Season 1 |
Season 2 |
Episode Guide
Live to Fight Another Day -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Smoke and Mirrors -| Review Score – 2.5/5
My Own Worst Enemy -| Review Score – 2/5
Will to Power -| Review Score – 3/5
A Better Earth -| Review Score – 2/5
Gift from the Gods -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Never Gonna Give You Up -| Review Score – 2.5/5
Just a Rat in a Cage -| Review Score – 1.5/5
What’s Bourne -| Review Score – 3/5
D-Day -| Review Score – 2/5
When Another Life dropped last year, it genuinely felt like an algorithm had crafted the script. Unlikable characters, sketchy science and a hodgepodge of ideas blended together to create an underwhelming but bizarrely watchable sci-fi series. Now, it’s worth bearing in mind though that the science part of science fiction does some serious heavy lifting here.
The reaction from both critics and audiences alike wasn’t exactly positive, so the decision for Netflix to renew this one certainly raised a few eyebrows. So with a shiny second season and 10 more episodes to sit through, does Another Life justify its renewal? Does it redeem itself? And is this season an improvement of what we received last time? No.
If you were annoyed by the stupid characters, illogical decisions, emotionally unstable individuals and shaky-at-best science, season 2 does absolutely nothing to quell the doubters. The only positive here is that the episodes are quite a bit shorter and thus, an easier ride to sit through this time. Although it’s worth pointing out that ironically the longest episode is also the biggest filler. Go figure!
The story here though picks up right where we left off. The Salvare witnesses the Achaians blow up an entire planet and find themselves struggling to survive the onslaught of debris hitting their ship. Thankfully the group do manage to make it to safety, as an exterior shot from space shows the explosion moving inward in some absolutely bizarre feat of science. And that’s only the first half of the first episode. There are numerous examples of this, and whether it be a magnetar having no effect on the crew or convenient plot devices that show up at the last second to move characters from point A to point B, the writing is pretty woeful at times.
Away from the shaky science, the story itself ultimately plays out like a mishmash of different influences; there’s a bit of Star Trek here blended with The Expanse and the overarching story of Mass Effect. In essence, most of the tension here boils down to The Salvare squaring off against the Achaians in a sort of cold war. The future of Earth is left hanging in the balance with the crew aboard the Salvare all that stands between war and peace.
As far as plots go, the outline to this one is okay but the execution is excruciating at times. There are at least 3 episodes that feature standalone adventures late on involving Niko and Richard that literally serve no other purpose but to move them from one area to another. Yet, despite all of this you’ll undoubtedly remain watching to see how it all turns out at the end. But boy does this show make you work for these moments. And despite the intentions to end things on a high, Another Life does so with plot holes abound and the teasing glimpse of a possible third season to follow.
There are numerous subplots dotted throughout the episodes too that sort of just come and go when the script calls for it. There’s a tepid romance between Zayn and Bernie that ends nicely but just sort of crops up when the plot lulls, a mutinous event that tears the crew apart that leads nowhere and plenty of hair-raising cliff-hangers that are resolved within seconds of the next episode starting. In fact, the same trick of a spaceship leaving and returning is used on more than three different occasions. That’s before mentioning the skewed moral compass, the underutilized characters and and haphazard character motivations. Yeah, this one’s a bit of a mess.
Visually, the show does okay with plenty of exterior shots and a few neat vistas on display but ultimately a lot of the same sets are used from the first time around. While this is all fine, the music chosen for this show, and the utterly bizarre montages that accompany them feel so misplaced at times that it borders on parody.
The problems with Another Life are plentiful but ultimately it comes from the underlying feel that this show just does not understand what makes sci-fi tick. There are no compelling characters, the science is basically monologued gibberish with shaky logic and fantastical ideas while the story feels like a Frankenstein;s monster of other, more competent sci-fi stories we’ve seen played out across numerous different mediums. Another Life is watchable enough but this second season does absolutely nothing to justify its renewal. In fact, I’d go so far as to say another season has actually come out worse than before.
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Verdict - 3.5/10
3.5/10
Your typical gay, liberal, women are stronger, and nothing realistic (black holes in space are not clouds) is why this series FAILED! Stop pushing your WOKE agendas down our throats and maybe you might find some success in Hollywood.
How is the total destruction of earth followed by a plan to return to earth and “blast the Akaia sp. off the earth? Total nonsense
This was so painful to watch. Someone PLEASE explain to me why Niko has such a massive messiah complex?? She has a CHILD ffs. The constant need to throw herself into every single life threatening situation is infuriating. There are at least two other characters, who possess the necessary leadership skills and have no family ties, who could put themselves on the line. But no. Niko must save the day.
Warning, spoilers :
Was able to suffer the series despite all its numerous flaws up until S02E05 (A better earth). Then the trigger happy plot twist on the planet. I decided my wits had been violated enough and I stopped watching the series right there.
If they had named this Big Brother in Space then I believe viewers expectations would have been more in line with the final product.
I keep reading about bad acting, but horrid writing is the problem here. Our best and brightest are emotionally unstable and incapable of following most orders from commanding officers. As one moron dies off the captain brings the next most capable red shirt out of stasis and we learn that she is as bad at picking qualified crew as the writers are at cohesion.
They setup a character to become pregnant after the whole crew has been sterilized. Have the aliens cured her? Has an unknown life form invaded her body? Never mind, let’s kill her and this other redshirt off in a great scene in which no crew member is aware that a giant flame blue plasma stream is about to incinerate them even though the are watching it out the windows.
Netflix, bring back the MST3000 crew, add a laugh track to this debacle and let the high rate streaming begin.
Good grief! I watched a completely different series. I loved it. I found it gripping, sharp, shocking in parts and the “unprofessionalism” of the crew seemed entirely reasonable to me. Brilliant series, it showed how scary space will be. Entirely different from Star Trek, I’m not a 14 year old boy so can’t comment on the space physics or “gayness” of the programme. All I can say is, I’ve just finished it and loved it.
I liked the second series, but I grew up with “Space 1999” and “The Star Lost” so I set a low bar. The physics makes no sense in this series. The laws of motion do not apply in this series. This gives me great joy because I find nothing more enjoyable than bad sci-fi.
Pros: Unconventional beauty abounds.
well if you remember TNG started out a bit rough then the crew found there place… i actually rather enjoyed the series all though it could have had more episodes to gives us more of a feel for what was really going on.. they crunched it into 10 episodes so i guess they had to pick the meatiest parts to give us. overall i enjoyed it and hope to get a season three to see if this cast and story molds into something exciting.
Season 1 was mildly captivating (mildly). But Season 2 has completely lost the plot. It’s one of the worst series that I’ve ever watched. Who ever wrote the script should maybe consider not doing that anymore.
This is such a bad series. It’s as if a bunch of teenagers with no writing ability, no knowledge of science fiction, no knowledge of relationships, and no knowledge of life at all decided to write a space travel series. The characters are also mostly emotionally unstable, bickering most of the time and passive-aggressive towards one another.
Second season was so much better than the first. Really enjoyed it. This is a lazy review.
Erik’s hair, wtf
Thought season one was a bad teen soap mixed with sci fi. Season 2 was much better really enjoyed it.
How did this tepid, formulaic mess get approved for a second season when Hari / Giri didn’t?
Spoiler alert: In the future, half the population is LGBTQ, no one has tattoos, everyone has bad hair, and we’ve ruined the planet.
I actually think it is a big improvement on Season 1. Yeah most of the characters are a little undone but what, for me, sets this series aside from other sci-fi is this shpuld be seen as apsychological dtama set in a sci-fi universe. It does pose a lot of questions about what would you do in this circumstance. Would you save a child/mother over humanity? Is an AI a real life form? Would humans colonising another world make the same mistakes colonising another planet as Europeans made? It also does very well showing the psychological mind games of the Aliens and human wraknesses. When seen from this perspwctive it is good, but not great. It often raises these issues without really answering them.
Also the willingness to kill of characters gives a real sense of forboding that is really well used.
The problem though is it often squibs things for quick resolution.
Well, the truth is that I liked it a lot, I know that the story does not have as much power as Star Trek or others, I really would love to see a season 3 …
Theres too much woman emotions in imortant ship decisions and everything seems gay and not interesting, and all white people seem evil, but now we know who is working @ netflix
Season two was embarrassing at best. What a shitshow.
I liked it a lot and the second season opens up a lot of potential and messagges about life. But I know that Netflix goes after the mainstream views whrn it comes to its own production. Hope someone will take over in producing more seasons
I enjoyed both seasons
Better then some of the shows on netflix
Story was good 2nd season was alot better then the first
I hope they do a season 3
That was the perfect ending through and set up a interesting season 3, so much potential for this series to evolve and to create cool science fiction universe. Remember STNG didn’t find it way until season 3.
Couldn’t agree more. What a shame. I gave up after a few episodes in favor of setting more gopher traps in my yard. Yea it’s that bad.