Star-Crossed Pilot | Review

High school, drama, teenagers, rejects, forbidden love and your typical Alien versus Human tale; this is Star-Crossed. Star-Crossed is a new science-fiction romance that is exactly what you think it might be: Alien falls for Human, a show filled with clichés, almost like every other love story. So, did I love it or hate it? Neither, and here's why.

When I first saw the trailer, I'm not going to lie, I thought, "Oh great, another cheesy love story." And it is, but it's not to the point that it's corny and unwatchable. To give you a brief rundown, here is what Star-Crossed is about....

Okay, serious this time....

The Plot 

An alien race's—called Atrians—spaceship crashes on Earth. The Atrians are ambushed by humans and flee to survive. The main character—a young boy at the time—hides in a shed and meets a young girl who helps him. The military finds him and he stands in front of the girl and protects her, getting shot. Ten years pass and the main character, known as Roman, and a group of his race are set to attend a suburban high school with the humans. Now this is where things get predictable.

Of course, the humans don't like this idea, especially the males because it's 'their territory'. The Atrians get bullied and are warned not to speak to them and not to associate with 'their females'. Typical human males. The Atrians in my opinion are like the Punks and Rebellions who just want to fit in and are sick of being treated like outcasts and decide to stand up for themselves. Then the whole alpha male predicament is introduced; who's tougher and who's more badass.

Then the obvious happens, Roman sees the little girl who helped him in the shed: Emery—Emily but missing the 'L' just to confuse and frustrate your tongue. He recognises her instantly and tries to talk to her while judgemental stares shift their way in all different directions. Without giving anymore away, Roman and Emily...Emery take interest in each other after she realises he was the boy who protected her and they help each other out, even if it means going against their races.

 The Verdict

I like the concept of the show so far, it's interesting and watchable in my opinion, apart from the clichés and semi-predictable storytelling. Is it a show for adults? Depending your taste, I'll say it's not for everyone, but mostly teenagers and young adults. The main things I didn't like about it was certain parts of it were predictable, I couldn't really feel Roman and Emery's chemistry and the whole deal with high school was so typical. All in all, it's another story about how humans suck and can't get along with anyone or anything.

As for the pros, the quality and special effects were done well, the acting is good—though I hope we see and feel more chemistry between Roman and Emery—and the storyline is decent. It left me interested in watching more to see what happens, but not to the point where I'm dying to see the next episode.

Overall, for me, it was what you see is what you get. Nothing about it was really surprising—not yet anyway—and it didn't keep me on edge. What I hope to see is some awesome Alien abilities then I'll more intriged, especially if they use them on those human trouble-making douchebags at the high school. That would be sweet.

Recommendation

If you're a sucker for romances and forbidden love with action and drama, then I'd definitely recommend it, you will enjoy it, and if you're not, give it a try anyway. It couldn't hurt after all.