Do you believe that we all have lived past lives? That we were all someone else at different points in history?
That’s the gist of Past Life, Fox’s latest freaky sci-fi drama, which this week takes over Fringe’s Thursday-night timeslot until April.
It all starts with tonight’s sneak peek, which follows the medical staff of fictional Talmadge Center as they examine those who show signs that their past lives are bleeding through into the present.
“The series is inspired by a book called The Reincarnationist written by M.J. Rose,” creator and executive producer David Hudgins told media during a recent conference call, alongside star Kelli Giddish.
“Warner Bros. sent me the book and asked me to read it and I did. I was immediately engaged. I just got hooked immediately and thought, ‘This is such an interesting, different, unique world.’ I came up with this franchise of The Past Life detective team and building around that just sort of went forward with the series.”
The team is headed by Malachi Talmadge (The West Wing’s Richard Schiff), whom Hudgens explains is “the one who all the cases, questions and decisions go through.”
Dr. Kate McGinn (Giddish, All My Children) is the psychologist who goes into the field to run the actual investigations, while Dr. Rishi Karna (Ravi Patel) acts as the medical doctor on the team, with a focus on cognitive research and brain science.
Past Life has the ubiquitous cynic on hand as well, in the form of Price Whatley (Nicholas Bishop), a former NYPD detective who performs the “just the facts, ma’am” work to solve cases.
“It’s a mystery show, we’re solving a mystery each week, but we’re doing it in a way that is different because of the past life angle to the show,” Hudgens said.
“At the end of the day the episodes are really about hope because patients are, in 90 per cent of the cases, being healed. There are great comedy moments, there are very scary moments, but what’s consistent every time are the actors.”
There’s no denying that Kate and Price have chemistry. That’s evident in tonight’s episode, in which Kate comforts a teen haunted by visions of being kidnapped and thrown off a boat and into water, where he drowns.
Turns out the teen was once a young girl, and was nabbed from her bedroom alongside her sister – a crime that was never solved. With disturbing scenes, dramatic music, a couple of twists and some wry humour, the pilot is certainly worth a look.
But Past Life suffers from the past lives of other, similar series. The X-Files, Fringe, Medium and Ghost Whisperer all spotlight a person who believes in otherworldly things, and someone who doesn’t.
In The X-Files it was Mulder and Scully (David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson), in Fringe it’s Peter and Olivia (Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv), and in Past Life it’s Kate and Price.
Hudgens even acknowledges that Past Life will – like the aforementioned series – have sexual tension between the lead characters.
“Any time you have a show with a male and a female lead, there is always the question of a romantic relationship between the two of them,” he said.
“We all know it’s there, but as a storyteller I just think that’s something you have to be careful with. Dr. McGinn is single and lives at home right now with her dog and her mother, who is very interested in her getting out and meeting people.”
For now, I’ll give it a cautious thumbs-up just because I’m intrigued by the thought of past lives and enjoy out-there sci-fi shows. I wonder who I was in my past life – perhaps a Southern gentleman, or a butler for a rich Victorian family?
Giddish described to the press how she did research for her role by regressing with a professional to see who she once was.
“I have an hour unaccounted for there that I was off being an Alaskan boy and a fruit picker in the 1930s,” she laughs. “I don’t know if I believe, but I came out of her office light on my feet and looking around at things with a little gleam in my eye.”
Past Life airs a sneak-peek episode on Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 9 p.m. ET on A/Fox before moving to its regular time-slot on Thursday, Feb. 11, at 9 p.m. ET on A/Fox.
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Video: Check out a preview of tonight’s episode
