Where's Piper?! ABC's Emergence makes its 2020 return this Tuesday, January 7 after that shocking December 2019 winter finale. Everyone on screen will have to act quickly to find Piper. But first, the gobsmacked Chief Jo Evans (Allison Tolman) and Agent Ryan Brooks (Enver Gjokaj) need to search Benny Gallagher's (Owain Yeoman) apartment for clues. That's what you can watch below in CinemaBlend's exclusive clip from Season 1, Episode 10, "15 Years."
A quick recap first. You'll recall that the December 10, 2019 midseason finale, "Where You Belong," showed that "investigative journalist" Benny was apparently working with Helen (Rowena King). Benny put one of those bracelets on Piper's wrist to hold back her power, and the final shot of the episode revealed that Benny and Helen both have that funky glow like Piper. What's their story? There's a lot we need to learn about what they've been up to and what they want with Piper.
So that's where we pick up for the Episode 10 winter premiere. In this exclusive clip from Emergence's 2020 return, Jo and Agent Brooks work with the FBI to search Benny's apartment for clues, and Jo finds something of Piper's:
Can you imagine? As Jo says in the clip, of Benny:
He was planning this. I just don't get it. He was helping me. He was ... he was a friend.
Agent Ryan Brooks notes that they ran Benny's financials, saw that he had cancelled his credit cards. They can't even dig up a relative, alive or dead. He had a standard background check until 15 years ago and then it just stops. "It's like he didn't even exist before then." Mystery man!
Here's something that interested me. While Jo's clearly worrying about Piper, Ryan tries to reassure her with this timeline update:
She's only been gone eight hours tops. We're gonna find her, OK?
That's where the Emergence clip ends. However, ABC's synopsis for "15 Years" suggests a time jump from eight hours to months later:
After months of dead ends, the episode sees the Evans family receive information that could finally lead them to Piper. As Jo and Brooks follow this new lead, Ed (Clancy Brown) helps Mia (Ashley Aufderheide) as she tries to send Piper a message. Meanwhile, Alex (Donald Faison) and Chris (Robert Bailey Jr.) stumble upon a mysterious shipment in the harbor.
At least Jo and Brooks have a new lead. But wow -- months of dead ends? You know what's even more interesting? The official synopses for what comes later.
If you don't want to read what ABC teased for Emergence's January 14 episode, stop reading now. But that episode is called "Applied Sciences" and the description notes "Jo and Brooks assemble an unlikely team as they attempt to communicate with Piper. Meanwhile, Piper is intent on saving Benny from Helen's mysterious mission, and Alex receives a life-changing offer."
The press release says Piper risks her life to save Benny, which sounds strange from the perspective of today, having not seen the winter return yet. Didn't he kidnap her and betray Jo? There must be more to that story than we know. It is nice to think Piper has a real ally out there, although it wouldn't be wise to put so much trust in Benny (or anyone outside the family) anymore.
Speaking of family, I love Jo, Alex, Mia, Piper, and Ed as a family unit. Love the characters, love the actors. I want Jo and Alex to get back together at some point, although there's always a crisis happening so there's no time to just figure out why they can't make it work. For about five seconds, I was worried Alex was selling Piper out in the midseason finale, in an attempt to cure Ed of his cancer. But no, that was part of their plan. Now things don't seem to be going to plan, though, so they have to get creative to contact Piper.
ABC has 13 episodes planned for Emergence Season 1, but we don't know if there will be a Season 2. I do hope Emergence is given a chance to tell this story to its conclusion. It would be nice if the episodes could play out every Tuesday too, in keeping with appointment television. It's frustrating when the show will be on one week and then off the next, which happened repeatedly with the first nine episodes airing in Fall 2019. Right when this show premiered, I posted the hope that ABC wouldn't let Emergence be the latest genre show it cancels too soon. The show needs a chance to find an audience, which is hard when it doesn't get consistent airings.
But this is a new year and hopefully the show has its own emergence in the episodes ahead. Maybe some fans watched this great video with truly amazing Piper actress Alexa Swinton and binged over the holidays:
Other stars from Emergence shared their own videos trying to get new fans to binge the nine episodes so far. It's a good idea! This is a very binge-able show. You really do have to pay attention, but each episode ends on a cliffhanger that makes you want to see the next one right away. (Which is why it's especially frustrating when the next episode doesn't air the next week, but I'll drop it now.)
There are multiple ways to catch up on Emergence while there's still time, so tell your friends they can watch it on Hulu, as Alexa Swinton suggested in the video above. Or they can watch On Demand like I do if I miss any TV episodes. (I still have Xfinity/Comcast.) Or if you know someone with a YouTube TV subscription, they can watch Emergence here.
Emergence's winter finale twist surprised me, and probably shocked a few other fans, and we're ready to see what happens next. Emergence returns with its 2020 premiere -- Episode 10, titled "15 Years" -- tomorrow, Tuesday, January 7 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. Keep up with everything premiering in early 2020 with our handy TV schedule.
