Web series review/recap: Gemini Division (2008)

On Friday, Brent Friedman, the creator and head writer of the upcoming Gemini Division, invited a bunch of media to review the first two episodes of the new web series starring Rosario Dawson and Justin Hartley. He also was kind enough to offer a question and answer period after the viewings and gave some insights into Dawson herself, the nature of the show and what is in store for fans.

The names of episodes 1 and 2 are Eyes Wide Open and Tug of War. If you didn’t catch our preview post for Gemini, the basic plot outline is this:

Set in the not too distant future, “Gemini Division” follows NYPD vice cop Anna Diaz (Dawson) who, while searching for the truth behind her fiancée’s murder, is drawn into a secret war between a race of artificial life forms know as SIMs and the covert agency charged with hunting them down.

The first thing that I wasn’t aware of until after watching these episodes is that the entire experience of the Gemini Division isn’t just about watching a web series. There is also a big ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that connects to the show and could even guide where it goes.

But the first episode starts off with Diaz leaving a video message for a friend on a very futuristic phone. She’s in Paris, France, with her boyfriend Nick Korda (Hartley), having a great time wandering the city and checking out the sights.

Who is this friend she’s communicating with? Friedman says we’ll find out the friend’s identity by the end, but at least so far, we have no idea.

The scenes in these two episodes are mostly Diaz leaving messages for her friend. In one moment she’s completely happy and excited, and then the next something mysterious is happening and her mood changes entirely.

I thought Dawson did an excellent job here, because it has to be hard to film scenes where all you do is talk to a camera. You are doing all the reactions yourself, there is no one to play off. It has a creepiness to it when you go from the end of one transmission to another, and something has happened to cause duress in Diaz’s life.

And one of those is the appearance of a man who is following them. What does he want with her? Or with Korda?

And what is going on with Korda himself? He suffers a seizure that scares Diaz, but he says it’s related to his heart condition or bad dreams?

I think I know, but I’ll leave it along for now.

The end of episode two leaves us with an even more puzzling development concerning Korda, so stay tuned for that.

I enjoyed the acting by Dawson in this and the brief moments with Hartley were good. While about 90% of the scenes involve talking to a camera, there were a few shot in normal fashion between Diaz and Korda. Those are almost like flashbacks in a way. While Diaz talks to her friend, she refers to moments that have already happened and sometimes those scenes are shown to us.

Dawson is a pretty big star these days, something Friedman admitted to. But he was adamant about the fact that they didn’t go out and try to land a “name” for this series to lend it credibility. Dawson worked with Friedman and Electric Farm Entertainment (EFE) on the hit web series Afterworld.

It was Dawson who asked “what’s next?”

“I mean this in the nicest way possible: Dawson is a total geek,” said Friedman.

She loves video games, comic books and everything that shows like Gemini Division are about. They didn’t have to go after a big name because she was already excited and thrilled to be doing something else with EFE.

Which to me is a good sign for the show. When you have an actor who is passionate about what they are doing, the results tend to be on the positive side.

Like I said above, the show is much more than just a series. It also involves an ARG. How exactly it will affect the show is a mystery. But fans can join the Gemini Division and play right alongside the episodes that are shown every week.

Dawson has already signed on for a second season. Friedman says we’ll get a satisfying ending after 50 episodes, but there will be more left in the world of the Gemini Division that needs to be done.

Here is how the schedule will play out for all 50 webisodes, according to Friedman:

• Episodes 1 and 2 starting on August 18th, with extra content on the website Wednesday through Friday
• Episodes 2 and 4 the following week, with the ARG opening on that Friday
• New episodes every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with something about the ARG on Fridays.

The key is that there is something new every day of the week.

All in all, I think this looks like a pretty interesting project. It looks like it will be pretty involved if you join the ARG, but hopefully those that just want to watch the episodes wont be completely in the dark.