I try to be more lenient on pilots, and first seasons of TV shows in general. It usually takes some time for the writers to get into their grooves and for the characters to find their place. Given that this is likely a mini-series (though 'Under the Dome' started off that way only to get two more seasons) I don't know if we can grant it that same consideration.
In any event, there are parts of this that worked and other parts that didn't. A lot of the episode is spent establishing the characters and showing us what life is like before the titular mist arrives to screw everything up.
That's actually not a bad thing as, by and large, this episode does a good job of showing us a town full of generally good people. It makes the eventual turn that much more noticeable, in contrast to "Needful Things" where the characters were already unlikable and only got worse.
The number of characters does become a bit of a problem. The bigger cast has its benefits. You can tell a bigger story and present a diverse cast of new, original characters. However, with only so much screen time, only a few are fully established. Honestly, even naming most of them would prove difficult without looking it up. I'm pretty sure that, as the story goes on, they will leave more of a lasting impression, so that kink should work itself out over time.
The thing that really hurts the pilot is the script itself. Some of the dialogue is pretty cringe inducing. You can tell the writer has a Tumblr account, as the episode often times bends over backwards to throw in some reference to that particular world view. When readers and viewers express the desire for writers to keep their politics out of their work, this stands as a prime example as to why.
Sadly, even the scares are hit or miss. There's a general foreboding atmosphere that works, but other "horrifying" elements didn't. Mrs. Carmody's face as she charged at the door after venturing into the mist is more likely to elicit chuckles than revulsion. The fact that everybody stood around watching as if they were anticipating something bad happening also made the scene feel a bit staged.
Is it weird that one of the highlights for me was the scene where the cop goes out to start taking selfies when the mist first hits? It's so random and comes out of nowhere. The rest of the episode takes itself so seriously that such a moment of silliness really stood out.
One of the things that I (and many others) noted when watching the trailers was the lack of monsters. It got to the point where I was convinced that there weren't going to be any monsters and the mist was just going to drive people crazy.
At this point, we still don't know and I'm guessing it's intentional as to let the mystery linger. Some characters do appear to have gone insane, but others are able to walk around with no problem (maybe prolonged exposure is what does it?) We don't see any monsters, but one guy does get attacked by insects, suggesting that nature itself will be the external threat. That could prove to be incorrect too in the long run, at this point it's too soon to tell.
Speaking of too soon, the characters act as if they know that the fog is evil when there is little evidence of it. I get why Brian is ranting about it, but to most of the people, it's just fog. We the viewer know that it brings evil and death, but they shouldn't yet.
All in all, this episode had some notable flaws. Thankfully, it didn't get to the point where I was ready to write off the show just yet. It has potential, but it's up to the show to work out the kinks and focus on what did work in order to tap into it.
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