Night Sky

[Jedi Marso]

New series that dropped on Prime this past week. Led by J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek, if you can believe that.

I'm about halfway through the 8 episodes available to view right now- not sure how many the first season will contain. This is a slow burn, at times too slow for my taste, and presents a mystery which may or may not prove disappointing in the end.

Tell you what, though, if you want to see two acting pros hitting it out of the park with their performances, this show is worth it on that basis alone. Where the story goes... I'm cautiously optimistic, but I've been disappointed before by these shows that try to drag out a mystery and it ends up going sort of nowhere. We'll see.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I’m watching the fifth episode now. I’m liking it so far.

 

[Chaos Descending]

Ok, I just finished it.

One thing that seems like a big plot hole to me:

Spoiler

They wound up being able to breathe on the alien planet after all, but in the first episode, Frank said, "You saw what happened when I put those mice out there. They didn't last a minute".

So... what killed the mice, if the air is actually breathable?

 

[Jedi Marso]

Ok, I just finished it.

One thing that seems like a big plot hole to me:

Spoiler

They wound up being able to breathe on the alien planet after all, but in the first episode, Frank said, "You saw what happened when I put those mice out there. They didn't last a minute".

So... what killed the mice, if the air is actually breathable?

Possibly radiation or some form of bacteria or virus deadly to rodents. Granted, radiation would be a problem for humans as well, so for now, we have to go with 'plot hole.'

Just finished S1 last night. Very, very slow burn and not many questions answered. Frankly, I'll be surprised if this gets a second season. If it does, I don't expect it will get three. Whatever organization Jude is running from seems a little overly violent and radical.

As an aside, S.M. Stirling's book 'Conquistador' takes a concept quite similar to this one (an accidentally discovered gateway to a parallel Earth with no humans, rather than another planet) and executes it far more intelligently.

 

[StCoop]

Like 'Outer Range' I'm not sure who this show was made for. Not enough SF for SF fans, too much SF for people wanting to watch shows about cowboys or old people.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Like 'Outer Range' I'm not sure who this show was made for. Not enough SF for SF fans, too much SF for people wanting to watch shows about cowboys or old people.

Yeah, this show and Outer Range are definitely like their own little sub-genre. Maybe they would be better as limited-run miniseries or movies rather than TV shows. Both just meandered around too much. I will say, though, slow though it was, it was pretty easy watching Spacek and Simmons play off one another. Two fantastic actors.

 

[Velocity]

Like 'Outer Range' I'm not sure who this show was made for. Not enough SF for SF fans, too much SF for people wanting to watch shows about cowboys or old people.

People want to watch shows about old people? I gotta tell ya, we're pretty boring.

 

[Mojochi]

Yeah, this show and Outer Range are definitely like their own little sub-genre.

& having just watched all of season one... I kind of dig it

People want to watch shows about old people? I gotta tell ya, we're pretty boring.

Heck, FX has a new one with Jeff Bridges & John Lithgow literally called "The Old Man" & I'm kind of liking that one too, even though it's not at all sci-fi. More spy genre, which they're surprisingly making work somehow. You know, come to think of it, it doesn't get much older than Martin Short & Steve Martin, & they have a Hulu show I'm enjoying as well

Bottom line is, when fantastic actors age out of relevance for the mainstream work they once enjoyed, they are still fantastic actors, & every one of the above-mentioned series have just incredible performances from some stellar old timers.

I too was just mesmerized by how engaging & authentic Simmons & Spacek are in Night Sky. It's literally maybe the only thing holding this whole show together. The rest of it is being deliberately parsed out with the screenwriting equivalent of an eyedropper. However, watching a show with old people is kind of the perfect setting for a show that moves slow & patiently. It all kind of reminds me of an older movie of Sissy Spacek's, "The Straight Story" with an elderly & infirmed Richard Farnsworth as its main character

& now I'm just realizing that the fictional town in Night Sky, that Spacek & Simmons reside in, is also called Farnsworth.