Not-So BRAVE NEW WORLD?

Article first published as TV Review: BRAVE NEW WORLD on Seat42F.

Peacock, the new NBC streaming service that launched today, wants to take you to a BRAVE NEW WORLD. The book by Aldous Huxley gets a nine-episode television adaptation, with two episodes free to everyone and the other seven for subscribers only. For this review, I watched only the first two.

BRAVE NEW WORLD is one of my favorite books, though it’s been a little while since I read it. Many of the familiar elements are present in this version, such as the extreme caste society. On the higher end, everyone is connected at all times by a network, and are barred from any privacy, monogamy, or pregnancy. Children are genetically engineered from birth and raised in groups, rather than by parents. Out in the desert live the ‘savages,’ or people closer to what we have today, who still marry. But they’re violent and miserable, while the ones in the New World are happy. If they’re not happy, there are plenty of drugs readily available to make them so.

Most of the main characters are there, too. Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd, Game of Thrones) is near the top of the food chain as an Alpha Plus. But he’s a little off. He soon becomes taken with B+ Lenina Crowne (Jessica Brown Findlay, Downton Abbey), who experimented with a single partner for a while. Together, they journey to the Savage Land and meet John (Alden Ehrenreich, Solo: A Star Wars Story), who is being raised by single mom Linda (Demi Moore, Empire). But revolution breaks out while they’re there. While back at home, the Director (Ed Stoppard, Knightfall) and Mustafa Mond (Nina Sosanya, Good Omens) try to figure out why CJack60 (Joseph Morgan, The Originals) is acting funny after the death of his friend.

But there are quite a few differences, too. The character of Helm (Hannah John-Kamen, Killjoys) is quite a bit different from her literary counterpart. And the Savage Land is a lot more developed and fleshed out, with more action going down there. I’m not sure if these additions are designed to build a world that can keep going past the initial adaptation of the novel, inevitably a one-season project, or if they’re just meant to enhance aspects of the story that aren’t explored all that much on the page.

Neither the Enlightened nor the Savages have it all that good. There are pluses and minuses to both worlds. Sure, the Savages have more freedom, but they also have less overall, and are treated like dirt, made to play for the amusement of the advanced society. Either one of these two worlds could make up a post-apocalyptic landscape, and combining them is both interesting and a bit confusing because it’s hard to know which side to root for. Don’t we want things to get better? But at what cost? With more focus on the Savage place, this springs fully to light.

What might be remarkable is that the main ideas presented in BRAVE NEW WORLD no longer feel new. There have been so many dystopian series, especially as of late, that have borrowed elements from the source material that this one almost feels like a repeat of what’s come after the book. I’m not sure if that’s a testament to how far Huxley could see into the future, or just proof that good ideas are often stolen and done to death. With Westworld, Altered Carbon, Black Mirror, and so many others, does BRAVE NEW WORLD stand a chance of breaking through?

I guess, maybe. There’s some fine acting, though it stops short of breathtaking (which I’m not sure is fully the actors’ fault). The obligatory sex and danger is present in this iteration of BRAVE NEW WORLD, and that keeps the pacing moving. I’m not sure these particular ideas are begging to be explored again on screen, but they are always relevant. I liked it, but didn’t fall in love the way I expected to. Still, I want to finish watching.

The biggest obstacle BRAVE NEW WORLD faces is the platform it is on. Peacock rudely launched without much access for those who don’t enjoy watching TV on a phone or browser. Certain Smart TVs can access it, and it works with Chromecast. But it lacks an app on Amazon Fire, Roku, TiVo, or other streaming devices. Personally, I was very annoyed at the hoops I had to jump through to watch, and hope Peacock gets its act together if it wants to succeed. Then again, at a too-high price tag ($9.99/month for the ad-free version without nearly the catalogue that Netflix or Hulu boasts), do we even need another streaming service? Maybe it would be easier for another streamer to absorb the content.

BRAVE NEW WORLD is available now exclusively on Peacock.

KILLJOYS Not An Accurate Title

Article originally published as KILLJOYS Review on Seat42F.

KILLJOYS is the latest SyFy drama. Following three bounty hunters who operate in a four-inhabited-planet system, it’s a post-apocalyptic look at humanity’s future. This system is owned and run by a corporation, and everyone works for them. If you don’t play by their rules, you get in trouble. The bounty hunters aren’t exactly company men, their order remaining unaffiliated, but operate as an independent, reliable body tasked with hunting down those who anger someone enough to buy a contract on their kill or capture. The company allows this, and gives them a wide reach with which to perform their duties.

At the start of the pilot, there’s a lot of action. Too much action. It gives the impression of a low-quality program that is going to rely on visual fast food to tell its story, and the characters and plot seem flat and uninteresting. It’s not the type of thing that will hook those looking for intelligent science fiction, but it will certainly appeal to a certain segment of the audience. For those who it does appeal to, I hope you also appreciate the more complex, layered, character-driven type of show, because that’s what KILLJOYS morphs into in the second half of its first hour.

Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen, The Hour) and John (Aaron Ashmore, Smallville, Warehouse 13) are partners, operating a small ship, and going after the less dangerous jobs. Enter D’Avin (Luke Macfarlane, Brothers & Sisters), John’s estranged brother and PTSD-sufferer that has a kill order out on him. John risks everything to save his sibling, who quickly takes an interest in Dutch, and the team is born.

Each of these three are developed individuals with their own secrets and backstories, all of which play a heavy role in the main arcs. KILLJOYS could be just a procedural, with the trio tracking new query all the time, but I don’t think it will be because the first hour sets up a lot of dense stuff to flesh out the world and the trouble already bubbling over in the political structure. It seems poised for a big rebellion adventure, a la the original Star Wars trilogy, more so than a science fiction version of Dog the Bounty Hunter.

This program could be set in the Firefly universe. The short-lived, still-popular Joss Whedon show is not the only one that presents an outlook such as this, but the themes present and the atmosphere are similar. KILLJOYS lacks much of the humor and the Western sensibilities, both hallmark traits of Firefly, but other than, I could see this being another part of the same world, with these bounty hunters fighting the same common company that seeks to control everyone and use them for its own gains, albeit in a smaller neighborhood.

This gets me quite excited about KILLJOYS. All three of the performers are fantastic in the pilot, each given a chance to shine, and the rapidly-deepening story is intriguing. While a certain amount of status quo is maintained for now, it can’t possibly stay that way, and they are poised to be on the front lines when all hell breaks loose, prepared more than most to make a difference for an oppressed people due to their unique skillset.

I admit, there’s a chance I could be wrong about where KILLJOYS is going, and the story I’m looking for may be teased out only slowly, over a long period of time. I don’t think so, though. The way the first episode unfolds is solid, and it just seems like there will be more. As long as too many of the hours don’t rely on combat rings and fist fights, both present early in the first installment, I’m on board.

KILLJOYS premieres Friday, June 19^th at 9 p.m. ET on SyFy.