‘Past Life’ Pilot Is A Heart Wrenching Experience
Richard Schieff as Dr. Malachi Samuels, Kelli Giddish as Dr. Kate McGinn, Australian actor Price Whately as Nicholas Bishop and Ravi Patel as Dr. Anoop Karna
Fox have a new series on the way titled Past Life and after viewing the pilot I can tell you this is one to look out for.
Based upon M.J. Rose’s book ‘The Reincarnationist’, Past Life follows Regression Therapist Dr. Kate McGinn (Kelli Giddish) and her ex NYPD homicide detective partner Price Whatley (Nicholas Bishop) as they investigate what is happening to individuals alive today who are experiencing regressive memories of their past life.
The pilot, written by David Hudgins (Friday Night Lights / Everwood) and directed by Deran Sarafian (Terminal Velocity / House M.D.), chronicles the first investigation of the pair and their team as they race to unravel the past life of a teenage boy who is slowly being driven crazy by recurring memories of the horrifying end to his former self.
Additional cast include Richard Schieff as Dr. Malachi Samuels and Ravi Patel as Dr. Anoop Karna. You might remember Patel’s brief appearance as a telephone operator in Transformers. Schieff has appeared in numerous films and television series, though is probably most well known for his role as Toby Ziegler in The West Wing.
The pilot is quite possibly one of the most emotionally charged television pilots I’ve ever experienced. It is literally a heart wrenching, tear jerking premiere full of incredible and to my mind award winning performances.
Kelli Giddish (All My Children) and Australian actor Nicholas Bishop (Home and Away) are brilliantly cast and deliver an instant on-screen chemistry, almost as if they’ve been in their respective roles for years. However, it is the performance of Cayden Boyd that stole the show. X-Men fans will remember Cayden Boyd as the Young Angel in X-Men: The Last Stand. Again, to say anymore would be to ruin your experience of the story, but suffice it to say Boyd’s performance is so powerful that it is hard not to end up in tears as you watch it – and for the record there wasn’t a dry eye in the room during my viewing.
