The “Pilot” episode for No Tomorrow is a good, solid, feel-good start to a promising new romantic comedy-drama with science fiction and fantasy overtones. The main cast and main recurring characters all give solid performances. The CW show, we’re told, comes from “the team who brought us Jane the Virgin,” including creator Corinne Brinkerhoff and Benjamin Silverman and Sean Canino. Also exec-producing are Scott McCabe, Brad Silbering, Grace Gilroy and Tory Stanton. And like Jane the Virgin, No Tomorrow is also based on a Latin American format. No Tomorrow is actually based on the 2012 Brazilian series Como Aproveitar o Fim do Mundo. While this show didn’t utterly capture me the way Jane’s quirkiness immediately did, the show is well produced, written and acted and is well worth checking out.
The official premise on IMDb tells us “Evie, a risk-averse quality-control assessor who falls for free-spirited thrill seeker Xavier only to find out he lives his life that way because he believes the apocalypse is coming.” Evie is played by relative newcomer Tori Anderson, who was also on Killjoys this season. I’ll admit that I didn’t recognize her – which isn’t a bad thing because it demonstrates an actor’s ability to completely inhabit each role. When we meet Evie, she’s pretty uptight and really seems to have a self-confidence problem. I was a bit skeptical at first, primarily because Anderson is pretty much drop dead gorgeous, but she pulls it off. It helps that she has a pretty dysfunctional family. Kelly Stables (
The Exes,
Two and a Half Men) plays her rather horrible sister Mary Anne.
Xavier is played by Joshua Sasse – last seen as the title character on
Galavant. When his path crosses Evie’s, he’s immediately smitten. He tells her “You’re charming, and you’re funny, and you’re awkward, which is also funny…” And that pretty much nails Evie. The two of them have terrific chemistry. It seems as if repressed Evie is just waiting for free-spirit Xavier to release her, but the story is more complicated than that, and while fate and a rutabaga bring the two together, Evie isn’t just putty in Xavier’s hands. And that’s a good thing! By the end of the episode, Evie takes more control of her own destiny, which I was very much happy to see.
Of course, Xavier opens a lot of doors that Evie didn’t even know were there – like pogo sticking – which turns out to be life-changing – in some unexpected ways. However, Evie does have a life – and a boyfriend – Timothy, played by Jesse Rath (who I adored on
Defiance). Just as an aside both Rath and Anderson are actually Canadian! At first glance, Timothy seems to be a perfect fit for Evie. He’s sweet, but awkward and nerdy and so quiet that most people can’t even hear him speak. It’s hard not to root for Timothy, and Anderson and Rath also have good chemistry, which sets us up nicely for the same kind of triangle they have on
Jane the Virgin - maybe.
What I really liked about the “Pilot” was that it sets up the premise in a somewhat surprisingly open way. We are told that the Apocalypse is “nigh” – 8 months and 12 days away, in fact. That would land us in June of 2017 – so what happens when we get there? My first thought was that they would draw the premise out by having one episode cover one day – but they don’t. Let’s not forget that the show does follow a Latin American format and those are almost always limited, so it’s entirely possible the premise includes the end date.
The premise also includes Xavier’s “apocalyst” of things to do. There are a lot of them! Evie gets drawn in to the excitement and learns to relax a bit, and I’m curious to see how many of her friends are also going to get drawn in – if not to believing in the Apolcalypse, at least to living life a little more fully. Jonathan Langdon plays Hank and Sarayu Blue plays Kareema, Evie’s co-workers and friends, while Amy Pietz plays Diedre her boss from Hell.
No Tomorrow is definitely worth checking out. If nothing else it’s another quirky comedy to offer some relief to the Superhero fare that the CW seems to be specializing in. It’s definitely funnier than most of the comedies I’ve seen in the last several years.
No Tomorrow premiers on the CW at 9/8c on Tuesday, October 4th.
About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.
