Tess – The Sight Unseen Premiere appears to open right in the middle of an investigation with Terry Avery (Dolly Lewis) losing her vision while pursuing a suspect.

A mere 2 hours before, Terry and Jake Campbell (Daniel Gillies) had just arrived at the home of Kelly Chan (Sydney Bell). While canvassing the scene, they learn that Kelly was supposedly attacked in her kitchen while unloading groceries. A nearby dog walker claims to have seen the husband, Mark Chan (Ash Lee), flee in the family’s blue 4-door sedan but cannot be sure. After another more intense headache, Tess orders Jake to drive.

Tess continues to struggle with her vision when a reported sighting of the sedan leads to a car chase. Jake eventually catches up with the car and a short chase ensues. A minor collision leads to Jake getting pinned in the car and Tess’s failing vision allowing the suspect to escape.

In the present, Doctor Fletcher (Byron Lawson) attempts to explain Tess’s condition as an enlarging scotoma in the right eye (Leber’s Neuropathy). The condition is described as unpredictable and although she’ll always see shadow or light, she is deemed legally blind. The exam ends with her learning that she’s being assigned a low-vision advisor, Mia Moss (Alice Christina-Corrigan) to help her adjust.

Tess receives a visit from childhood friend, Matt Alleyne (Jarod Joseph), who introduces her to the EyesUP App. Later that night, Tess becomes depressed upon learning the added challenges of trying to retrieve a beer from the fridge. News reports on Kelly only make matters worse and result in Tess seeking emotional relief with the assistance of a hookup app.

The following morning, Terris wakes in the unfamiliar apartment of Farris Welch (Benjamin Buschke). Although she makes it to the bathroom without a hitch, she struggles with dressing, which leads to her reaching out to the EyesUP App for help. She goes through several male guides until she locates Sunny Patel (Agam Darshi), who helps her get dressed and retrieve her belongings without waking Farris.

Tess relents to Jake’s non-stop calling and learns about the police’s recovery of the sedan and husband.

Tess relies on Sunny once again to guide her through the police station where she resigns. Superintendent Bennett (Roger Cross) fails to dissuade her but offers to take his time with the paperwork, just in case. Bennett appears suspicious when she lies about a sun glare obstructing her from identifying Mark Chan. With the help of Sunny, Tess manages to catch the end of Jake’s interrogation of Kelly’s husband. Mark continually asks about his son Ethan and claims to have been helping his brother, Justin, through detox when Kelly was attacked. A Short interaction with Mark in the corridor conveniences Tess further of his innocence. She fails to get Jake to see it, but it appears that his belief has more to do with her resigning than the evidence.

After a long swim, Tess is surprised to receive a call from Sunny, who has apparently become engrossed in the case. Tess turns down her offer of a partnership but says she could use a second set of eyes trying to get Jake to investigate further.

While questioning Claire Chan (Lillian Lim), Tess learns about her medical condition. Although it’s not identified, memory appears to be a big symptom and she relies heavily on a homecare company. A private chat with Evan reveals that Justin stole Claire’s phone 2 weeks ago. The discovery sends her in search of Matt, who is now not only revealed as a professor but a tech guru. Although he eventually agrees to track the phone, he voices his concerns for her safety.

Against Sunny’s protests, Tess enters the abandoned factory. It’s not long before she’s on the trail of a suspect. The short chase leads her to the roof where she not only becomes trapped but ends up being held at gunpoint. The suspect claims that Justin gave him the phone to cover a debt right before he overdosed. Tess copes with her first major emotional breakdown.

Sometime later, the assigned low-vision advisor, Mia arrives at Tess’s apartment. She is shockingly chipper and expresses an interest in Tess’s profession, but fails to excite Tess about learning to use the walking cane.

During a heart-to-heart in an attempt to raise Tess’s spirits, Sunny shares her agoraphobia. Their conversation eventually leads to a return trip to Chan’s house where Tess makes the most important discovery yet. Whoever took Kelly was also familiar enough to take her heart medicine. She’s forced to face Jake as well when he’s called into the scene by nosy neighbors.

As he escorts her from the scene, they discuss Grace Hennings’s (Heidi Bauman) case. Jake agrees to the links between the two cases but points out that Tess’s involvement only runs the risk of a later mistrial. Tess and Sunny uncover the homecare company connection later that night while discussing the case.

This discovery leads Tess back to the Chan house where it initially appears to be empty. From the backdoor, the discovery of an inhaler on the kitchen table sends Tess inside. She not only confirms the inhaler on the table, but she also finds a handgun hidden under the kitchen table. She finds both Kelly and Grace being held captive in the basement.

Before Evan arrives in the basement, Tess destroys the light bulbs to keep the area dark. She later uses the darkness and a phone call to Claire’s phone to shoot him. Once the event is over and the cops come in to sweep everything up, Jake tries to talk Tess into returning to the force. She continues to turn down the offer without explaining.

Later that evening, Matt visits Tess at her apartment where she apologizes to him for her bad attitude as of late. Once they reconcile, he shows her a gift that he supposedly discovered left by an anonymous donor outside her door. It turns out to be a customized lighted walking cane. The episode ends with Sunny waking from a nightmarish dream and barricading herself in her apartment.

 

Sight Unseen Review

Just to save viewers some time, I’ll start by giving the episode a 4 out of 10. I’ll have to give the creative teams credit here because although the concept was not entirely foreign, it somehow felt different here. I think it may have felt that way because of the way Tess’s condition was portrayed. Even though it has been suggested that her vision won’t return, I couldn’t help but hang on to hope that it would return. Sunny’s conditions and her pairing with Tess bring a feel-good quality to the series.

My biggest complaints would have to be Tess hiding her condition from Jake and how everything felt incredibly rushed and thrown together at the end. It seems like I’m getting that from a lot of shows these days. The main story with the Chans, the ailing mother, the corrupt caretaker, and the drug-addicted brother, was a major turnoff. Is it too much to ask for something new, at least slightly creative? The acting was embarrassing.  I found Mia was the only one with some personality and it was too much.

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