Debris

Just finished the season, and Debris is a series that started as an okay-but-problematic series and becomes, by mid-season, a gripping one with a fascinating story arc.

Here's my review from a few seasons in, when it was just beginning to right itself:

Debris is an X-Files/Fringe type of series in which a couple of agents investigate a series of strange events caused by the remnants of an extraterrestrial ship.

The stories are all effectively intriguing and spooky, involving reanimated corpses, people trapped in other planes of existence, and DNA-rewriting rain storms. (So far every episode has had an agent say something like "I've never seen *this* before," which would be a great thing to do in a parody of shows like this.)

The series has a surprisingly strong interest in emotion - the debris seems to actually react to things like love and memory and the agents talk a lot more about their feelings than something like the X-Files.

What makes this extra weird is the series is emotionally distanced. The agents are uninteresting people with no chemistry and it's really hard to care about them as people. Also, the delving into emotions is often tediously maudlin; episode 4 had long, sincere chunks that were unwatchable.

Around episode 5 or 6 the series starting picking up as it moved into a grander story arc and lowered the emotional temperature. So it's worth sticking with.

I love the concept and the effects are legit. The female lead is good. The male lead is a bit of an over actor. Sometimes that happens in the first few episodes. Only time will tell if he sinks in to a more realistic portrayal. The heavy focus on personal dramas for both leads with almost no background or character development isn't helping any.

The music during the mysterious parts is interest and sets a nice tone but it's too loud which makes it distracting. I'm hoping they'll tone it down in the next few episodes.

I will probably watch it in the future. It's not going to be my never miss series unless they town down the whiny drama stuff. I get that you want the characters to have back stories but no one in real life talks about their drama this many times in one situation let alone BOTH leads doing the same thing. Please tone it down a little.

Ignore the haters, most pilot shows tend to start off a bit rocky but this show throws you straight into the storyline, sets up a very intriguing premise and I can't wait to see more! A binge of all episodes would have been great but I'm more than happy to wait another week 😄

Fringe meets X-Files. A perfect combination.

Reminded me of Fringe, but not quite as good. A couple of parts were a bit confusing. But, it's an interesting premise, and not fair to judge after only 1 episode. Giving it a solid 7 for originality, and will wait and see how it goes.

Honestly, I struggled to make it through the pilot episode. The TWO leads have got to be the least charismatic actors I've ever seen cast in a series. They are the equivalent of dry toast. The overall story itself may have merit eventually but it comes across as a very shallow attempt to be the next X-Files. A costly swing and a miss here without question.

This thing fails on every level.