Constellation Review

In this era of way too much television, one of the big questions I routinely get asked by folks looking for a new binge is if the series “sticks the landing.” Want to invest the time and energy into tackling The Americans? Know that it absolutely sticks the landing. Succession? Better Call Saul? Barry? Yes, yes, and mostly yes. When it comes to new shows, it’s a much harder question to answer, seeing as most series – dramas at least – tend to resolve a particular arc in a single season while continuing to leave open questions for potential future seasons of the show to answer. But occasionally, a series sets up a rather compelling mystery to dive into . . . and then completely fumbles the resolution of the arc at the goal line. Constellation is one of those shows.

A very high concept series – a character at one point starts to explain quantum physics to a child, which in turn, helps flesh out the central mystery of the series – Constellation has all the makings of something special before it can’t get out of its own way in the season finale. The first two episodes are so high concept, in fact, that I found myself both taken in completely by the mystery – more on that in a moment – and continually saying “What the hell is going on here?!?” as various moments happened and tossed the central characters and the audience around in a confusing, but compelling confusing, storyline. Naturally, answers do come – but you have to make it through multiple episodes before you really get the hang of the story being told and start to piece things together, which is a rather big ask especially when a series fumbles the ending as poorly as this one does.

But the story, in its most basic form, starts on the International Space Station, where Paul Lancaster (William Catlett), an American astronaut, is running an experiment, while Jo (Noomi Rapace, wasted in a role that asks her to stare in shock throughout much of the season and little else), a Swedish astronaut, video calls her young daughter, Alice (twins Davina and Rosie Coleman sharing the role, both of whom are sensational and asked to do a ton of heavy lifting). Jo is set to go out on a spacewalk when something impacts the ISS. Jo is convinced she saw a Cosmonaut skeleton in an old Soviet space suit stuck within the side of the station, but naturally no one else can corroborate her story. Inside the station, tragedy strikes and the station’s systems are irrevocably damaged. The crew must evacuate immediately – only there’s not enough room for everyone and Jo remains on board, attempting to essentially hotwire a Soyez module to get her and her deceased crewman back to Earth before she runs out of oxygen. And once she’s back, well, then things start getting really weird.

It’s hard to really get into the major issues with the series without getting into spoiler territory – and I won’t do that – so the best I can do is say that while the premise and performances are strong (the Coleman twins are the stars of the series, but an honorable mention goes to Better Call Saul‘s Jonathan Banks, who plays an old Apollo astronaut who has his own demons to contend with), the narrative can’t sustain itself under the weight of expectations and the writing opts for the easy way out in the end. When a story wants to try and take big swings – and Constellation absolutely takes some big swings – it needs to have the gumption to follow its story through to the end. To continue pushing the narrative into the complex and strange, paying off the loyalty of the audience by trying to deliver an ending that is just as interesting as what came before it. And considering how twisty elements of the story are – and how much I found myself saying “Well, that’s quite the corner to paint the characters into, let’s see how this resolves itself” more than once, I was expecting the writing to keep up that level of suspense and intrigue. Alas, it does not and the show ultimately falls apart as a result.

But I’m wary of warning folks to stay away just because the series doesn’t stick the landing (and I say series, but the door is absolutely left open for a second season, should Apple greenlight one). Especially when it’s a show that asks some truly interesting questions and sets up a pretty intriguing premise. If you’re a fan of space thrillers – more in the vein of an Arrival or Contact and less in an Expanse sort of definition – this might be worth a look to you. If anything, it’s not like anything else currently on television and there are some strong performances that will keep you entertained, even if you go into this one knowing the ending won’t live up to the heights set but the ambitious narrative at the beginning. In this time of too much TV, it’s hard to recommend anything that isn’t truly exceptional, but sometimes, you have to go to bat for a show that tries something new even if it can’t fully pull it off in the end. Constellation is that type of show.

Constellation premieres on AppleTV+ on February 21. All eight episodes of the season were provided for review.