A New Spin(-Off) on the Apocalypse

Over the past few months of blogging, I've drifted into a "policy" where I don't really bother posting mixed or negative reviews of a thing unless it's pretty solidly in the zeitgeist where everyone is sharing their opinion and I might as well too. I figure it's usually not worth it to point out something obscure only to say, "but I didn't really like it all that much." But I'm going to make an exception today for a TV series you can stream on Netflix, called Yakamoz S-245.

"What the hell is that?" I can imagine you asking. Answering that is easiest if I tell you why I'm blogging about it -- and that's because it's related to another series I posted about, Into the Night. That series from Belgium took place in an apocalypse where the coming dawn kills everyone on Earth, and followed one group of survivors who struggles to keep flying their commercial airplane ever westward, staying under cover of darkness.

Yakamoz S-245 is a spin-off of that series from the same creator, Jason George. Same apocalypse, but a different setting: this series follows the people aboard a deep sea exploration submersible, who survive the sun apocalypse and are then picked up by a military submarine and are forcibly integrated into its command structure. Like Into the Night, many nationalities and languages are represented here, but Yakamoz S-245 is primarily a Turkish series. Between the different language and culture, and the different survival premise, the series makes a pretty good case for what a compelling spin-off can be: it's an entirely different story grown from the same kernel of a conceit.

From there, a number of great anchors for drama are built into the series. Where the characters of Into the Night are almost all complete strangers to one another at the start of the series, Yakamoz S-245 is about two distinct groups of people trying to work together -- and there are additional family connections within each group. The oil-and-water qualities inherent in mixing military personnel with civilians also makes for a lot of dramatic friction.

I chose to blog about this series because A) it gives me one more chance to plug Into the Night, which I enjoyed; and B) if you liked Into the Night, you'll probably want to go on and give Yakamoz S-245 a try. That said, I certainly would not recommend that you watch Yakamoz S-245 on its own. Yes, it's a more conventional one hour drama (where Into the Night was doing "one-hour show" things in a half-hour format), and yes, it has clearly higher production values. But while it's interesting, it's simply not as good.

Starting from its tantalizing "ingredients," Yakamoz S-245 winds up following a pretty conventional "recipe." By halfway through the 7-episode single season, you'll have gotten wise to its formula. Every episode makes the same plot moves for its emotional pops, to diminishing returns. Also, the season doesn't conclude in any way -- and while that's also true of the "mother show," Into the Night, I feel it more keenly here. This is very much a story without an ending, and there's no word online of whether we'll ever get one.

So all told, I'll give Yakamoz S-245 a B-. It's not bad, but probably not good enough that I would have bothered posting about it if not for the connection to Into the Night. But I'll take another bite at that apple and suggest that perhaps in the weeks and months ahead, as corporate greed drags the two Hollywood strikes on and on (and new content begins to dry up), you might want to give Into the Night a try. (And then maybe try the spin-off too.)