I had the chance to preview the whole 1st season and the first 2-3 episodes are interesting if redundant because the way the topic is approached is similar to how similar apocalyptic topics were approached before. Sometimes it's a meteor, other times a plague, in this case it's presumably aliens. Also interesting is the fact this is shot in two languages being French and English. As a Canadian I'm fluent in both and it was interesting at first although the novelty wears of quickly.
Then the show gets into the usual rut of going around in circles and people getting picked off one by one. Lots of dialogue that doesn't work, neither for character development or plot advancement. Within the end of the second episode I could already tell who would "live" through the season and who wouldn't
In the end after 8 episodes and over 6 hours of runtime, you're left with an empty feeling of "What did I just watch?"
I kid you not: In the 7th and 8th episodes I found myself asking my spouse: "Who is this person?" because the character development is useless. None of the cast really stands out either. The "big" name here being Gabriel Byrne, is almost irrelevant to the plot line and his character laughably makes some of the worst mistakes in the series.
Also an annoyance is the fact that despite both French and British soldiers and policemen, armed with assault rifles, cannot seem to kill the "alien drones" that roam the streets - but a middle aged woman gets two kills with a handgun and a cargo van respectively, while a teenage kid gets one kill with an assault rifle he wasn't trained to use at all. This and the fact that none of the trained soldiers or policemen could hit an elephant in a corridor at 10 feet, become a huge liability in the plot. Essentially it's like all the people in this show, that are trained in firearms, have the shooting skills of the average Stormtrooper.
Which brings me to the biggest flaw of this series. Like in other post-apocalyptic TV series: Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Z Nation, V, Falling Skies, etc. - after the initial premise is put into place, it then becomes a contest of "who makes the stupidest mistake that will jeopardize the whole survivors camp/group."
That is sad. I had good hopes for this series but was sorely let down by it.
From an artistic point of view, in the first few episodes we discover that a team of French scientists have sent out a message to space in order to try and get in communication with aliens. Within this message a song was included. They play the song in the show and frankly, having heard the song - had I been the aliens me too I would've attacked Earth to obliterate all life on it. Yes the song is that bad.
Finally the set design is not TERRIBLE but not great.
They use several houses while the survivors travel from one place to another, the houses look realistic enough. The University laboratory also looks realistic with its "not too new not too old" equipment and amenities.
However the hospital and bunkers aren't very credible.
All in all I doubt very much I'll watch season 2, having already wasted over 6 hours that would've been better invested watching The Golden Girls reruns on Amazon Prime.
0 out of 0 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Tell Your Friends