Review of The Passage

By Dave B. 

In The Passage, FOX’s newest action/horror television show, stars Mark-Paul Gossleaar as Agent Brad Wolgast (AKA “The Agent”) and Saniyya Sidney as Amy Bellafonte. The Agent is tasked with recruiting death row inmates for a dangerous military experiment that’s intended to cure all diseases. When all of the experiments end in failure, the doctors come up with a new plan: trying the treatment on a much younger guinea pig. The Agent is assigned to bring the recently orphaned Amy to a top secret facility hidden in rural Colorado. As he redevelops a conscience, he realizes that protecting Amy is his new mission in life. But the military won’t be easily deterred from its goals and the survivors of the experiments have developed a lethal scheme to take out their vengeance on the entire world. Amy, with the help of The Agent, represents humankind’s only hope of survival against a plague that’s unlike any the world has ever seen. 

The Passage is definitely my second favorite new show of the most recent television season. It has a strong story, powerful character development, and great performances. The last point is especially true for Sidney, who may soon be considered the best child actor of her generation. I’ve never seen a child character written so well nor performed so ably on television. If she doesn’t get nominated for an Emmy, there is no justice in this world. To add to all of the other positives about the show, the two-hour finale is AMAZING! My eyes were glued to the screen for the entire time as the action and drama ramped up to level 10. Truly an epic finale. 

My only major complaint about The Passage is that it spent much of the season stuck in the same location. That’s a recipe for bad ratings for an action show, and The Passage proved that point when it’s finale was the lowest rated episode that it had this season. Although the finale spanned time and space, it may have been too late to save the show from cancellation, which is really a shame. Viewers have short attention spans and tons of options for what to watch. New shows, no matter how strong, have to take those facts into consideration if they want to achieve long-term success.

Overall, The Passage is a fantastic show with excellent writing, compelling characters, a deep backstory, and enough action to keep most viewers thoroughly entertained. I definitely classify it as one of the “can’t miss” shows of 2019. That said, it’s unclear to me if enough people are willing to give this little gem a chance. I certainly hope they are, because a second season is likely to be even better than the first.

Rating: 8/10