Date of airing: August 2, 2009 (ABC)
Nielsen ratings information: 3.56 million viewers, 2.3/4 in Households, 1.0/3 with Adults 18-49, 1.4/4 with Adults 25-54 (2-hour average, together with the previous episode that aired before this one)
The universe was hard at work in this episode, both during the present narrative, as well as during the ISO flashbacks five years ago, as it made certain decisions about who was supposed to be on the Antares mission and who was supposed to be in the Venus suit to discover the leak, before things would have gone horribly wrong on the runaway greenhouse planet.
After only two episodes, it’s quite obvious that a higher power has a say in the mission, and what happens during the mission, as not only were Rollie and Ajay ejected from the mission to be replaced by Ted and Donner (they are obviously so important, they needed to be on the Antares), but it also decided for Wassenfelder to be part of the team, and it put Zoe through a difficult test in the Venus suit, leading the Antares crew to discover the leak in the first place, which most likely would not have been discovered if Zoe had not been in a low-pressure vacuum for a considerable amount of time. For the leak to be detected, she needed to get blown out of the airlock (essentially risking the leak becoming larger and therefore becoming a big problem), and she needed to hang out in space for a little while (at least 90 minutes, according to the digital clock in her helmet display, which made me wonder why it was counting down). All this makes the characters pawns in their own game of outer space and life, and it makes the show something of an esoteric one, as well as a complex one if the writers happened to have no idea about this kind of narrative. When you use the universe (or a higher power, which has been teased about during the show’s first two hours) as a plot device, you better know beforehand what that plot device can do, and how it can define your narrative, as well as the fates of the characters.
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| Always remember where and how tiny you are compared to the universe. |
This episode had a great way of slowing down its story for the episode, and only having us care about a couple of specific character arcs, and the Venus suit test, which was essentially the only story in this hour. It seems maddening that a science-fiction show with an ongoing and building mystery would only have the one storyline that would fill only an act in a plot-heavy show before it’s forgotten by the end of its episode, but for DEFYING GRAVITY, the emphasis was put on the Venus suit test, the discovery of the leak, and how the characters came together to find a solution to the problem or witness Zoe die slowly. It’s almost like the characters weren’t supposed to drive the story in this show, but the opposite is the case. Something happens within the story, and it’s going to define the characters. Zoe and Donner should certainly be a lot closer than they were when Donner came on board after this little incident with the Venus suit, and considering how accident-prone this mission has been so far (one astronaut almost committing suicide by EVA, another astronaut almost getting lost by an airlock failure), at one point the characters will wonder what is going on, and then the answers will hopefully come. And maybe they will also grow closer as friends and colleagues, and become a family when they realize that they are destined for more than just traveling the solar system – as long as the characters don’t get split up because of how many secrets and dangers are keeping them apart.
The flashbacks were a little confusing at first, as there were two different kinds of flashback stories in this episode. First, it was the normal continuation of the astronaut training program and the choosing of the Antares team. But there was a flashback story set before that program even began, and it was all about Zoe and Donner finding each other, flirting with each other, screwing each other, and then becoming colleagues of sorts when Zoe learns she has been accepted to the program. Having watched DEFYING GRAVITY multiple times already (it’s one of my favorite one-season-only shows, and it deserves a rewatch once every couple of years), I’m getting used to the way the writers approached the flashback stories, but doing that in the second episode of the show while it’s your mission to win viewers, you might have helped yourself alienating said viewers, because I can’t think of many viewers sitting through the seemingly confusing mess of two flashback timelines within the same episode, and then having to spend brainpower in figuring out which scenes at the ISO center are a flashback or part of the present narrative. Yes, you could figure that out by listening to the dialogue, but when one is unable to focus on the words and images of the show, it’s hard to keep track of what is happening, and where and when the show currently takes place. And all this happens, because the producers decided not to visually separate the present narrative from the flashbacks by using a color filter. Although here I believe the producers didn’t have enough in the budget to make the two timelines look more distinct.
The universe (or the higher power) still has to answer for a few things though: What is Wassenfelder doing on the mission, and how are the other characters on board the Antares involved in this whole spiel? Yes, DEFYING GRAVITY is only two episodes old and shouldn’t even be caring about attempting to answer this question, but in the television landscape of 2009, people seemed to have been going crazy when not getting answers to questions they don’t care about, which is probably the reason DEFYING GRAVITY wasn’t a ratings juggernaut in either of the countries of the show’s international production partners. But what the universe doesn’t need to take care of is character chemistry, because that one looks to be working splendidly after only two episodes. As mentioned during the pilot review, Zoe and Donner’s chemistry is electrifying, and this episode even managed to put them to another level. In addition to that, the crew was slowly becoming more unified (especially when they celebrated Wassenfelder for the successful spit idea), which helps to dramatically break them apart in future episodes, as soon as the secrets and deception from other characters bombard them left and right and they can’t trust anyone.
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| Your private affair don't stop even when floating in a pool. |
Besides that, I am in love with the light tone of the show. Donner walking into the women’s washroom and giving a quick salute to the one random woman in there was a hilarious blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, and there is even comedy in the way the episode brought Donner on the screen as soon as Zoe and Jen were finished talking about Zoe’s mysterious male partner who impregnated her. That editing joke must have happened about a dozen times during the first two episodes, and I’m only slightly exaggerating. The casting department must have specifically cast the show with an eye on a high level of chemistry between the two leads of the show because that couldn’t have just happened while you were rehearsing for the first few scenes. That chemistry looks to be specifically written into the script, and it needed two actors who could have been husband and wife in real life. And maybe they could have been if Ron Livingston and Laura Harris wouldn’t have been with someone else already.
