Netflix’s ‘Away’ is So Close to Being a Super Fun Space Exploration Show
An international crew that plays poker while idling among the stars. A perilous problem each episode that needs imagination and camaraderie to fix. People stuck together on the mission of their lives who, despite their differences, manage to become family. Sound like Star Trek: The Next Generation? It’s also the best part of Netflix’s new space drama Away. The new series is incredibly watchable, but flails when it comes to knowing what to focus on. As Captain Emma Green (Hilary Swank) leads a charismatic crew on a remarkable journey to Mars, the show keeps toggling back to her daughter’s angsty (but unremarkable) life on the ground. While the whole point of Away is the emotional journey these characters take, the show falls short of its potential by insisting that its tepid domestic drama is as interesting as the incandescent drama in outer space.
Away looks at the emotional strain that the very first manned mission to Mars puts on its characters. American Emma Green will lead the five-person international crew on a multi-year mission to the red planet. While the journey alone is perilous, the tension is only ratcheted up thanks to the stress bomb that explodes on Emma’s lap as soon as the crew land on the Moon. Her beloved husband Matt (Josh Charles) suffers a medical emergency, leaving their teen daughter Alexis (Talitha Eliana Bateman) bereft of a hands-on parent during a key part of her development.
While Away exhausts most of its focus on Emma and her family, each episode reveals a bit more — via Lost-style flashbacks — about the astronauts in her crew. Misha (Mark Ivanir) is a sardonic Russian cosmonaut who holds the record for hours in space. Ram (Ray Panthaki) is the ship’s medic, a kind and empathetic astronaut from India. Kwesi (Ato Essandoh) is the crew’s space rookie: a Ghanian immigrant to Great Britain charged with helping the mission with his botany skills. Finally, Lu (Vivian Wu) is the stoic Chinese scientist who carries the weight of her nation’s expectations on her shoulders. Part of the diplomacy that went into funding the five-nation mission is the promise that Lu will be the first person to step foot on Mars, giving China a huge honor.
The beauty of Away is the longer you spend with the crew, the more you’re doomed to absolutely love them. Through the flashbacks and — more importantly — their onboard interactions, you learn that none of the astronauts in Away is a cliché. They are all flawed, determined, brilliant, emotional people stuck in a tin can flying through space together. By the end of the first season, I was finding myself absolutely verklempt just watching a tender moment play out between Misha and Lu or Ram and Emma.
The best part of Away is the space stuff! The technical effects are incredible in their seamlessness. You really feel like you’re floating in a space ship along with these intrepid explorers. And the most compelling drama is watching how these five astronauts snipe at each other, jockey for control, and ultimately compromise. Again, it’s like Star Trek, but set only 5 years in the future, on a ship that’s far from the comforts of a Starfleet vessel.
Unfortunately, that’s not the show Away wants to be. Although it was created by Andrew Hinderaker, Away has all the touchstones of its co-executive producer, Jason Katims. While a slow and steady focus on the ups and downs of high school life (for the students and the mentors) might have lent a football game epic weight in Friday Night Lights, in Away, it steals the Mars mission’s thunder. It’s not that the show needs to totally jettison the stuff in Texas — after all, it adds tension to Emma’s inner life — but maybe we don’t need it to be the A plot? Maybe?
Even as Away envisions a future bright with exploration, the show itself feels like a throwback to pre-Peak TV. Maybe it’s the quiet family drama or the wholesome teen romance or episodic-style storytelling, but Away reminded me of a network show from the late ’90s. Sure, it’s got a Netflix-sized budget and a two-time Academy Award winner as its star, but Away could have aired on ABC in 2005. By that, I mean, it’s super watchable, hardly scandalous, and sometimes a little melodramatic. There’s something comforting about Away, which I’m sure means it will appeal to the masses in a way more adventurous sci-fi doesn’t.
Away is a show with tremendous potential. Its first season is an ode to the noble side of humanity. There’s an emphasis on empathy, courage, cooperation, and above all else, reconciliation. It’s the rare story of space exploration that stresses the importance of what’s happening down on Earth. That’s the show’s strength, and in Season 1, its biggest weakness. By overemphasizing mundane storylines, Away limits its opportunities to tell more compelling stories in the stars.
Away is pretty good, but it could be great.
Away Season 1 premieres on Netflix on Friday, September 4.
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