Another Life

Season 1 – 20% – I salute the editors of the trailer, which promises a combination of heart-wrenching family drama and gripping sci-fi. And yet the reality is not only different, it is cruel. Already during the pilot, I observed with astonishment the collection of unappealing characters, the minimal locations, and a plot that even the Syfy channel rejected until Netflix forgot that it's been years since it was the savior of mocked-up ideas – and then it was was worse. The dialogue is ear-splitting, reminiscent of forgotten C movies from dusty video rental shelves; twists are piled up without any sense of suspense or plot development, and even the weakest project from CW would be ashamed of the lack of character development. Everyone present has to be arrogant and exemplary in their field, otherwise, their role is reduced to being part of a love polygon, or their only defining characteristic is their own sexuality. And all of this takes place through the serial plundering of all the basic clichés of space ships, so I had the feeling several times that I was watching a fan film, sometimes with motifs from Alien, sometimes following Event Horizon. And yet the most embarrassing is the Earth storyline, which desperately wants to be a new Arrival, but doesn't offer a single meaningful idea, only dozens of empty phrases. Moreover, instead of the script focusing steadily on at least two consecutive episodes, it comes up with unwanted experiments (a dream loop, a dance trip) and constantly deepens the embarrassing underdeveloped behavior of everyone present, whether on the ship or at any landing site. Besides, anyone hoping for Katee Sackhoff's return to leading roles in science fiction should go back to Battlestar Galactica. The much adored and condemned Starbuck doesn't have much to do most of the time; she talks to artificial intelligence and looks so bored that instead of thinking about the plot, I wondered far more often if this popular actress is physically okay. It's not even worth mentioning the other actors because they are either indistinct, bad, or don't have enough space. With the honorable exception of Justin Chatwin, who acts with determination befitting an Oscar-winning drama, and in the midst of the dull Earth storyline, his effort is like a punch in the eye. The movie lands one sweaty star for him, but when I think that recently Netflix canceled the irreplaceable gems Santa Clarita Diet and The OA to pour budget money into some gimmicky generic parody of itself, which resembles the worst of experimental episodes of The X-Files or Stargate, it almost makes me sick. Season 2 – 20% – After hearing of a qualitative leap upward, I gave the cursed ship's crew another chance, but almost immediately was beating myself on the head for such foolishness. The character who was likely the most interesting one from the space storyline dies very soon without any deeper meaning, and the creators reveal in an interview why they made such a move. Apparently, so that the viewer understands that it's serious and anyone can die. I believe that every viewer is happy when their favorite character (which is a tough thing to call someone in a local mishmash of stuntmen with constantly changing motivations). In the meantime, the plot still tries to copy Alien, Mass Effect, V, or Stargate, Katee Sackhoff is forced to deliver lines reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica (and even having Tory popping up in the Earth events doesn't help the illusion), and no matter how much the camera shakes, the image looks cheap, ugly, and sad. Symbolic plus for the fact that the creators had enough sense to quickly wrap up the tragicomedy and in the face of inevitable cancellation, they stopped pretending to have a deeply thought-out plan for five seasons. (09/07/2019) (less) (more)