Constellation (2024) is an exciting sci fi series that will transport you to a world which is full of surprises and unknowns of space travel, that's is for sure but there are a couple of things that didn't go so well, probably a bit confusing too, although I still consider its a good series. The show is about Jo, played very well by Noomi Rapace, who comes back to Earth after a space disaster and finds herself having gaps in her life, deja vu type of scenarios. Jo’s character is not willing to let this go without consequences, she decides to start her journey to reveal the secrets of the space mission and get back what was taken from her.
Constellation starts off with an amazing suspense that will make you sit and want more, its the type of series that you will feel the need to watch one episode after another. The series demands your full attention as the story and the plot twists are rather not so clear and you may easily get lost if you are not paying attention. The visuals are great, the setting and the special effects are amazing makes you really feel like you are in the world of the series. Noomi Rapace does make you feel Jo’s pain and her transformation. The rest of the cast, including Jonathan Banks and James D’Arcy are also good and the series is very well acted overall. Constellation has been likened to other science fiction productions like Gravity, Arrival and The Martian, and it is not hard to understand why, they are all alike in a certain aspect.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19395018/
- Platform: AppleTV+
Cast Got No Problem
Swedish actor Noomi Rapace who shot to fame with the original Millennium series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is quite fierce as Jo. As the series to by, Jo goes through a lot that to certain extend felt like tortured both physically and mentally and Rapace gives a strong and emotional performance that holds the series together as the lead character. James D’Arcy as Magnus, Jo’s husband, is a reliable and rather a silent character who tries to manage his family affairs while his wife becomes more and more unstable based on the events she went through before coming back to Earth with some of the most dramatic and best scenes of the series are those between the couple of Rapace and D’Arcy as they try to define their new roles and the space between them.Jonathan Banks, very seasoned character actor from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul plays Henry, the scientist who may hold the key to the events going on with Jo. Banks gives Henry a kind cynic when it comes to worry about others and also has a certain air of remorse, which suggest that he has a lot of history that he is running from, probably a reason to focus so much on his work, trying to escape from reality. The interactions between Banks and Rapace are intense with Jo trying to get information from a man who seems to be more concerned with hiding things than with providing her with the information she needs.
The enigmatic character of Frederic is played by Julian Looman, since we wont have a second season we were basicall left unsure of his intentions and loyalty for most of the series. Looman’s acting is ambiguous and for this reason he contributes to the suspense of the series. Paul role is played by William Catlett, Jo’s co worker astronaut on the ISS, who adds a certain level of friendliness and togetherness to the character next to Jo, Catlett does not has much screen time but leaves a good impression and his character’s death is used to drive the plot for a good portion of the series.
Barbara Sukowa is excellent as Irena Lysenko, the ex Russian cosmonaut who is now in charge of the space program that Jo is in / was?. Sukowa is quite good player her part as Irena who must deal with the political consequences of the ISS tragedy while also dealing with the tragedy on a personal level, there are some great moments between her and Banks/Henry, as the two seasoned actors have great on screen chemistry and this gets pass to their characters.
The Good Stuff
First of all, I have to give credit to the production value of this show, it is evident that apple TV+ invested a lot of money into making constellation look and feel like a premium sci fi series, the space scenes in particular look great with great vissual effects that makes you feel like you are with Jo on the ISS, the set design and the cinematography are also on point, giving the show a dark and mysterious look that fits the show’s theme, another thing I liked about constellation was the acting, especially Noomi Rapace as Jo, she is a strong female lead who is trying to get her life back together after the incident and Rapace did a great job developing the character. She was believable and intense in her performance even when the plot got a bit confusing. The supporting cast is also strong with James D’Arcy giving a good performance as Jo’s husband Magnus who seems to be hiding something, and Jonathan Banks bringing some much needed levity to the role of Henry, a scientist who might know more about what happened to Jo than he is letting on, the young actresses who play Jo’s daughter Alice also give strong performances and add some much needed emotional depth to the story pushing Rapace to get even more on the drama side of things, all of the cast are given the challenge of playing two very different versions of reality, one where Jo is simply suffering from the effects of her space travel and the other where there could be two or more versions of reality with two or more histories and two or more outcomes, and the conflict between the two becomes the main question that everyone is waiting for the answer to. I wanted to keep my opinion informal since to be hones there are more questions than answers left, this is the type situation very similar to when Netflix cancel Mind Hunters, but this is for the next part of this blog post.The not so good stuff
Even though I liked many things about constellation there were certain things that bothered me and did not let me fully immerse myself into the show, one of the things that I disliked was the pacing of the show especially in the first half of the season and this is not the first time I had this situation with a series, it was the same case with Dark Matter that latter pick up so fast it felt rush towards the end. The show takes time to introduce the characters and set up the mystery which is good but there are moments where it feels like not much is happening and the plot is just dragging. Another issue that I had with the show was the way it approached the main mystery, without giving too much away, I'm all in when it comes to keep the suspense but let’s just say that constellation uses the concept of parallel universes and quantum physics to explain what is happening to Jo and while I am a fan of the good fuck with your mind and bend your thoughts sci-fi series, I felt like the show at times forgot about the characters and the story and just focused on the mechanics of the multiverse, something not easy to explain depending on the creativity and point of view, there is no limit to how complicated it can be. I get that part of the fun of a show like this is that it’s not always clear what’s going on and there’s a sense of unease and the supernatural but I still would have appreciated a bit more simplisity and consistency in the development of the story, the show also has some horror vibes with Jo experiences visions of things that cannot be such as her dead colleagues being alive, for example, how come Alice no longer speaks Swedish? what is the family car no longer the same color? , there are scenes with blood and violence but it is not satisfying felt flat, it is used to build the story and there are times when it feels a bit random and chaotic.
The cancellation
My intentions are not to spoil the series for anyone but this has to be said, there is no second season so anyone reading this article should know this by now, the last episode of constellation season 1 ends on a rather dramatic way, with Jo learning something that could potentially alter the course of events for the better or worse, most things with the multiverse are 50/50 chances there is almost no exact science, it is the type of ending that opens up a lot of possibilities for the second season, but, as I mention we wont get to see what happens next because constellation did not perform as well as apple TV+ might have expected, the reviews were mixed, some people liked the production value and the acting while others found the pacing to be slow and the plot confusing, in the both camps but still enjoy it and according to the latest reports the show did not attract a large enough audience to lock down a second season, now days its all about more subscriptions more cash. It is a shame because I do think that constellation had a lot of potential and I would have been interested to see where the story would go next but I also understand that in the current landscape of streaming TV shows have to grab people’s attention right away and constellation for all its strengths did not necessarily do that, the show’s cancellation also means that we are left with many questions and loose ends which can be frustrating for the viewers who invested their time and energy into the series because for the audience now days sitting down to watch hours of a series is time investing, it is always a risk when you have a high concept mystery box show that the show will not be able to deliver as both the audience and streaming service expect.
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