The InBetween Pilot
We had a chance to chat with Justin Cornwell from The InBetween. Our interview follows the recap and review below – don’t miss it!
The Start…
What would you do if you could communicate with ghosts and spirits? For Cassie Bedford, that isn’t a question, it is part of her daily life. In NBC’s new summer drama, The InBetween, we meet a young woman, Cassie (Harriet Dyer) who lives in Seattle, Washington. She has a gift that allows her to see the dead, sometimes the future, and allows her to even sometimes see how people died.
This gift helps her father, Detective Tom Hackett (Paul Blackthorne) in a unique way. How so? She helps him solve cases with the Seattle Police Department. Along with his new partner, a transfer from Los Angeles PD—Damien Asante (Justin Cornwell), the two of them lean on her for support with a brutal case in the show’s pilot episode.
“When did I say that?”
The show starts with Cassie in a liquor store shopping, pausing when she starts to hear someone sing a nursery rhyme. It sends her into a vision. She follows the voice on a beach until she reaches a building, inside seemingly refrigerated. There, she meets a little boy who says he can’t wake his mother. She appears to be deceased, but just before Cassie awakens, the woman’s eyelids open to reveal her eyes are gone, forcibly so. Back in the store, she realizes she’s been standing in the aisle for some time and grabs a bottle and leaves.
Creepy. Part of the reason I wanted to check out this show is that I am a fan of the show Ghost Whisperer and curious to see how it would be different. Interestingly, I feel like while the shows may be similar, this show may become more sinister overtime.
The next morning, a scene some watching might find relatable: waking up next to the empty bottle wondering why you drank so much. One addition to this equation? A child next to the couch telling you to get up. Cassie looks too young to have a daughter this age, so is it a sibling? She tells her she was talking about the missing girl, Shannon Bell.
This leads to Detective Hackett coming over to discuss the case with Cassie. To her confusion, he says the woman she saw in her dream couldn’t have been Shannon as she didn’t have a little boy.
“Asante? He comes from someplace irritating.”
We then follow Detective Hackett to the precinct where he notices Lieutenant Swanstrom (Anne-Marie Johnson) talking to his new partner, Detective Asante. His fellow officers Will and Marina tell him that he’s a Harvard graduate, was a former profiler for the FBI and did two years with the LAPD before transferring to Seattle. Hackett is clearly not amused by this addition.
He goes to speak to the Lieutenant about this decision. She tells him it was Asante’s decision to transfer here and that he specifically asked to be partnered with him. I get the impression that Hackett likes things done a certain way and from how his boss speaks to him, she is used to his antics. Why doesn’t he want a new partner so soon? Asante seems like he has plenty of experience.
Crowded House
At Cassie’s house, we see Abigail, the young girl from earlier attempting to move an object with her mind. When Cassie asks if she would like to go be with her mom, she tells her that she only cares about the new baby, Crystal and not her. So, Abigail isn’t related to her… so why is she there? Her anger seems to fuel her concentration and she moves the object in front of her. Maybe they’ve bonded over their unique abilities?
Back at the precinct, Damien, Will, and Marina discuss the case, bothered by the fact that Bell’s ex-boyfriend has an alibi for the crime despite every sign pointing it to him. Detective Hackett enters the room just as the bullpen goes nuts—they have found the body. Detective Hackett discovers the woman is missing her eyes as Cassie predicted. He calls her and asks if they can meet up later.
“You’re a psychic. Or is that not the right word anymore?”
Hackett tells Asante that he needs to trust him as they head there; Cassie has certain abilities that are helpful. But as she begins to explain what she saw in the dream, it’s clear that Asante is a skeptic. Then WHOA. Abigail comes down the stairs, singing the same song that Cassie heard in the dream and the adults don’t acknowledge her… why? BECAUSE SHE IS DEAD. Man, I should’ve seen that coming. Hackett doesn’t seem to know about her, so this is either a new occurrence or something she’s kept secret.
How did she die? Will we see soon? Is she involved somehow?
Outside, Asante admits he’s questioning the legitimacy of Cassie. He even asks how Hackett met her. He says he helped raise her, it was a foster situation and none of his business. Then, he tells him if he can’t handle how he does business, he can ask to work with someone else. Something tells me a skeptic or not, Asante isn’t going away so easily…
Bunnies May Have Been Harmed in the Making of This Scene…?
The contact Asante spoke to in the FBI tells them their MO got a hit, but he was executed over ten years ago. The only way this is possible is if it is a copycat. Out of ideas, our rocky duo heads to the morgue to learn more about the body. They learn their killer must be a professional as he cut out the woman’s eyes with no hesitation marks while she was still alive. Nasty. People are INSANE. They also found a Peter Rabbit figurine in her pocket, the same subject as the nursery rhyme that Cassie heard.
I’ll officially never look at that bunny the same again.
Detective Hackett returns home to find Cassie at his house, with his … husband? Boyfriend? Interesting. It’s not often you see a character in the spotlight, especially in power like Hackett and gay. They also have a beautiful home and I’m slightly jealous of how it is furnished. Cassie explains she’s doing laundry and taking a shower there, as the hot water is out at her place again and she has to get ready for work.
Change of Course
Taking a shower sends Cassie into another vision. She’s in the victim’s house this time, goes into her room and is grabbed by the ankle from someone under the bed. He’s in scrubs of some sort, Cassie describes them as the type an exterminator or the CDC would wear. This changes the case a bit, as Hackett believed she was taken in the morning, but in the vision, it was definitely night time.
Shaken, Cassie heads to work where she is soon visited by Detective Asante. He tries to get her to admit she’s a fake, to which she gives a pretty awesome speech reading him. This is particularly amusing since he’s a former profiler. At the end of their conversation, there does not seem to be mutual ground, but he does have one question for her. Why can’t they find any video footage of Shannon the morning she was taken?
To Cassie, it’s simple: she was already gone.
“You were doing sex!”
Asante leaves, and Cassie heads home with one of her bartending buddies… or friends with benefits? They hook up and we cut to the middle of the night. Abigail is on her bed, telling her she knew what she was doing. Sex is gross, she explains—her grandfather told her so. Cassie tells her she can’t spy on her, and if she does it again, she’ll kick her out. Abigail says that she’s just like her mom and that she went home that night and saw the baby in the bathtub. She pushed her over while her mother was grabbing something, watched her struggle. Her mother came back into the room just in time, but she told Cassie it would be a shame if something happened in the middle of the night.
Creeeeeepy. Little ghost girl went from kind of cute to super evil in like five seconds flat. Cassie looks disturbed and unsure how to deal with it, not that I blame her. The girl looks like she wants to hurt her baby sister. That is just plain freaky.
Another Change…
Asante finds Hackett and CSU at Bell’s house, where Hackett is slowly unraveling the original timeline and piecing it back together. Our bad guy knew enough to take clothes with him, make a fake phone call to triple-A and wear the hazmat suit, all to cover his tracks. They believe it was the ex-boyfriend and he purposely set it up, so it looked like he had an alibi. Dang. Why are criminals so grossly smart sometimes? Not smart enough, at least.
The ex-boyfriend admits that he was sleeping with his boss’s wife and was with her that night, proving his innocence once again.
Cassie tries to talk to Abigail’s mother but comes up short. She gets mad at Cassie, but when Cassie tells her how she died, her anger switches to her grandfather, who was dosing her some sort of homemade sleeping drink in the form of hot cocoa. Abigail asks if Cassie can go tell her grandfather what he did was wrong.
American vs. British
At the precinct, Hackett and Asante confirm that Steven, the ex-boyfriend’s new alibi is legit. Back at square one, it would seem. However, it gives us a scene that literally made me laugh out loud. I won’t spoil it for anyone else, but you should know the coffee vs. tea debate between Americans and the English lives on.
Trying to get some sort of lead, Asante sits down with the video footage sent to him from VICAP, showing the man who murdered six women in the 90s with the same MO as their current killer. He doesn’t believe there is a connection, but at this point, they are grasping at straws.
Killer in Training
In a creepy turn of events, the crime described to the killer on the video matches the crime Cassie saw in her first vision nearly exact. The officer in the video leaves and the man accused starts to sing… the Peter Rabbit nursery rhyme. Um. No thanks. I’m out. WHAT DID THAT RABBIT EVER DO TO YOU?!
I would definitely say these are connected somehow.
And then we learn how. The little boy who witnessed his mother killed as a child? Our killer today. He started to have fantasies growing up, then joined the Air Force where he acquired medical training and finally joined the EMTs in Houston. But it gets better… the EMT who was first on the scene of Shannon Bell’s body being found? An EMT named Stark… who looks just like Mark, the little boy. He changed his name and moved up to Seattle.
Now with enough evidence to arrest him, they head to his apartment, finding it ransacked. He’s gone.
Cartwheels and Revenge
Before we get to our exciting grand finale of the pilot, Cassie stops to visit Abigail’s grandfather in prison and delivers a message on her behalf. From the way Cassie describes it, it seems possible that her grandfather was drugging her to molest her while she slept. As he sits there dumbfounded, Cassie gets up and looks out the window at the area in which the prisoners spend outside. Her grandfather walks outside, where Abigail pushes and shoves him, her own little version of revenge. Cassie looks on and the two share a smile and wave. I can’t help but feel as if justice is served just a little here. (Go, Cassie!)
What Happens at the Beach…
Asante and Hackett head to the beach hotel where they believe that Stark will be. The missing robe, tons of blood, and other incriminating evidence prove this is where he killed her. At first, it seems like it’s clear, but then Asante gets separated from Hackett in a freezer and we see a little hand to hand between our detective and our killer. Thankfully, Asante breaks the window in the freezer and is able to wound Stark so that Hackett can escape. They arrest him and go to celebrate the case at the bar where Cassie works.
Alls Well that Doesn’t End Well…
Later that night, Asante goes to the hospital where he asks to see a woman named Sally. She is a young woman, in a coma, but he doesn’t say he’s family when the nurse asks. Instead, when he enters the room he tells her that he’s here now and kisses her forehead. Hmm… girlfriend? Or is she family? Why is she in Seattle if he was in LA? I’m sure this is part of why he transferred.
And because it wouldn’t be a top-notch finale without a cliffhanger… at Cassie’s house, she is asleep, and all seems well. Then, she wakes up to hear someone singing that dreaded nursery rhyme downstairs. And what do you know? We have a ghost. The ghost of a murderous monster who died via execution over 10 years ago. The episode ends with him saying they need to talk.
Thoughts
Overall, I thought it was a solid pilot. I love the chemistry between Detective Hackett and Asante. They both are able to stand alone, but scenes are definitely better when they work together. I think it also set up for questions down the line, and unlike it’s similarities to Ghost Whisperer, I get the feeling this is not going to be your episodic save a ghost, help a person show. I suspect our murderous ghost is just the start of a storyline that is going to unravel.
I’m not completely sold on Cassie yet. I don’t hate her, but I feel as if she’s missing something. It could just be because she’s a new character, but the charm isn’t enough for me. Maybe as the episodes go on and we learn more of her background I will warm up to her. I am deeply interested in how she and Hackett met.
Also, am I the only one who sensed some flirting going on between Asante and Cassie? Maybe I’m over-reading it but I think that is a serious possibility here, too. Should be particularly interesting since he went to visit that woman in the coma at the end of the episode, though.
So, overall the show seems like a fun, spooky summer watch. Paul Blackthorne shines especially in his role, with Justin Cornwell also bringing curiosity to his character as well. Before next week’s episode, check out our exclusive interview with Detective Asante himself, Justin Cornwell below! And don’t forget, The InBetween airs Wednesday nights at 10/9 central. Don’t miss it.
Justin Cornwell!
Justin!
We had a chance to ask the star a few questions…
You began your acting career at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater – how did that experience prepare you to later work in television?
My work in the theatere has given me an excellent acting foundation. Building charcters and understanding intention quickly allows your mind to be free for the more technical elements that on-set work requires.
I’ve described this show as a “paranormal police procedural” … Did you come into this show as more of a skeptic or a believer in supernatural ability?
I can’t say that I am a big believer of individuals having supernatural abilities but I would be the first to admit that I believe there is an unknown force in this world that is constantly around us. So by that measure I guess it’s possible.
Hackett doesn’t seem to be thrilled about breaking in a new partner, and their relationship is a bit strained as they learn one another. Which do you think will be more important to Hackett? Asante’s ability to prove himself capable as a partner or more about seeing your character have an open mind about Cassie?
Damien wants to set Hackett at ease. He sees that he deals with a lot and even though he is skeptical of Cassie’s abilities he wants to try and be a supportive partner and show Tom that his head is the right place.
We see many facets of your character in just the pilot alone… Nervous, tough, focused, skeptical, and we even see an emotional side while at the hospital. Your performance is both believable and relatable – which usually translate into television fans rooting for your character. It’s still early, but is it possible Asante could end up being a fan favorite?
I hope so! Damien echos the sentiment of the audience as he discovers more about Cassie’s world. His story arch is heartwarming and I think we will root for him and in turn root for his friendships with Tom and Cassie.
“I drink coffee, man, this is America…” a funny exchange between you and Hackett. How do you take your coffee in real life?
I drink striaght Black coffee in the morning usually with no breakfast to kick start my metabolism.
Appreciate your time, Justin – One last question for you… For the people that haven’t checked out the show yet – What’s one reason why they should?
Mystery and excitement! Every week is a new exciting mystery to discover told in ways I haven’t seen on television. It will be a thrill ride!
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