Away: on Netflix

I was somewhat excited to hear about Away on Netflix ... a story about Earth's first manned mission to Mars, captained by a mother who needs to leave her family for three years. I really get a kick out of these nearly hard-science TV shows and movies that have been coming out lately. So, I figured I had to try this one out.

The first episode clued me in that I was in for a bumpy ride. I was a little put off by the fact that it contained more drama than science. And it was telling the story out of sequence for dramatic effect -- trying to see it from the mission control lady on Earth interviewing each of the astronauts in space. Some parts worked, while other parts not so much ... and many of the drama parts were ... BORING!

I suppose if you love family drama and predictable plots, you may love this show. I may be a little negative because I was looking for something different.

But wait ... let's talk about what worked. I loved the space scenes -- being on the moon, space walks, getting closer to Mars. Those were done pretty well. And I think they had gravity (caused by spinning of the crew quarters) moving in the right direction. Some scenes had me on the edge of my seat.

They had a fun diverse crew, with plenty of character development, so you get to know all of them: the American captain, a Chinese astronaut who's chosen to be first on Mars, a Russian cosmonaut who's an expert at everything space, a Jewish black guy from Ghana - but raised in Britain through adoption, and an Indian good with medicine. I loved some of the depictions of different cultures ... probably a good reason to watch.

However, a lot of the plot felt convoluted, predictable, and sometimes forced just to get in some good drama. It seem unbelievable that there would be so much drama among the team as Hilary Swank is forced to earn their trust. I mean ... they trained together for years ... how could she not already have their trust? And Hilary's character seems too willing to turn around and come back home because it's too hard or she wants to be with her family again, only to then snap out of it. We should ask actual astronauts ... does this type of thing really happen in real life? Do teammates always work to undermine their superiors? Do captains always second-guess themselves all the time?

And, really with all the stereotypes? One scene had the Chinese astronaut talking to her family, and her husband was chiding his son about making a 98 on his test. I mean ... did they really need to bring in the Angry Asian Dad? And the Chinese head on Earth was unbelievable throughout the whole first season. Of course there were also some not-so-obvious Russian stereotypes going on with the cosmonaut. But then again, maybe this type of stuff really does happen, and I'm clueless.

As for what goes on down on Earth, the captain's daughter takes up with a boy who likes to ride bikes. Any guesses as to what happens to her? That was the most irritating episode in the whole season ... practically no science, all drama, and I'm not sure if it even progressed the story along. BORING!

And the science? I guess they tried their hardest, but some things were dumb and changed for dramatic effect. As one starts to move away from earth, communications is supposed to become more difficult because it takes longer for the signal to travel. From the moon, itself, it takes about 2.5 seconds for a round trip signal -- meaning -- after you say something, you have to wait 2.5 seconds to get a response. But we got none of that for the first few episodes. However, they had to address it eventually. How did they do it? They made up this phenomenon that when you get past a certain point, face-to-face communications just cut out, and the lag magically jumps from less than a few seconds to 20 minutes or so. All so they could have a Hollywood moment for when a transmission gets cut off mid-sentence, and then there's waterworks everywhere. Give me a break. It's possible to have good drama with accurate science, but they decided not to ... lazy writing.

I have more complaints, but don't want to give too many spoilers. You might like it. I finished the season just so I could write a full honest review, but I probably won't watch season 2. It was a nice try, but nowhere near as organic as I would have liked.