John Doe

The real tragedy about John Doe is that a lot of questions were left hanging at the end of the first series which could have been answered by a second series (I did read somewhere that the creators were thinking of answering them in a book or tv movie, like with Farscape).

The premise is that a man (Dominic Purcell) wakes up on an island off the coast of Seattle with no memory of who he is or where he has come from. He falls into the sea and is picked up by a fishing boat and taken to shore. He has no money and no hope, but discovers slowly that he knows things. In fact, he knows everything. The only puzzles remaining are his identity, why he is colour blind and why he has a small crescent shaped scar on his chest.

Using the knowledge he has, he bums some change from passersby and turns this into a few hundred dollars at the racetrack, then the moves this money into stocks and shares, making himself a fortune. He can then use this time and money to research his possible background.

John rents a loft above a bar and takes a job ther playing the piano. Digger (William Forsythe), the owner who has secrets of his own, becomes John's friend and helps him try to identify himself.

In trying to find out his identity, John comes into contact with a Frank, a police detective (John Marshall Jones), who sees John remarkable abilities and enlists him to help the police with some difficult cases, starting with a child abduction. Despite the disapproval of the police captain (Jayne Brook) John proves to be an asset.

As the weeks go by, John learns more about who he might have been, thanks to a mysterious woman (Grace Zabriskie), a deaf man (Gary Werntz) and a woman he thinks he might have loved (Ona Grauer).

I loved John Doe and I didn't find it slow or confusing at all. The 'solving cases' part appealed to my love of mysteries, but the riddle of who John actually is was compelling to say the least.

I would welcome a book or movie to straighten out the shocking finale, but imagining the reasons behind it is almost more fun!

Sadly this is not available to purchase as yet, but hopefully will be soon.