Date of airing: October 9, 2009 (Space)
written by: Meredith Lavender, Marcie Ulin
directed by: David Straiton
The writers knew how to keep themselves close to one of the targets of the show’s journey through the solar system. Antares is already in orbit of Venus, and if the show had been renewed for a second season, I can imagine Antares would have been in orbit of Venus for some additional episodes, simply because Venus is the first target of the crew, the first target of the mission, and the first real effort to bring some solar system science action into the show for the writers to turn the narrative into an educational hour (or hours) about Venus, and maybe even get some more story out of the planet before Antares left orbit and made its way to Mercury and slingshot around the Sun to reach more planets. If I had been part of this writers’ room, I would have pitched that science lesson to James Parriott and the producers, and maybe the Venus landing could have turned the show from a somewhat esoteric science-fiction soap opera to a science-fiction drama with elements of hard science. DEFYING GRAVITY is surprisingly grounded for a science-fiction show and already has a few elements of hard science in it, but with me in the room, I would have expanded on that by a lot. And going hard on the science during planetary orbits and storytelling would make for a highlight of the show’s season whenever Antares is in a planet’s orbit. Even more so after I read that if and when the show had gotten to Mars, most of the season would have been set in orbit or on the planet itself. Probably because Parriott thought there were a lot of stories to be gotten out of the planet.
This episode was essentially a teaser of things to come. Antares is in Venus orbit, the preparation for the Venus landing has been ongoing, and the characters are on edge, both emotionally and probably even physically when you take a look at Donner during the simulations and how he pretty much had two strains of sweat rolling down the side of his face when Zoe joined him in the lander. Nobody of us cannot imagine how freaking hard it must be for a pilot to steer a plane or a spaceship towards its target – it makes me wonder how much salty fluids Neil Armstrong lost during the Gemini 8 mission, let alone his decision to fly over that one crater of the Moon because the perfect landing spot for Apollo 11 was on the outskirts of said crater. Those scenes in FIRST MAN were killer, and I would not mind seeing similar scenes like that on DEFYING GRAVITY. Well, there should at least be one episode to showcase Donner’s piloting skills and how close to a target he can land, or how far off he comes and how much of a problem it will turn into for the crew.
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| They all break down alone at home. |
And I loved those preparation moments of the Venus landing, since they gave the characters time to develop their own arcs. For once in her life, Nadia was not the hardcore woman we came to love and appreciate. No, she broke down in the shower after the sensory deprivation test (this is her very own version of isolation), and she was terrified on the Antares because of what (and who) she saw, and how easy it is for Donner and Zoe to get lost on Venus, all while she still has not gotten any answers about what the fractal objects want from her. After eleven episodes, it is quite the timing for Nadia to become a real character in this show and develop a field of emotions, making her more of a relatable character – at least for the women viewers of the show, who maybe might not have appreciated Nadia’s quite masculine behavior during the first batch of episodes, or Florentine Lahme’s acting abilities, which left nothing to be desired. But how am I supposed to know what women were thinking of a particular character in a specific science-fiction show not more than three million people on this planet have watched or can remember?
Because of all the preparations for the Venus landing, there was some extra time left for the flashbacks to five years ago, which developed some steam after not being purposely followed up on during the previous two episodes. Jen had an entire story in here, Wassenfelder went through his standard comedic moments, Zoe and Donner had a quiet moment of friendship and partnership that does not necessarily need to end with them having sex, and while Nadia got her first real share of character depth, the relationships of Jen and Rollie, as well as Evram and Claire, were teased upon, in addition to Evram’s alcoholism being depicted for the first time here. Though the question remains whether Evram started drinking around this time, during the first year of training, or if he was already addicted to the bottle way before that, and if it started shortly after he could not save the girl from under the rubble. Judging by how quickly Evram got away from Claire during the final moments of the episode, it can be said that he was already a full-blown alcoholic here, making me wonder why the ISO never saw that coming. I guess Evram went dry for as long as it took for blood tests to make him a viable candidate? I also questioned for a second if Claire also had a bout with the alcohol in the past – judging by how she downed one shot after another and then landed in bed with the reporter, it makes me think that she was equally making wrong choices. Two alcoholic lovebirds attract one another, which may explain why Evram and Claire ended up together.
Paula’s backstory was also given a lot of spotlights, and by now it is obvious (thanks to Evram’s out-loud thinking) that something is still hidden within Paula’s mind, although the focus has to be put on Evram’s realization that Paula is not hiding another truth, she has been repressing it. This means there is a whole lot of emotional Paula coming up when she learns what really happened to her and what preceded her miracle with Hector. It might be predictable where the story goes from here, but I am appreciative of how she is reacting, and where she goes for consolidation when she could not hold back her emotions. Not that I am a big Paula/Wassenfelder shipper, but Paula finding solace with Wassenfelder makes him a much better character, and it would develop him towards becoming a more important figure on the Antares – if not for the sake of the mission, then maybe for the sake of one or two characters.
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| She is trying her best to come up with another "A small step for a woman..." |
Meanwhile, it takes one step after another for the writers to paint a picture of what Earth in the 2050s looked like. Abortion is illegal (not a surprise, you just need to look to the Southern US these days), so Zoe had to sneak around to get the pill, and let’s not forget the whole secrecy thing and lies when she had the abortion in the first place. And during this episode, Wassenfelder mentioned sleeping “through World War Four,” and Rollie was scared to land for a guaranteed two and a half decades in jail because of vehicular manslaughter. The episode “Bacon” also had a gunshot victim coming in, with the doctors proclaiming they have not had one in a while (does it mean the United States of this series universe managed to get gun control written into law, and all this while banning abortions? I do not believe it for a second...). The Antares mission is the sole focus of the show, but with each episode, there is a tiny bit of what Earth is like, and it is an interesting way to do some world-building.
