ABC debuted its infinite soap Defying Gravity last night , and our optimism that Ron Livingston could displume off the Astro - McDreamy role turned out to be sadly misplaced . Sadly , the distance exploration fell flat , and the drama was dim . spoiler below .
The main premise of ABC ’s fresh space drama start off simple enough . Eight astronauts , four men and four women , are being sent on a six year commission , to explore the solar system and seven major planet tot . But the verity behind the missionary post is hidden behind the doors of Pod 4 and the mysterious Beta .
Moments after the ship takes flight , two of the men suddenly produce suspicious nub murmurs . The ground crowd backhandedly begin to talk about a strange entity on the blank space shift sleep with only as “ Beta . ” The Beta , it seems is the cause of said murmurs , and wants to take these two guys out so Ron Livingston and his other buddy ( who is presently dating one of the ground boss for this mission ) can take their shoes . deplorably for these two guy wire , their past tense is checkered with disaster . They “ left ” two astronauts on Mars , make shame to come down on ISO ( which is Defying Gravity ’s NASA ) plus the two seem to have log Z’s with two other distaff spaceman in the mission … play !
From here , the series jets back into a lot of flashback setting where you see how the crew was assembled , and more importantly , who slept with whom . We discover that Laura Harris ’ character ( Zoe Barnes ) qA probably meaning with Livingston ’s ( Maddux Donner ) child — abortions now being illegal in this near future . She skid under the radar during breeding “ with child , ” because while this penny-pinching future has figured out how to build massive space suits that let humans take the air on Venus , construct space stations that count like a fresh - years hotels and build all sorts of clever novel technology — they still do n’t know how to identify a pregnant cleaning lady . Also they let another astronaut , who may or may not be an alcoholic , ( the MD , Evram Mintz ) join the team . Great vetting , future earthly concern !
But the trivial proceeds could be overlooked if it were n’t for the insane dramatics that not only make zero sense , are disdainful to even the most head - spannered watcher . I remember this was best evidence in the picture below , where Maddux tells his alcoholic founder that he ’ll be taking the place of one of the astronauts in the six class missionary post … .
His son was n’t a professional baseball game thespian , instead he ’s an Astronaut — what a immense disappointment . pelt me a beverage as well , because I ’m not sure I can watch another minute of this absurd play .
And yet it goes on . Together the team , who are all whole unmindful to the tangible “ genus Beta ” mission they ’ve been send on ( apart from Malik Yoba , who plays the role of Ted Shaw , married man to the political boss lady in ground control ) continue on their journey . blockade only for small disasters that are all view as to have been “ fated ” by the higher ups . Why did so and so almost die ? Because Beta wanted to taper out the leak in the Venus causa while they were testing it out , so there ’s your answer to that .
The series is recognizeably the work of show creator James D. Parriott , who is known for his work on hospital drama Grey ’s Anatomy . For those of you Grey ’s virgins , this mean lots of sad songs over montages of pouty faces , that on other series would make you get teary-eyed eyed , Extreme Home Makeover style — but in this space play , it mean nothing . It ’s totally devoid of emotion , due to the fact that the viewer knows nothing about these new characters — nor do we even translate what it is this gang is doing in space . And the mystery behind it all is so laden with spiritual guesstimating and talk about fate that it all starts to feel right smart too contrive .
essentially , Defying Gravity is sample too surd to be everything and needs to commit to something , to give the show an identity . Right now , the confessional reveals from each crew phallus finger too Virtuality , the character are too secretive to a hapless person ’s ER docs and Grey ’s split offs , and the biggest attractor , Livingston , has yet to hit his stride . It ’s time to turn on the appealingness , Ron , causal agency for the few moments you were hitting on the footling blond Top Gun style I was concerned , more of that please .
Bottom line : We did n’t get a line enough about genus Beta , or any of the character , to convince me to melodic phrase into the next installment , and I really want to wish the adorable Zoe and her possible pregnancy problem . Can this show be hold open ? Yes — if it figures out what it is , a distance whodunit or a place drama . Sadly aright now , it ’s not succeeding at being either .
SpaceTelevision
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