Extant

I'm writing this review initially because my fear, with all the controversy over the series continuing, was whether the first season resolves itself sufficiently to stand alone. It does. In fact I found the ending to be the most satisfying part of the very fast and convoluted plot. The special effects throughout this series were also wonderful, and worth watching as a sci fi fan. There are comparisons with the robot series Humans (English and European versions both) which if looking to watch this show one should understand, as that is at least 40% of the story. Despite having an alien, this show does not compare with the Alien movies, but has more in common with Carrie. It's very good TV, but a little complicated.

After two episodes, I was intrigued although not totally sold. There are definitely some logic issues, and motivations aren't always clear, but I was really curious to see where this is all going.

But while it's kind of held my interest, the season's has proven remarkably devoid of logic. People do hugely stupid things (like go exactly where people would look for you while in hiding), Berry, her husband and her boss seem to be in some emotional fog that prevents her from thinking at all clearly. They're all supposed to be science types, yet there decisions are not just based entirely on emotion; they're based on the id emotions you would expect from a teenager. By the end of the season it would be easier to list the few things that make sense than the vast number that don't.

It's still generally watchable, and keeps me more-or-less interested, but it's quite possibly the dumbest sci-fi show ever made.

I enjoyed this show. Its over-all quality was superior to most currently available shows.

That doesn't mean the show was not flawed, but I suspect a lot of the criticisms I have read here were due to overly high expectations. As pure SciFi, I did not see the inconsistencies with potential reality that has become so common in recent SciFi productions, although the show did fail, as many SciFi stories do, to keep the "magic" limited. The aliens portrayed failed to use their established abilities whenever consistent use of those abilities would have prevented more exciting stories. I also found the stark black-and-white portrayal of good and evil and the frequency with which main characters switched sides unnaturally contrived.

However, the acting was excellent, covering for many inconsistencies with nuanced changes in motivation demanded by the script so that the overall experience was still captivating.

The series started with a sharp style that promised good things. Excellent photography, good casting, a neat feel to the storyline, plus a good dose of mystery to interest the viewer. Yes, some of the features have been seen in a lot of other sci-fi dramas/films, but that didn't lessen the programme's strength. And until about episode 8 this panned out well.

Then it started . . . What I now call the delaying effect! We see it too often these days in TV dramas. The storyline began to meander all over the place; extra characters were suddenly introduced who then misleadingly became major players; key characters were lost through death; plus extra backstories of the characters were suddenly introduced and then played out as a main feature in the drama . . . In other words it looked like a hundred other storylines were being introduced just to keep the viewer hooked.

There was no longer any purpose to the story, or clarity in its vision. The plot became more & more convoluted. Some of the characters - who had been at least basically believable - started to do stupid things that didn't fit their nature, or their job level/IQ. And something the US studios love to subsume viewers with in their dramas: conspiracy of the worst type . . . The endless type!

Steven Spielberg notwithstanding, there was no way we could carry on watching this production.

We watched the first 10 episodes of series 1, and halfway through episode 11 . . . And then watched no further.

I had intended, after episode 10, to watch to the end of the first series, and THEN decide if I wanted to carry on viewing into series 2. But I couldn't stand watching it to beyond halfway into episode 11, let alone to the full 13 episodes of series 1!

I think this is a first for me, not to watch even a full episode before I quit watching a TV programme! But at episode 11 I could see that the growing fears I had sensed earlier - of rambling, misleading story threads - were coming true. And that was it. We switched off mid-episode. With (sad) relief. What a lost opportunity. For what could have been a good - and succinct - drama.

Extant has an interesting premise but the execution feels clumsy and overworked. While it is still a good Sci-fi show I think it still needs some time to develop and find it's stride. The positives include the great production values and that it has a blockbuster movie feel. I also think it has the potential to be better it just needs to up the excitement level.

Personally, I'm not thrilled with the casting and find Halle Berry's performance to be quite weak. She needs drama roles to shine but doesn't fare so well with "everyday/normal" roles. It just feels too bland and forced. The rest of the cast are fine, not fantastic, but they do their job.

Overall I think as the story unfolds it will keep me interested. I have noticed that each episode is slightly more interesting than the last so that's a good sign.