DEFYING GRAVITY 1.3 - "Threshold"

I tuned in for the third episode of Defying Gravity, but there was probably less of interest than the already disappointing first two episodes. For that reason, I won't be blogging about each episode every week. For me, the show has a largely sickly tone when it comes to the relationships between its characters, I hate the mawkish voice-overs by Ron Livingstone's character, the flashbacks to pre-mission training don't interest me, and there's not enough time spent making the present-day mission appear all that exciting....

Regarding the latter, I'm sure things will improve once they approach their planetary destination, and one commenter last week suggested the show starts to find a groove around episode 8 -- but that's a long time to wait. The only thing that's going to keep me watching awhile longer is the mystery of the secret cargo the Anthares ship is carrying (which seems tied to those phantom baby cries and one astronaut's Martian flashbacks.) Given Defying Gravity's problems elsewhere, I'm not confident the show will handle this sci-fi element with any great skill, so I'm primed for disappointment once the cloud of obscurity clears. But, who knows, maybe the show will surprise me in the end -- if I make it that far.


29 October 2009
BBC2/BBC HD, 9pm

written by: Sheri Elwood starring: Peter Howitt starring: Ron Livingston (Maddux Donner), Malik Yoba (Ted Shaw), Andrew Airlie (Mike Goss), Paula Garcés (Paula Morales), Florentine Lahme (Nadia Schilling), Karen LeBlanc (Eve Weller-Shaw), Ty Olsson (Rollie Crane), Zahf Paroo (Ajay Sharma), Eyal Podell (Dr. Evram Mintz), Maxim Roy (Claire Dereux), Dylan Taylor (Steve Wassenfelder), Peter Howitt (Trevor Williams), Christina Cox (Jen Crane) & Laura Harris (Zoe Barnes)