Netflix's Away: Season 1 Review

The latest game news from IGN - one of my fave channels ever - check it out This is a non-spoiler review for all 10 episodes of Netflix's Away, which are currently available to stream worldwide. [poilib element="accentDivider"] As the second "voyage to Mars" series in the past two years (the other being Beau Willimon's shortlived drama The First on Hulu), Netflix's Away succeeds in many areas. Firstly, unlike The First, half of it actually takes place in space on the way to Mars. On top of that, Away delivers compelling drama, Hail Mary thrills, and captivating characters. But it also lags a bit while struggling to balance the trials and tribulations of the characters left back home on Earth, and the five astronauts risking their lives to make history and advance humankind. The series, especially if binged (as intended), falls into a rut of recycled beats - a lot of which are kind of "techno garble gazpacho." The crew faces equipment blunder after equipment blunder - such as an important component on the outside of the ship detaching, the water system goes kaput, their rendezvous resupply ship may have exploded, etc -- and the geniuses down on the ground then must figure out a way to MacGyver it. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=7f38322c-7eda-4903-9937-bf1eacb81a6c"] It's the most gripping elements of Ron Howard's Apollo 13 replayed over and over. And after the first few times, the stakes lose their sting (a problem that Netflix's catastrophe-prone Lost in Space also suffers from). When the same ripcord is pulled more than once -- and yes, there are numerous times a character gets a bolt of inspiration from a random line or occurrence that helps them immediately think of a solution -- the danger tends to deflate. Fortunately, Away has its characters to fall back on. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=away-season-1-photos&captions=true"] Sure, at first glance the international crew of Away's Mars-bound Atlas feels like a winking gathering of tropes. And maybe that's the point. The cranky Russian (Mark Ivanir), the man of faith (Ato Essandoh), the dashing doctor (Ray Panthaki), and the cold scientist (Vivian Wu) all initially feel egregiously thin when compared to series lead Hilary Swank and her nicely flawed Commander Emma Green. At first, it feels like Emma might be the only one on the Atlas with a pulse, and textbook TV insecurities, but as the series and the mission pushes on, you get to know the other characters well enough to care about their pains, pleasures, and life regrets. By the end of this first season, you'll come to very much enjoy the five as a complex crew that often struggles under the weight of their enormously risky endeavor. Whether it be physical or emotional, they all have their limits and breaking points, and because the crew experiences each other at their most vulnerable, they bond in unexpected ways that make for some pretty good TV. And  As the months aboard the spacecraft stretch on, Emma's pain and longing feel real and palpable. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=Hilary%20Swank%20is%20excellent%20as%20Emma%2C%20whose%20Atlas%20life%20is%20the%20heart%20and%20core%20of%20the%20series."] In the first episode, Emma is already on her ship, docked at the moon, and coping with a couple of crew members who feel she's unfit to lead them. Back at home, Emma's husband Matt (Josh Charles), dealing with the stress of not only raising their teen daughter Lex (Talitha Bateman) alone but also being the chief brain at NASA in charge of his wife's mission, suffers a stroke that leaves him in a wheelchair. At this point, the series asks us to invest heavily in Emma and Matt as she considers returning home while he insists she keeps going. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/24/amazons-the-boys-season-2-review"] It's a crucial moment because the rest of the season (and series presumedly) will live or die based on how much we care about Emma and Matt's bond. Can it withstand the vast expanse of space? Can it endure loneliness and hardship and feelings of abandonment and guilt? At the midpoint of the season, the Atlas crew reaches their own mission's halfway mark. After this, the astronauts can no longer connect to their loved ones via video call and it's when things start to get dark for Emma. Whereas the other crew members either have no family or are simply resigned to the fact that their family hates them because of their devotion to space, Emma, unable to fully compartmentalize, is emotionally torn and it makes for some good, grounded drama. The story back on Earth feels best when it's tethered to Emma's experiences up in the Atlas. On its own, however, it slouches under a touch of tedium, as Matt crumbles more and more, sidelining his own recovery, and his acceptance of possibly never walking again, by investing in Emma's technical conundrums in space. And the series even - ugh - teases possible romantic betrayals on both sides of the cosmos. Away, though much better, shares a few elements with fellow Netflix sci-fi series Another Life. Both involve a wife and mother leaving their family for space (and being doubted by their crew) while the husband/father stays behind to solve space problems. In both cases though, the homefront storyline, which takes up a good 50% of the runtime, is the weakest link.

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