Spoiler Slayer

As most of us are aware, Eliza Dushku was reported to have passed on the Buffy spin-off, in favor of a new Fox pilot. What follows, is a summary of the pilot episode.
The basic premise of the show revolves around the heroine, Tru, who for some reason either time-travels back 24 hours into the past, or lives life a day ahead of everyone else. Essentially, it's Early Edition, but with the character doing the jumping rather than the newspaper.

Warning: Of course there are Spoilers for this new show in this summary. If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read on.

True Calling

The episode opens up 10 years ago, with a young Tru Davies attending her mother's funeral. She is the middle child, she has an older sister Meredith and younger brother Harrison. Apparently her mother was murdered in front of her, and Tru wishes that she could go back to that day and help her mother.

Jump forward to present day, and Tru is rushing to get to her college graduation. She makes it to the stage in just the nick of time, but the same can't be said for her family, as her father, brother and sister are all no-shows. Later, we meet her friends Cameron and Lindsay, as they reflect on the day's events. Tru is looking forward to an internship. We also meet Dr. Evans, Tru's former psych professor. Her friends think that she has a crush on him. True to dramedy form, Cameron of course has a crush on Tru.

That's the setup for the series, now we get into the meat of the show. The first main act is the run-through of Day One - Take One. Then she slips back in time and we'll see Day One - Take Two.

Day One - Take One

Tru wakes up to the sound of the couple upstairs going at it, and a few moments later Dr. Evans steps out of her bathroom. The two are definitely a couple. Moments later Tru's brother calls her, he appears to have a gambling problem which has landed him in hot water. He needs lots of cash. She of course, cannot help him. The scene ends with Evans asking her to move in with him.

Tru arrives the NY University Hospital, only to discover that funding has been cut and her internship is no more. Luckily for the plot, Dr. Green has a job already lined up for her. Speaking of the plot, let's not fail to notice the rather prominent 'lottery drawing' on TV.

The job turns out to be at the City Morgue. Around this time Tru's sister Meredith calls, talking about getting together (today happens to be the anniversary of their mother's death). We also learn that addiction runs in the family, as Meredith has a drug habit. Tru gets a tour of the facilities from Davis (think of him as a cross between Marshall from 'Alias' and Rico from 'Six Feet Under'). She'll be working the 'graveyard shift' (insert laughtrack).

Tru and Meredith meet in a restaurant, where Tru discovers where her sister gets all her energy. Harrison is strangely absent, and Tru and Meredith get into a fight and Meredith storms out. Tru gets a call, and discovers that Harrison is in the hospital. Unfortunately, he did not draw the card he wanted (the Ten of Clubs), and couldn't cover his debts. Of course, her brother is mad at her for not helping him out with the loan.

Later at work, her co-worker Gardez wheels in the first catch of the evening. A young woman, Rebecca Morgan, who has died from a gunshot wound to the back of her neck. In addition to a bullet hole, there is also a red heart-shaped locket adorning her neck. Gardez leaves for the evening, leaving Tru alone. Early in the morning, Tru begins to hear voices. Now at this point, I'm not sure what happens. But it appears that she bumps into the ghost of Rebecca Morgan who asks Tru to help her, (how 'American Gothic' is that). The next morning she wakes to...

Day One - Take Two

Things start going as they had before, with Evans asking her to move in. Tru thinks that this is next day, so she's very confused. There's a scene with her and Lindsay in a coffee shop. Tru sees the numbers being drawn for the lottery (which she remembers from the day before) and gets more alarmed. A quick glance at a paper reveals the reality, it's still the day after graduation. There seems to be a number of little scenes here, with Tru coming to grips with the situation and doing a few things differently.

Somewhere along the line, she goes to where Rebecca Morgan works as a bartender. Tru beats around the bush for a while about why she's at the bar. During this time, Rebecca gets a phone call from someone called Aaron and gets into an intense conversation with them. After Rebecca hangs up, Tru tells her that she's going to die. Not surprisingly, Rebecca thinks she's insane and runs into the back to get the bouncer. Tru picks up Rebecca's cell-phone and get the number of the person who just called, then leaves.

Tru finds out where Aaron works, he's a reporter for the Daily News. She sneaks into the building by posing as an intern. Aaron is actually Rebecca' ex-boyfriend, and not the only one. Tru tries to find out if he knows of anyone who might want to hurt her, but he doesn't have any information.

Tru then goes to the office of Elliot Winter's, whom Tru thinks is having an affair with Rebecca (she's his daugher's dance teacher). He's not as convincing as he would like to be, as there is a picture of his wife wearing the same locket that Rebecca was wearing when she came into the morgue. She tells him that Rebecca is going to die today and leaves. While leaving the building, she talks with her sister on the phone. In a stairwell, she's slammed up against the wall by Elliot, who tells her that if this is Rebecca's idea of a threat, it's not going to work. If Rebecca even thinks about going to his wife, he'll do anything to stop her.

Tru tries to locate Rebecca, but can't. She goes to see Harrison, to try and get him to drop out of the card game he's in (looks like he's gotten himself mixed up with the Chinese mob). She's too late, as he's playing on a marker right now. A loan that he won't be able to pay if he loses. She asks him to slow down his betting for a while, while she tries to figure out a way to get him out of this jam.

Tru tracks down Rebecca at her apartment, but Rebecca tells her to stay away. Tru needs some help, so she tells the doorman that the Mets are going to lose (he's watching the game). She makes a bet with him, Mets win, she'll pay him a hundred bucks. Otherwise, he owes her a favor.

Next scene is Tru is talking to Cameron on the phone, picking up a deck of cards in a store, (making a point of pulling the Latif Nusayyif Jasim card). Cameron is buying her story that she's reliving the day before, and mentions that from the description of the wound, Rebecca must have been killed execution-style. Tru also makes a swing by Meredith's office, to try an help her to 'Just Say No' and filching her coke when she isn't looking.

She then calls Jason, the doorman, who is amazed that she knew the Mets would lose. As payment, Jason tells Tru where Rebecca is. Rebecca has gone to an event hosted by Elliot Winters and his wife.

At the event, Tru bumps into her boyfriend, Dr. Evans. She also stops Rebecca just as she's about to make a scene in front of Winters and his wife. Tru takes her home, but makes a swing by the back-room card game to provide Harrison with the 10 of Clubs card she picked up earlier.

When they arrive at Rebecca's apartment, they discover that Aaron is there waiting for her. With a gun. He says he brought it for protection. He's just there to help Rebecca. Things get tense, but Tru manages to kick the gun out of Aaron's hand. He leaves and Tru tells Rebecca to call the police. Tru is a bit confused, as she thought Rebecca died at 10:00 last night, but it's only a few minutes past 9:00. Intermixed with this scene, is one where Harrison manages to win the poker game with a Royal Flush, thanks to the help of Tru's card.

This time at the family dinner, Harrison has actually shown up. Harrison thanks Tru for her help, while Meredith goes to the bathroom to 'powder her nose'. Tru gets a call from Cameron on her cell-phone, he's been thinking about Rebecca's bullet wound. It's not an execution killing, it's a (insert dramatic music here) suicide.

Tru rushes back to Rebecca's apartment. It turns out that she's pregnant with Elliot's child, and she's about to kill herself. Tru talks her out of it, or so she hopes. The final scene I have is Tru in the morgue, with a gunshot victim being rolled in. The body bag is opened to reveal...

It's not Rebecca.

I've got some variations on this theme, so I wouldn't consider any of this info 100% in terms of spoilage. With pilots, things can change quite a bit. In fact, it might never make the light of day even if the show is picked up. They might film it all over from the beginning. But this should give a good indication of what the show is going to be like.

So if 'Angel' and 'True Calling' get picked up, the Spoiler Slayer will be there to cover them. If not, there are a few others out there on my radar.

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek.