At Home with Tech

If you want to understand what’s going on in this Apple TV+ show, you’d better pay attention to all the details. And that may not be enough. Here’s my review.

Confusion abounds. Reality warps. It’s hard to keep track of all the fleeting clues. Watching science fiction was so much easier when Spock had a beard.

Spoiler Alert: Yes, the Apple TV+ series “Constellation” suggests a multiverse. There, I’ve said it. But this is no Marvel movie. Yes, it’s starts in space on the International Space Station. No, there are no aliens. Yes, things get weird.

Actually, the writers of this eight-episode show would probably be angry with me for wrongly connecting this tale to the multiverse. It’s about quantum entanglement. There, now I’ve said that.

Every Detail Matters
Either way, before you know it, you don’t know what’s going on. Nothing makes sense.

Across this first season’s arc, the writers slowly fill in key details that help you figure out what’s really happening. Barely.

“Constellation” plays more like a mystery than sci-fi. But you’d better know your science fiction. And while you’re at it, bring along your understanding of science facts too (especially your knowledge of the end of the Apollo space program).

And you’ve got to pay attention. Really pay attention. The truth is out there, but it’s hard to keep everything straight in this wonky, reality-bending family-focused story.

Family Crisis
The family in question is our astronaut hero Jo played by Noomi Rapace, her often-frustrated husband played by James D’Arcy and their precocious and ‘Force’-sensitive ten-year-old daughter played by twins Davina Coleman and Rosie Coleman. (The casting itself is a plot giveaway.)

Sure, the pressures of modern life can wear on a family unit, and many movies explore this space. But the story brings new meaning to the phrase, “I don’t know you anymore.”

There’s also a former astronaut played by Jonathan Banks running a secret experiment on the ISS. He seems to have all the answers, like the Cigarette Smoking Man from “The X-Files.”

Reality is Not a Constant
The series begins with an accident on the ISS and Jo’s harrowing escape. But when she gets back home, it’s not exactly the same. Certain details have changed.

By the end of the disturbing first season which mostly takes place on terra firma, after hours of a drip-drip, wash and repeat story-telling structure, it does finally come into a partially satisfying focus. Barely.

“Constellation” takes it time and throws a lot of genres at you. Science fiction, mystery, suspense and even a dash or horror.

It’s different. I’ll give it that.

Did I like it? I’m not sure. Maybe. Perhaps some version of me did. (Ha ha.)

Yes, it’s well done, and the actors are great. But the filmmakers really needed to leave a few more crumbs along the way for less detail-oriented viewers to follow (guilty).

Will There be a Season 2?
And I’ve got to say that the traditional season-ending cliffhanger is particularly frustrating here when there’s no guarantee there will be a second season. (As of this post, a second season of “Constellation” has not been announced.)

Maybe it would be better if it all ends right here. Episodic mysteries that involve science fiction often have a difficult time getting to their own finish lines in a completely satisfying way. It’s all about the mystery… not the pay off. And that’s often a problem.

“Lost” got lost. “The X-Files” never really wanted to find the truth.

Houston, We have Another Problem
“Constellation” could be different. Who knows. But the producers need a green-lit second season, if we’re ever going to find out.

Of all the many remaining loose ends, the most disturbing one for me is the Apollo program inconsistency the show doesn’t even acknowledge is a reality-bending problem.

Do you want a real spoiler?

Two words. Apollo 18.

Enough said.