Debris

Just finished the season, and Debris is a series that started as an okay-but-problematic series and becomes, by mid-season, a gripping one with a fascinating story arc.

Here's my review from a few seasons in, when it was just beginning to right itself:

Debris is an X-Files/Fringe type of series in which a couple of agents investigate a series of strange events caused by the remnants of an extraterrestrial ship.

The stories are all effectively intriguing and spooky, involving reanimated corpses, people trapped in other planes of existence, and DNA-rewriting rain storms. (So far every episode has had an agent say something like "I've never seen *this* before," which would be a great thing to do in a parody of shows like this.)

The series has a surprisingly strong interest in emotion - the debris seems to actually react to things like love and memory and the agents talk a lot more about their feelings than something like the X-Files.

What makes this extra weird is the series is emotionally distanced. The agents are uninteresting people with no chemistry and it's really hard to care about them as people. Also, the delving into emotions is often tediously maudlin; episode 4 had long, sincere chunks that were unwatchable.

Around episode 5 or 6 the series starting picking up as it moved into a grander story arc and lowered the emotional temperature. So it's worth sticking with.

This show seems to have received some pretty low star ratings on here, and I'm really not sure why. Perhaps in this age of social media and smart phones, people just haven't got the patience to wait for the story to evolve, and if it's not flashing and banging at them they lose interest. Despite other opinions on here, I thought the two leads were good, with interesting back stories and a good chemistry. The whole premise of the show if really intriguing, pieces of a wrecked alien craft of unknown origin falling to earth over a long period of time. Each piece has different qualities and is widely sought after on the black market. The series starts 3 years after the initial pieces of Debris fell to earth, and a joint US and UK task force are tracking down any pieces they can find. Not a spoiler, as this is pretty much gone over in the opening titles. There were some really cool scenes, with peopl affected by the debris, and yes, an undeniable X-Files feel to it, but than can only be a good thing in my book.

Honestly, I struggled to make it through the pilot episode. The TWO leads have got to be the least charismatic actors I've ever seen cast in a series. They are the equivalent of dry toast. The overall story itself may have merit eventually but it comes across as a very shallow attempt to be the next X-Files. A costly swing and a miss here without question.

This thing fails on every level.

Writers opted out of writing instead using the 'debris' euphemistically as everything else they should have been developing, plot included. The high emotion from the female lead character who loses it every week is almost as distracting as the weird soundtrack. Neither are sufficient to carry the series. In fact the action is all over the place and never goes anywhere. Too bad because the premise had potential. Very disappointing.

Reminded me of Fringe, but not quite as good. A couple of parts were a bit confusing. But, it's an interesting premise, and not fair to judge after only 1 episode. Giving it a solid 7 for originality, and will wait and see how it goes.