Extant
In space Halle Berry still looks fab, in this mystery sci-fi coming to TEN.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Reviews, Top Stories
The latest big screen star to make their way to a small screen leading role is Oscar winner Halle Berry in the CBS sci-fi drama, Extant.
Berry stars as Molly Woods who, despite her hokey name, is actually a female astronaut who has returned home after 13 months on a solo space mission.
But just what went on in space? Ask Steven Spielberg. Or more to the point, creator Mickey Fisher (Summer Nuts, The King of Iron Town) whose series is set slightly in the future.
But if Gravity was an action adventure, and Alien was a horror movie, then Extant is a mystery.
The word, which means ‘still existing,’ cleverly morphs from ‘Extinct’ in its title credits, perhaps giving us a hint of what is to come.
Extant starts harmlessly enough, on Earth as Molly readjusts to her family life. She is married to scientist / inventor John Woods (Goran Visnjic) and they have a son, Ethan (Pierce Gagnon).
But while domestic life appears normal, not everything is as it seems… Shadowy figures lurk in the driveway. And Dr. Sam Barton (Camryn Manheim) can’t explain a surprise pregnancy for Molly, after travelling through space alone.
Molly has flashbacks on board a space ship (even in space Halle Berry scrubs up well), to incidents that can’t be readily explained. Various company men want answers about what went on, but Molly stays mum, so to speak.
Meanwhile hubby John is looking for funding for his latest project in which Hideki Yasumoto (Hiroyuki Sanada) plays a furtive role, seemingly linking conspiratorially back to Molly’s past and present. Grace Gummer and Annie Wersching also appear.
The tone of the piece is occasionally earnest, so as to set-up sympathetic characters, but without laying it on too thick. It feels more like a drama about family than the sum of its high-concept elements, but given recent event dramas that lose traction quickly, it may ultimately prove to be a wiser step.
Berry isn’t yet challenged by the script and it remains to be seen whether there’s enough here to sustain a series arc.
But the balance of futuristic fun and emotional drama is set up promisingly, that I’ll hitch a second ride on its slipstream.
Extant airs 9pm Sunday on TEN.
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13 Responses
Ok, I’ve seen it now. Apart from having Spielberg’s let’s-produce-this-within-an-inch-of-its-life fingers all over it, they should sack the continuity person (or hire one). The time code on the space station cameras starting at about 20 mins past midnight no matter what time it was, and Berry’s icecream changing size were just two such annoyances.
It was also completely unreal that Berry was able to simply delete the logged camera footage, that it apparently wasn’t automatically backed up, and the evil tech company can’t recover it like we can now with just about everything.
Don’t get me started on the flimsy automatic street-side rubbish bins, or how everything has blinking lights and makes a little sound when it does anything.
Still, it wasn’t awful and I hope it picks up. 6.5 out of 10.
I enjoyed watching Extant, it will be an interesting Sci Fi Show.
Watched ep 1. They should’ve called it “Homeland, in Spaaace!”
Molly gets to spend a year alone on a space station (it’s location is not specified, just frequent mentions of “that quadrant”) at an unspecified time in the future (they have humanoid robots that look like real children, see-through tablets, free-form holograms and the most amazing garbage cans you’ve ever seen!) for unspecified reasons (she’s doin’ sciency-stuff, that’s all you knuckle-dragging TEN-watchers need to know).
While in spaaace she has an encounter with an apparent hallucination of her dead ex-boyfriend, and comes home preggers. Back home Molly has a mysterious encounter while taking out the garbage (in the future women take out the trash!) with another ex-colleague she thought was dead too, but he runs away after telling her to trust no one (hmm, heard that somewhere before…).
Of course…
Maybe some people need to look up the meaning of ‘Extant’ Still in existence; not destroyed, lost, or extinct. It probably tells a lot about the show and mystery which will unfold.
I can’t wait for this one, Halle Berry looks great, just hope the acting stacks up.
Also a side note, on Letterman she said they were just about to film the season final, so worse case if the show flops we shouldn’t be left hanging if CBS decided to pull it mid season TEN could probably continue to air it.
You should give this season of 24 another shot David. Really great television and one of the show’s better seasons. The last few episodes in particular have been fantastic
Gee, you gave it half a star less than you gave the 24 reboot.
Terrible!
And in both cases it was a review for ep 1. I was very happy Jack was back. But less enthused since.
It’s such an awkward name to say for some reason, Extant.
They must have trained her in self hairdressing before she left!
@DaveyBoy – same here. I have some doubts but will give it a look and see if it’s worth my time. However, even the names of the main characters don’t ring true for Americans of their respective generations so I don’t hold a lot of hope for the rest of the writing.
Stephen Speilburg has stated that each season will be a different storyline carrying on from each season ending
Definitely doesn’t seem like there’s enough content to sustain a series, however a nice review, so will give it a watch.
Have been 50-50 all along on whether to watch this or not. And while this review is great, it hasn’t made my decision any easier.
I wonder if it’s going to settle at 9:30, or eventually be moved up to 8:30’ish.