Created by Tom MacCarthy, known for his critically acclaimed indie film ventures such as the Oscar Award-winning “The Spotlight,” “Alaska Daily” stars Hillary Swank playing a reporter named Eileen. Since the series was announced, it has been a subject of curiosity among audiences, for it was going to be based on the “Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Crisis” in the American state of Alaska. With Tom MacCarthy at its helm, it was also assumed that the show would have top-notch production quality. His artistic sensibilities have also been proven to be appealing to a large number of audiences. As the first episode of “Alaska Daily” dropped recently, it has received some good initial reviews. But does it guarantee a steady viewership for the show? That remains a big question. But for now, episode 1 is all we have. Let’s analyze the “Alaska Daily” pilot and try to understand all the nitty-gritty of the pilot.

“Alaska Daily” Episode 1 gets us right into the groove by introducing our main character, Eileen Fitzerald, played by Swank. She is a truth-loving, bold investigative journalist currently working on a Story that threatens the entire political career of the main Secretary of Defence candidate. Despite knowing the risk, she goes ahead and collects ample proof to publish her story. However, the catch is that she works for a ‘click baiting’ and ‘viral-news’ website called the Vanguard, and she is willing to put her entire career at risk since she only has one confirmed source for her story. She is advised against publishing the story by the staff at her office, but she is hell-bent on exposing the man. She assumes the story can shoot up her career as an investigative journalist. Ignoring all the warnings, she goes ahead with publishing the story, and that’s exactly where things begin to go south.

She is accused of forging the documents, and hence, her story is discarded. But she has her big weapon up her sleeve, her source. But as it turns out, her source is not picking up her calls. She is asked to apologize for the slander, but she is too self-respecting to adhere to that and threatens to quit her job. It turns out she got into the bad books of a mighty personality, and now she has only two options—to quit or to backtrack on her story. As the audience doesn’t know the character all that well by this point, there isn’t a clear indication of what she’s going to do. Since she is seen working alone on her book four months later, it becomes clear that she has decided to quit.

She is working on a book based on the same story about the said general, who has become the US Secretary of Defense. But she looks alright, though, and happy to be working on the book. She is visited by her former boss, Stanley, who always understands her potential. He offers her a job at his newspaper, The Daily Alaskan, but Eileen is more focused on this big story and doesn’t want to return to the ‘small leagues.’ Later, Stanley shows her a picture of a missing Alaskan indigenous woman named Gloria, but Eileen is still not convinced. She wants to boost her career, and such “small isolated incidents” don’t ruffle her feathers. But Stanley has come prepared, and he hands her a pile of documents related to more missing women, which finally grabs Eileen’s attention. She agrees, and finally, she is on her way to Alaska.

After fainting on the Isle due to a panic attack, she somehow lands in Alaska. It’s a completely new experience for her to enter a land where the sun sets after 11 at night. However, determined to tell the story about the missing indigenous people, she carries on and settles well into her new home. However, she quickly finds out that her initial apprehensions about the Daily Alaskan being a small-time publication were correct, since it is run from a strip mall and doesn’t have a lot of backing from any corporate. It isn’t the most profitable newspaper either. She also meets her reporting staff, who doesn’t seem too pleased with her arrival. Eileen knows right away that it’s not going to be an easy task to mingle with her co-workers while also working on the story. Eileen begins working on the story of Gloria Nanmac, the missing indigenous girl. However, due to a lack of proof, the newspaper has to drop the story, and now Gloria’s mother accuses the newspaper of foul play and intentionally dropping the story about her daughter.

Stanley teams Eileen up with Roz, played by Grace Dove. She is as fearsome and rigid as Eileen, and they make a great pair, offering some interesting moments in the rest of the episode. Roz isn’t exactly happy with Eileen’s involvement in the case, but the possibility of bringing the truth out about Gloria’s disappearance keeps her in the loop.

Eileen and Roz meet Gloria’s mother during the course of their investigation, who tells them that Gloria didn’t commit suicide, which the newsmakers wanted everyone to believe. This is a new angle on the disappearance and murder of Gloria, which hooks Eileen.

Meanwhile, she bonds with other reporters on the staff, such as a young reporter named Jieun, who is hesitant about doing a story on a prominent person. Following a small pep-talk by Eileen, Jieun gathers enough courage to go ahead with the story, and as a result of her efforts, her story gets published on the front page. Towards the end of “Alaska Daily” Episode 1, Eileen suffers a violent panic attack.

‘Alaska Daily’ Episode 1: Ending Explained – Why Is Eileen Getting Panic Attacks?

At the episode’s end, the audience is comfortably acquainted with the main character, Eileen. While the motivations of some side characters, such as Gloria’s mother and Eileen’s co-worker Roz, are still quite unclear, it will be interesting to see how the story unfolds in the upcoming episodes. While most of the episode focuses on Eileen’s point of view, we are introduced to her personality traits as a bold, brave, and intelligent reporter. But it doesn’t mean that she is completely averse to weaknesses.

She has panic attacks twice in the episode, which shows that she struggles with anxiety. While the panic attack towards the end of “Alaska Daily” Episode 1 wasn’t really explained, we might get some insight in the next episode.

All in all, it was a fantastic opening to the series, which has set up all the pieces on the chessboard, and from the second episode, we will hopefully see the mystery further unfolding with more turns and twists.