Since then the town is affectionately refereed to as Meteorbo. Guests are attracted to see the large crater, with Emma there enthusiastically revealing more information. The meteor itself is kept in a glass cage, which one of the guests convinces Emma to let him touch. Unfortunately, he gets a bit handsy and it shatters. Emma’s boss is obviously unhappy and fires her. This event seems to have a knock-on effect to the authorities too, who pick up a strange signal emanating from Middelbo. The thing is, there are rumblings across the town, with some people believing that the meteor is a fake. On her way home, Emma meets Hussein at his house. He’s not there to give Emma back her job though, and instead is here to divulge the truth. He reveals that the meteor is a fake and thee real one was destroyed on impact. In order to stop Emma’s snooping, Hussein pays her off with fair tickets and free drinks. Emma shows up with her mum and the pair get along well. Unfortunately, Emma finds her doofus boyfriend kissing another girl called Noreen. She breaks things off with him after confronting the guy about his cheating and starts drinking heavily. I’m not sure where her mum is during this time but there we go. Up on stage, Hussein introduces a man named Thomas Damborg. He represents a company called Astraeus, who happen to be an international hedge fund and they’re about to set up shop in town. He wants to make Middelbo the shipping center of Europe. Drunk and wandering about the fair on her own, Emma eventually passes out on the road. She’s helped by Marie, a blonde girl she saw earlier on in Emma’s drunken visions. She’s joined by Elvis, Mads and a motley band of other teens who believe that the meteor is just a front for what’s actually happening. And they deduce that that something is an alien spaceship. There’s a big conspiracy brewing here, and it’s not helped by the fact that a month ago Astraeus didn’t even exist to them. Emma obviously rejects the call to action but she’s undoubtedly interested. So in the morning, she heads down to the shipyard and speaks to Thomas. He explains the company was created back in 1875. That night, Emma meets Marie, who admits that their current target is a woman named Susan. She was there 17 years ago when the meteor crashed and she suspects this “boring Doctor” knows more than she’s letting on. And when she leaves with the biology teacher, Mr Hans, it seems to prove as such. While Mads and Elvis are full-on with the snooping and alien conspiracy, Marie is not. She admits to Emma that she just likes watching people, letting it remind her that people are “as f*cked up as I am.” As the episode closes, we cut to the forest where those bright lights we’ve been seeing manifest itself into a strange figure, who snaps the neck of an animal before walking toward the camera.
The Episode Review
The first episode of Chosen gets off to a relatively standard start, with a bit of comedy and a pretty formulaic slice of teen drama. The alien conspiracy angle is a nice touch and there are definitely echoes of shows like Invasion and Salvation here. There isn’t really anything particularly outstanding with this one just yet, although the mystery is certainly enticing enough to stick with to find out what happens next. The show is definitely atmospheric but there are also a few contrivances too. Whose mum just lets their daughter wander around a fair alone getting blind drunk and not batting an eyelid? It feels like a pretty contrived way just to get Emma alone, and it’s not helped by a bunch of other characters who have very little depth – at least so far anyway. It’s still early days so we’ll have to reserve our judgment to see how this story plays out. For now, there’s enough drama here to reel you in to find out what happens next.
