Body Positivity

When someone gives me a recommendation of some TV show that seems right up my alley, yet I've never even heard of it before -- chances are it's streaming on Netflix. No other service seems as skilled to me at hiding interesting content in a deep dark hole. The latest example of this was an 8-episode mini-series from last year that I heard about only in the last few months, Bodies.

Bodies begins with a brain-teasing hook: in multiple different time frames -- decades apart -- London cops discover an identical dead body. He appears to have been stripped and dumped, but there are no signs that he's been transported there. He appears to have been shot dead, but there's no bullet in the body and no sign of an exit wound. And as each detective in each time frame pursues their investigation, they find only ever more strange mysteries at play.

Assuming that you're hooked in by the bizarre premise, you're in for a wild ride. Over 8 episodes, Bodies undergoes a massive shift in tone and scale. That initial mystery is clear science fiction... though mixed with a healthy dose of CSI-style crime solving. But each episode becomes more overtly sci-fi. In short order, you come to feel like you're watching some spiritual successor to Lost, spooling out odd mysteries. But the science fiction keeps amplifying, and soon the show feels like it's inspired most directly by Dark (a tragically underseen German show, also buried in the depths of Netflix).

One advantage Bodies has over either of those inspirations is that it was only ever conceived to last 8 episodes. Any mystery it introduces does have an answer, and not one that will be withheld for long. But there are disadvantages too. Lost was operating on a second level apart from the "island mysteries," telling moving stories about the characters and quietly commenting on the human condition. Bodies is not remotely so profound; there are subplots involving each detective in each time frame, but their personal trials never seem drawn as sharply as the overall sci-fi elements. And Bodies isn't ultimately as clever, either; Dark does a much better job at crafting a labyrinthine puzzle that still holds together once you've seen all the pieces.

Still, it doesn't have to be a competition. After all, there's neither new Lost nor new Dark on your TV screen anymore, so if another show wants to come along and scratch that itch -- even if somewhat less effectively -- why not let it and enjoy yourself? There are numerous actors in the cast that will be unfamiliar to you, and you'll probably find at least one you want to look for in the future. There's a stylish production quality throughout -- no small feat for all the radically different time periods that must be portrayed.

I would give Bodies a B. Sure, there are things right now that better earn the mantle of "must watch TV." But it deserves to be watched more than I expect it will, deep in the Netflix basement.