On one side we have Damon Lindelof working on the incredible The Leftovers and on the other we have Carlton Cuse (executive producer and screenwriter of Lost.) Anything that is branded with "By the makers of lost" makes me want to raise an eyebrow but it makes me giddy too. They wear it like a badge of honour. They should, because it is one of the greatest shows of all time for storytelling but it gives shows like 'Colony' a lot to live up to.
Watching Cuse's project before this was 'The Strain' and although the premise was fascinating, it didn't keep me watching. Like 'Colony', it seemed done, ejected and restarted which I felt was going to be a problem with 'Colony.' The first episode starts out typically and transcends almost like an average society verging on dystopia film way.
I like shows that experiment with 'the perfect family' and it definitely does that in the opening scene because we begin to see clues such as barbed wire strung around the garden fence like christmas lights, eggs being dropped symbolically and a whole lot of emphasis on a boy in a photo and we learn that one of the sons is lost due to the events that have transpired in the world. We meet Josh Holloway who is almost exactly like his usual character in a world wrapped up in mystery, loss and curfew cliches. I like that it doesn't focus on the invasion itself, but the aftermath.
His wife (Katie) played by Sarah Wayne Callies is a good actress and bring dynamic actions to a flat world. There is a lack of resources which is displayed by characters in the family. Katie is after insulin and she will get it under any circumstances. Almost too easily and pales in comparison to something like Under The Dome which injects desperation skilfully. 'Collaborate' or 'Resist' is the tagline that the show is going for and it is evident that is the two people in the marriage who are going to represent and struggle with both.
Josh Holloway has a great repatriate for making a character you want to follow. 'Colony' is like 'Sawyer Returns' and if you liked Sawyer in Lost, he is cracking the same kind of defiant lines such as "And when I tell you to piss off?" when he is approached for a job by occupation. Nothing is followed through, he is the archetypal military man so far but the spark of argument and not bowing down and pretending to go with it is fine on its own.
Sights such as a large, tall wall enveloping Los Angeles and a scene of the cityscape performing some kind of lightshow does make you wonder but nothing about it scares, separates it or makes it even feel realistic. So much could be done in using this if they wanted to. They could make it so that's on purpose; that's the 'arrival' is so cliche and meeting people's expectations on purpose...but it's not even mentioned that much. We know they need to get out of it, but there's no context and there's no signs of a universe being that changed apart from a few safehouses and redecorating houses because there's nothing to do. These are telling, but there isn't much else. Not even an element of "We don't talk about it because we're terrified to." Cars snatch people up like alien abductions and eggs continue to be made by a intimidating visit seemed about as powerful as an MTV show trying to recreate the hunger games.
The resistance and Katie being part of it is supposed to move the plot in a twist but it's so normalised in television for that to happen that it doesn't even seem like one. I even started to look into the significance of the dog she takes with her everywhere in order to find something different to hold onto. 'Colony' almost reminds me of the French drama Resistance which shows Paris and parents and teachers in the resistance during the war. 'Colony' could have this and use this more and it would be improved. Especially as Carlton Cuse has commented the real-life events is where some of his inspiration came from.
At the end of the episode, you realise how many answers you don't know or what is even happening which is good in some ways but bad in others because although it can be gripping because you're following a regime doesn't immediately have an answer (as regimes often do) but there's nothing that is completely selling it currently. It's difficult with a Pilot because the show after it can sometimes be a completely different show. I want it to be good.
It feels lukewarm from a network which has recently showcased Mr Robot but it's definitely not bad either.
Colony episode one is available online/will be broadcast on January 14th on USA Network
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