Most of the time.
In the same calendar year, Apple TV+ launched two different series that are both "present day science fiction tales about parallel realities." There's Constellation, in which an astronaut aboard the ISS has a seemingly impossible encounter that shakes the foundation of her reality; there's also Dark Matter, in which a college professor is abducted by his own doppelganger and forced to swap lives into an alternate reality. Both stories are so similar in their inspiration, so similar in their references to quantum mechanics and Schrödinger's cat, that my husband and I decided to bench one show until we'd finished the other: keeping up with both shows was almost like watching four intersecting realities all at once, and too much to track.
Constellation was the show we finished first. And, it turns out, the show that Apple TV+ was finished with first as well: a few months after the eight-episode season one concluded, the show was cancelled. The Powers That Be at Apple TV+ finally seemed to recognize that they didn't need two such similar shows... and while they haven't yet backed Dark Matter with a renewal, they have decided they're getting out of the Constellation business.
I both get it, and am a bit disappointed. I get it because, quite honestly, Constellation probably was bringing down the "average quality" of shows on the service, overall. But you have to remember, I opened by saying that on Apple TV+, that average is impossibly high.
I'd say that for sure, Constellation grabbed my attention out right out of the gate. Playing on my enthusiasm for space travel, the first ISS-centric episode spins out a web of mystery and oddity that I found instantly compelling. A somewhat ambiguous flashback structure, a horrible tragedy, and a moment of intrepid "astronaut bravery" all swirl together to really set the stage. This is one of those shows you don't have to "give a second chance" to; if you don't like the first episode, it simply isn't for you.
For a few episodes after that, Constellation continues to explore with compelling tendrils, putting multiple story lines into play, building sympathy for several characters even as it implies some may be losing their sanity, and repeatedly making you rethink and recontextualize earlier scenes you've watched.
But then... you wind up getting out way ahead of the show. Part of the problem here is the overall slow pace after that breakneck first episode. Constellation is not a fundamentally an adventure about exploring space, it's a personal story about people questioning their own reality... and it has to slow down to suit the intimacy of that story. Another problem is the season's overall structure: it shows us flash-forward moments that initially serve to deepen the mysteries, but ultimately allow you to sort out those mysteries before the characters do. Basically, my enthusiasm for Constellation diminished at least a little with almost every episode.
I admit, I considered not even bothering to blog about a now-cancelled show that I didn't end up liking in the end as much in the beginning. But there are a couple of other factors in the mix. Well, specifically, actors in the mix. The show stars Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, and she is an excellent lead. She has to walk a line of sanity in this show, and has to carry many scenes without dialogue or interaction with other actors -- she's solid through it all. The major secondary character is played by Jonathan Banks, now famed for Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul; this series makes great use of his established curmudgeonly screen persona, but he gets to let you beneath that exterior in interesting ways too.
One point of encouragement I can offer: though Constellation was cancelled, it does have an ending. More or less. There are absolutely cliffhanger elements to it; there are seeds being planted for future seasons, and the story for one character in particular ends up in an utterly unresolved place. But, the story for the main character does actually reach a plausible resolution. Future seasons could absolutely have shaken the equilibrium established at the end of the final episode... but you can also imagine the reality where she lives on, in something that passes for normality, from this point. And hey, contemplating alternate realities is what the show is all about.
I'm going to give Constellation a B. In the grand sweep of everything on Apple TV+, it probably shouldn't be at the top of anyone's list. But I do think it's the sort of thing some of my readers might enjoy, and I'm just putting that out there.
If/when I finish Dark Matter, I'll be back to talk about that.
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