tv realm episode 1x17 (create a show)
The Starting Line Eva Thompson is blessed. She has a son she loves; a husband she adores; and she gets to go to work every day with her best friend. She is one of few people who can honestly say she lives her life exactly as she wants it. Of course, that’s easy to do since she doesn’t remember what her life was like before she was 18. 15 years ago, she woke up in a Chicago hospital with no memory of her life before or how she ended up there. So she got to start her life all over again. She got to name herself and choose her path based on what she wanted now, without the influence of others’ expectations. And as already mentioned, her life is pretty awesome. But the past doesn’t stay buried. And when someone from before comes looking for the person she used to be, Eva finds herself questioning who she is and who she wants to be. starring:
Sarah Shahi as Eva/Leila Eva makes a point of living life the way she wants. And she’s made a career out of helping others do the same. Not everyone has possible retrograde amnesia (those memory disorders are so tricky to diagnose) but Eva thinks everyone deserves the chance to have a life they don’t regret. Did she think hers would be so domestic? A (incredibly gorgeous) husband; a little boy she adores who lets her live vicariously through all those things she doesn’t remember happening the first time around; Sunday dinners? No, not when she first made the decision to not find out whom she was. But she’s so, so glad she did.
Idris Elba as Charles Charles has been with Eva since the beginning. He was her physical therapist as well as her friend long before he was her husband. He welcomed her into his family, introduced her to his sister - who became her best friend - long before he fell in love with her. He respects her and he loves the way she appreciates life. Charles loves the woman he married. But he can’t help wondering who she was before. Unbeknownst to his wife, he’s trying to find out. He researches and has acquired a collection of news reports about missing children and young women from before, all who could be Eva. He just isn’t brave enough to find out if any of them are yet.
Adrian Pasdar as James James is a recent transplant to Illinois. A lawyer, he’s a smooth talker as well as capable at getting himself out of undesirable situations. As well as getting himself into desirable ones. James doesn’t have much interest in the law, however, but the job has its benefits. Like information. Lawyers are privy to so much information, and it’s amazing how easy it is to track someone down when you have contacts in police departments across the countries. James has it on good authority that his little sister, Leila, who ran away from home when she was 16 is in Chicago. And James is going to find her.
Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nisrine Nisrine has spent the past 20 years searching for her daughter - as quietly as possible. She has commandeered her son’s life, his choices, to help find her. All she wants is her little girl back. But she won’t tell anyone why Leila left home in the first place. That is for her and her daughter to work out, once Leila has returned home. Nisrine will not accept any less than her youngest child back with her where she belongs. She has done everything in her power to make sure her children have the life they deserve and that won’t stop just because she can’t find one.
Freema Agyeman as Christina Christina is Charles’s sister and Eva’s best friend and business partner. A psychologist, she and Eva work with people who have recently made a transition in their lives to use that event as a catalyst to change their lives. She handles the mental and Eva handles everything else. She means it when she calls Eva her best friend. But Charles is her brother, and she understands the need he has know more about the woman he married, even if the woman in question could care less. So Christina helps him, when and however she can. She knows it’s a betrayal to Eva, but blood is blood. Besides, if she’s honest - and she is - it kills her that she doesn’t know. And she can’t help wondering why Eva doesn’t want to. Even if not wanting to isn’t a conscious choice.