SummaryAstronaut Niko Breckinridge (Katee Sackhoff) leads a team to look into an alien artifact in this sci-fi drama from Aaron Martin and Noreen Halpern.
SummaryAstronaut Niko Breckinridge (Katee Sackhoff) leads a team to look into an alien artifact in this sci-fi drama from Aaron Martin and Noreen Halpern.
Much better than season 1....
After drifting through space through much of season 1 (or sitting around in a park staring at the Achaia artifact back on Earth) season 2 picks up the pace and the plot lines dramatically, much to the improvement of the series and the enjoyment of the fans. Some original characters with stalled story lines are airlocked in favor of new characters who have more personality, direction, purpose - and who look like they actually belong on a space mission, unlike the first crew who looked like the local after-school crowd at he internet cafe. Even with the quickened pace and new characters, we get actual character development. Cas continues to receive well-earned screen time, Erik improves over season 1 (and his cringe-worthy season 2 opening scene), and Niko starts really showing the leadership traits that got her nominated as Captain of the mission in the first place. Heck, even the Achaia get to develop and grow - and wait until you see whom they chose to be the human interface with Niko (inspired choice, both on screen and as a choice of actors).
There are shortcomings. The" science" part of the sci-fi is sketchy sometimes, the plot often relies on convenient timing and contrivance to move forward, and the writing (and some acting as well) could be better. But the good is there too: decent action and drama, solid effects, and the reigning regent of sci-fi Katee Sackhoff showing why she's worthy of the title. The incredibly toned and ripped Sackhoff - always a physical specimen - may be the best non-verbal actor in North America, and she dominates the screen when she's on, much like she did in Battlestar and Longmire; her absence is palpable in the series at times, as it was in particular for one entire episode where she failed to appear even once. But she had the next episode pretty much to herself, and she delivered in a way that would have made Captain Kirk proud - character and actor both. Ultimately, Another Life is Katee's series, her vehicle, and she shows that she's earned the lead as Niko, delivering on her rare talent to play nerdy, bad-ass, and sexy, all in the same frame.
Final verdict: much improved over season 1. Not flawless, but definitely worth a watch for fans of the genre in general or Katee Sackhoff especially.
Season 1 is a 1/10 so season 2 at 5/10 is significantly better but still not good although I did enjoy it since I like sci-fi so much. Viewers after season 1 pointed out they have crew in hibernation and could kill all the annoying characters and wake up new ones and that is exactly what they did. The new characters are good and one of them makes a comment wondering why the AI woke up unqualified characters before. I thought that was awesome. Unfortunately, they left the annoying, totally incompetent doctor alive. The science in the show is still bad. Not, we might hit a planet traveling through a dark matter cloud bad, but bad. They use a light sail for a spaceship. A spaceship is too massive for a light sail but the truly bad part is that the lasers used to shoot photons at the sail are on the ship it self. Apparently the writers have never heard of Newton's third law. The thrust from the laser and sail will cancel each other out. The other aspect that makes this still bad is whenever they have a problem they are able to come up with a solution way beyond the technical capabilities of humans and miraculously pull it off. Still, the plot is interesting, suspenseful, has good action making the season enjoyable even if I would not call it good.
You hate to see it folks.
If you look deeper into this love letter to diversity, you get... well... nothing really. The plot is paper thin and absolutely ridiculous most times. The main cast (I'm not talking about the expendable characters that die in the first 20 minutes) have plot armor on so thick it defies belief. This master alien race they're up against are the most high-tech, advanced, omnipotent, and STUPID species to grace T.V. But I guess we stacked the deck against the opposition, though, with a crew of about 7 people who are world leading experts in everything and apparently can outsmart what amounts to an ancient and advanced race of AI in about a minute and a half of chatter amongst themselves. This is Star Trek meets Battlestar Galactica meets Mass Effect on its basic level, so if that's your kink and you don't mind cheese-factors reaching maximum levels, this might be your cup of tea. I should've never started season 2 considering season 1 was a solid 1/10. I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. The only positive I took away is Katee Sackhoff's (love her) acting saved the show as much as it could, but it wasn't enough. But hey... at least we checked every single box in the inclusion category, so there's that. Don't waste your time if you're looking for good Sci-Fi.