his hour-long drama begins with a man who wakes up, naked and alone, on an unknown island. Searching, he accidentally plummets into the ocean, where he swims until he ends up clinging to a piece of driftwood. When a boat of Cambodians rescue and question him, he answers in Khmer—not realizing he isn't speaking English. This mystery man is shocked to discover he's fluent in a language that should be unknown to him.
Then again, he soon figures out he has no idea who he is.
Taking the name John Doe, he learns he woke up on a tiny uninhabited island just off the coast of Seattle. He reports himself as a missing person at a police station, but no one seems to be missing him. He's lost and alone in the world, with no family, no friends and no idea what his life has been up until now.
But John notices something interesting. There's a strange scar that looks a bit like a crop-circle design on his shoulder. And one more thing: He's a walking encyclopedia. He literally knows every fact on record. John's no psychic or clairvoyant—he can't predict the future. But when it comes to learning anything new, like how to pilot a helicopter, he's a very quick study.
As John attempts to set down roots and create a life for himself, he sees a TV news report about a missing girl. Although John's color blind (cleverly, shots from his point of view are filmed in black and white), he can see a picture of the missing girl in color. He takes this as some kind of sign and wonders if he might have been her teacher or maybe even her father. Grasping at the chance to find out who he is, John convinces the police to let him help search for her. While the police follow a traditional path of investigation, John uses all of his senses to track her, tapping into his vast array of facts to pull the pieces of the puzzle together.
Solving crimes only deepens the mystery
John Doe is a top-notch drama spiced with wry and subtle humor. This series combines the type of crime-solving details of C.S.I. with an ongoing mystery that promises to grow deeper with each episode. While John's a whiz at helping the police solve crimes, what he really wants is to learn who he is and what happened to him—and that mystery promises to unravel at a tantalizingly slow pace.
John Doe's executive producers bring both feature-film and television experience to the table. Brandon Camp (whose father, Joe Camp, created, wrote and directed the Benji movies and TV shows) and Mike Thompson have written several screenplays, including Dragonfly. Mimi Leder directed Deep Impact, The Peacemaker and Pay It Forward, in addition to directing episodes of TV's China Beach and co-executive producing ER. Add all this experience up, and it's no wonder John Doe shines through with top-notch production values.
The show is smart and savvy. John's no saint—he's a guy trying to find himself in the most literal way. In the pilot episode, he senses a certain familiarity with the missing girl and her mother, only to discover that sense isn't returned. Nobody recognizes him, even though he thinks he recognizes them. The greatest mystery John has to solve is himself.
One strength is the way John's encyclopedic knowledge is handled. Even though he has all the facts straight, it doesn't mean there won't be surprises along the way, often resulting in very amusing twists. One moment, John's cocky and triumphant. The next, he may be learning a lesson in humility. It's a role that demands finesse, and Australian actor Dominic Purcell is up to the task.
As John succinctly states, he doesn't know things he's supposed to know, while he does know things he's not supposed to know. Despite an occasional leaning toward melodrama, the series looks solid and exciting.
