the scene at the very beginning with tommy laying on the operating table, ribs open, missing a lung, and losing half his liver. without that, the first act is pretty mundane. all the stuff with the kids isn't all that interesting, i didn't really care why their artwork was getting collected or what miss lucy said to tommy to get him to stop losing his temper. i did wonder why madame was so afraid of the kids, like when the girls snuck up behind her and all spoke in unison like children of the corn. that got me from page 20 to 35.

the scene on page 35 where miss lucy revealed to the children that they were clones was a letdown though. it was like, oh, that's the secret. okay. seems like that's something you'd rather the kids discover on their own, and perhaps in a creepy or disconcerting way, than just be told.

i did get the feeling that the script was a bit too dependent on keeping us in the dark as to what was really going on (especially since the big mystery isn't super shocking). take away that mystery aspect, and the story itself isn't all that compelling. it read like something that wouldn't work on repeat viewings.