The Nine: A Guide for Non-Watchers (Start Watching!)

Sigh. The Nine is still struggling with low ratings. Not cool, America. For those of you who aren't watching and feel like you're too behind to start, you can watch full episodes here at ABC.com or read extremely thorough recaps here at Television Without Pity. Alternately, here's a semi-quick rundown of who's who and what's been happening.

The premise is that nine (mostly) strangers were caught in a bank robbery gone bad, and kept hostage for two days. The show takes place in LA, and flashes back and fourth between current time and the bank robbery, in which a security guard was killed. The two robbers are Randall, a seriously bad guy who seems to have done most of the shooting and was shot by SWAT at the end of the hostage situation, and his brother Lucas, who actually seems to have a good relationship with most of the hostages and apparently tried to keep Randall in line. Lucas donated part of his liver to Randall two weeks ago at the request of hostages who wanted to face Randall in court, but they are not at all friendly with each other.

In the photo, from the left, we have:

Eva, a teller at the bank. A single mother (the dad's in prison) with a young son, she had an ongoing flirtation with Nick, and was shot somehow during the course of the hostage situation. She died during surgery soon after. Last night we found out that her ex and Randall were in prison together. However, it seems that Eva was not involved in the robbery, despite Kathryn and Nick's brief suspicions.

Franny, Eva's sister and another teller at the bank. She has a bit of a drinking problem, slept with Jeremy after Eva's funeral, and is struggling to take care of Eva's son. Unable psychologically to return to the bank, she now waitresses at a nightclub. She's angry with Kathryn and Nick for suspecting Eva.

Jeremy: A surgeon at the local hospital. He was dating Lizzie, who is (he recently learned) pregnant with his child, but did or said something during the hostage situation that caused her to end the relationship. He tried to poison Randall (who was at Jeremy's hospital due to the gunshot wounds he incurred when SWAT shot him), whose life was only saved when Lucas agreed to donate part of his liver.

Lizzie: A social worker at the hospital. Pregnant with Jeremy's child. Organized, with Egan, the hostages' weekly dinners, which help to keep them in contact. She's very afraid of Randall, but wants to face him for closure, and feels connected to her fellow hostages.

Nick: A divorced cop with a gambling problem. Wanted to go up against the police and FBI for their botching of the hostage situation, even in the face of blackmail, but backed down once they threatened his fellow hostages. Sometimes works with Kathryn, who is grateful to him for getting her mother released from the hostage situation. Was going to date Eva, before she died.

Kathryn: An assistant DA who is in a serious relationship with the actual DA. She's in a tough position with her boyfriend handling the robbers' prosecution, especially since she and the other hostages are apparently somewhat friendly with Lucas, one of the robbers. Nick had a plan with her to end the hostage situation, but the FBI supposedly screwed it up.

Egan: Tackled Randall to the ground as he was about to shoot at the SWAT team, and thus became a minor celebrity and got a new lease on life (he was going to kill himself before being taken hostage). This new lease led to getting fired from his job for trying to help people instead of the bottom line, and leaving his wife because he thought they were unhappy. He's crashing with Nick for now.

Malcolm: The bank manager. His wife is pressuring him to focus on his family more, but last night he went up against "corporate" to try and get them to offer more money to the dead security guard's widow in her lawsuit settlement by basically threatening to blackmail the bank with emails he had sent in the past requesting security upgrades which could have prevented the robbery.

Felicia: Malcolm's teenage daughter. She doesn't remember most of the traumatic hostage situation, although she feels connected to Lucas because she vaguely remembers he saved her from Randall. She hid during the beginning of the robbery, and got her cell phone to Lizzie, who called the police (which basically caused the standoff).

The man on the far right is Lucas. Right now in the current plotline, the case is about to go to trial. In the bank flashback, the police arrived during Randall and Lucas's getaway, forcing the robbers back into the bank with the hostages. We still don't know exactly what happened in the bank.

Let me know if you have any questions or if I missed anything (I'm sure I did), and for the love of God, start watching! Wednesdays at ten on ABC (after Lost). No excuses!