After watching two episodes of Hilary Swank’s new series, Away, I am walking away. I like Hilary Swank and I like the premise of an international mission to travel to Mars. But, from showrunner Jessica Goldberg (“The Path”) to executive producer and writer Jason Katims (“Parenthood,” “Friday Night Lights”) the emphasis of this series is on family drama.
Hilary Swank plays Emma Green, the mission to Mars commander. But two of her crew members–the Russian engineer and the Chinese chemist–don’t trust Emma. Even the pilot from India and the botanist from Africa are shaky allies. So there’s a lot of drama with the crew. I could deal with that, but then there’s all the family drama. Just before the flight to Mars, Emma’s husband (Josh Charles) has a medical emergency. Emma’s teenage daughter (Talitha Bateman) specializes in angst.
So, not enough action, not enough Science Fiction, and too much emoting by all the actors on the screen. I have plenty of other TV programs to watch. GRADE: C-
SF and soap opera with emphasis on the soap opera. I gave up after two episodes for much the same reasons you did. And I am not much of a Hilary Swank fan. I give it a D-.
Steve, our local TV critic commented that the AWAY video connections were way better than our local TV channels that have been plagued with “technical problems” during the pandemic.
This is the sort of thing I might try if it got great reviews, and it hasn’t. So I’ll pass. The only thing I’ve seen on Netflix so far this month is Charlie Kaufman’s truly weird “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”, based on the terrific Iain Reid novel. There’s no in between on this–you’ll love it or hate it.
Michael, thanks for the heads up on “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” I’ll give it a try.
In this case, you are George the Anti-Tempter.
Jerry, I like to maintain a balance between temptation and prevention.
Of course, Jackie liked this a lot more than I did, though we only watched the first episode so far. It is not looking promising to me either.
One thing no one else has mentioned (a minor point). How old would those of you who watched this guess the daughter is? With the looks, the very babyish voice, and the crying, I’d say early to mid-teens, but the actress playing the role is 19. Hard for me to believe.
I’ll give it one more try before abandoning it to Jackie. But then, she watches a bunch of shows I don’t – ABSENTIA was the latest.
Jeff, our local TV critic bailed out after five episodes of AWAY. AWAY is more about family drama than the mission to Mars!
To be fair, I think they did indicate it was about the issues of leaving your family. “Home Can Never Leave You” is right on the poster.
Patti, yes leaving is part of the mission to Mars. But, the crew is supposed to return to their families in three years.
There was no indication of it in the first episode, but Wikipedia says the Chinese woman is “in a loveless marriage” with her husband. Frankly, who cares? If I wanted to watch a soap opera, it wouldn’t be about a cold, obnoxious b!tch.
Jeff, I liked the crusty and difficult Russian astronaut who knew more about Space Travel than the rest of the crew put together. There are elements of AWAY that could have made it a fascinating series, but the emphasis on angst and drama rather than action and adventure caused me to pull the plug on this show.
Never heard of it, and am glad.
Rick, Netflix seems to have an endless supply of series. I rolled the dice on AWAY and came away disappointed.
We are subscribers to the Netflix DVD plan, so we don’t get the streaming stuff.
Rick, between AMAZON PRIME Video, HBO Max, Disney+, HULU, and Netflix we’re overwhelmed with programming.
Don’t they have real SF anymore?
Anyway we don’t switch on our tv too often – only when granddaughter is here.
Wolf, drama, not adventure, is the focus of AWAY.
I can see I’m bucking a trend here. Everything you say about the series is true, George, but I liked it:
http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=70490
Steve, I’ll be curious what you think after you’ve seen all the episodes of AWAY.
I’m curious, too!
Steve, meanwhile, I’m watching Ridley Scott’s RAISED BY WOLVES on HBO Max. I’ve only watched one episode so I need to watch more before I form an opinion on the series.