Episode Guide
Live to Fight Another Day: 2.5/5
Smoke and Mirrors: 2.5/5
My Own Worst Enemy: 2/5
Will to Power: 3/5
A Better Earth: 2/5
Gift from the Gods: 2.5/5
Never Gonna Give You Up: 2.5/5
Just a Rat in a Cage: 1.5/5
What’s Bourne: 3/5
D-Day: 2 ..
After Another Life dropped last year, it 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 that the science part of science fiction does some serious heavy lifting here. ..
Critics and audiences alike were not impressed with the first season of Another Life. So Netflix decided to renew it, raising 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.
The second season of “The Walking Dead” does 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 first episode of “Salvare” introduces the audience to a group of survivors who are struggling to make it through an onslaught of debris from an exploding planet. The writing is poor at times, with convenient plot devices appearing at the last second to move characters from one point to another. ..
The Salvare is a small, fast-attack ship that is used to fighting in the open sea. It’s crew is made up of a mix of Starfleet officers and Achaian mercenaries. The Salvare was sent to find and stop the Achaians, who are trying to take over the world. The story starts with the Salvare being sent to attack a group of Achaian ships. The Achaian ships are much larger than the Salvare, and they’re able to fight back easily. However, the Salvare’s crew is able to fight back and take down the Achaian ships. The story then moves on to show how the Salvare has been used in recent years. In particular, it shows how it was used in an attack on Earth. The crew of the Salvare were able to take down many of the Achaian ships, but they also lost many people. This caused a lot of tension between them and their captain, who felt that he had been wronged by their defeat. In the end, it’s revealed that there is still a war going on between Earth and the Achaians, and it will continue until one side or the other is defeated.
The plot of “Another Life” 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. However, “Another Life” makes you work for these moments with plot holes abound. And despite the intentions to end things on a high, Another Life does so with a teasing glimpse of a possible third season to follow. ..
There are numerous subplots dotted throughout the episodes 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 haphazard character motivations. Yeah, this one’s a bit of a mess.
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 numerous, but ultimately stem from the show’s lack of understanding of what makes science fiction tick. There are no compelling characters, the science is poorly explained and full of fantastical ideas with shaky logic, and the story feels like a Frankenstein’s monster cobbled together from other, more competent sci-fi stories. Another Life is watchable enough, but this second season does nothing to justify its renewal. In fact, I would go so far as to say another season has actually come out worse than before. ..
