Released on May 1 2020, Into The Night (ITN) is Netflix's first Belgian-made original series, following the ordeal of the crew and passengers of a red-eye flight who found themselves on the run from an apocalyptic event that was ravaging the planet.
SPOILERS ALERT!!
The story begins with a guy carrying a machine gun who hijacked a plane on the ground, demanding the pilot to take off immediately and fly westward. The guy, an Italian NATO officer, declares that the sun is killing everyone on Earth - Every single living thing that came into contact with sunlight would drop dead where they stood. Incredulous at first, the crew and the passengers soon realized what he said was true, thus begun a desperate journey to the west to outrun the sunlight.
Unlike most other apocalyptic disaster shows, the first season of ITN is very character-focused. In fact there was scarcely any explanation on what exactly was going on with the unfolding disaster, with just enough information to push the story along. The way the narrative was presented is also an impressive showcase of effective and efficient screenwriting.
Characters don't have a tonne of lines to tell their story or explain to the viewer what is going on. Most of their dialogue are short but to the point, complemented with a limited but effective use of flashbacks. The story points are also resolved almost as soon as they arise, and with quick succession. It lingers just long enough on a conflict, the moves on to the next. It felt almost relentless.
This proves that you can keep your audience hooked as long as your story is interesting, without relying on the crutch of dragging a conflict for so long that you paint yourself into a corner because you'll need a big payoff to justify stringing along the audience.
ITN is not without it's faults. While I applaud the fact that they could cram the 1st season and all the main character stories into just 6 episodes without losing any of the story beats and dramatic impact, some of the character developments felt rushed. Also there seem to be some missed opportunities with the secondary characters - for example, I wanted to know more about the stewardess Gabrielle, and what happened to her after she was left behind.
The acting is passable. It's not bad, but it felt like the actors were often either over-acting or under-acting, seldom hitting the right key. I'm not sure if this is a cultural thing where Belgians express themselves differently, like how the characters in Money Heists act like every line of dialogue is on the verge of a super-dramatic moment. It's different, for sure, at least for me.
ITN is inspired by a Polish novel The Old Axolotl. I use the word "inspired" very loosely here, because the novel describes humanity's story after they digitized their consciousness to escape an apocalyptic event; The Netflix series is focused only on the period of the said apocalyptic event. It would be interesting if the series took a hard left turn in season 2 into deep scifi zone to follow the source material. Watch the CGI trailer for the novel below and you'll see what I mean.
On a side note, I'm really fond of the title Into The Night. It's a fitting double entendre that one one hand, describes the character's escape from the sunlight and therefore "into the night", while on the other hand recalls Dylan Thomas's 1951 poem Do not go gentle into that good night, a poem that mirrors their struggle in the face of death and annihilation.
I give it a 7.5 out of 10 - it is a tightly-written piece of entertainment for the small screen, I just wish that it is a bit longer to flesh out some other aspects. But as it is, I think it is a very decent show.