The Rig

The problem with the series is symptomatic of most of the big streaming giants. Good idea, great cast, adequate budget - then no idea of how a script develops. Six episodes for this was far too much, leaving the plotline long and dawn out. The character development is minimal and rudimentary and ends up with generalised cliche and arguments that they need to sustain conflict.

Owen Teale, Iain Glenn, Mark Addy and the effortlessly brilliant Mark Bonar are great. It's just the whole thing is drawn out, under developed and with four episodes the whole thing would have been tighter and the cgi budget more targeted. Not great.

The two main things that let this drama down are the poor script and the dreadful visual effects. You don't empathise with any of the characters therefore you don't actually care what happens to them with little to no suspense. As for the visual effects, very poor. It is so obvious this was filmed on a set. The lighting is all wrong and actually takes you out of the story it's so bad. There are a number of great actors in this drama but some seem miscast and the others are trying their best with the poor writing. The story isn't new, it's just a few ideas from a selection of 80's movies cobbled together.

My wife and I binged watched this over 3 nights, and it certainly started well, with an interesting premise, but then, it just became a bit weird. That's not to say it didn't keep us interested though, you kind of want to know what's going to happen next all of the way through, but not in a way that made it compelling, more curious to see what they were aiming for with the writing. I will also say that some of the effects were pretty shoddy, which, in this day and age, is unecessary. In the end, I thought it was a load of clichéd nonsense, which, while well acted and written, was a great disappointment.

Sure the plot has holes, the characters lack character but all in all the effort was there to deliver a reasonable series with some plot to look for. Maybe an 8/10

But then Rose comes along ... why but why does it have to become a child's play with absolutely ridiculous amount of head movements, amazing amounts of deep breathing and attempts to move facial parts that, let's be honest, can no-longer move. Sorry the deep "sexy" voice did not save it either. Simpler natural "human" discussions would have gone a long way to save the show.

Visual effects btw did a good job (nothing is perfect) and the soundtrack could be less repetitive...

PS: congrats to the chef, doctor, shooter and welder role in one character (wonder if it was a budget issue) ... rofl

PS2: when you literally click the cancel button on a search window you are cancelling the search... duh .. no point showing "no search results". A simple clip of the scene and the "click"... hahah.

I found this to be very easy watching,but there are several things that stopped it from being really good.

Won't mention any names,but some of the acting, including from fairly major characters, was truly lamentable and stopped this from being believable! Seemed to me that they were more schooled in stage acting than film/TV productions, with wildly over the top facial expressions at times!

Also, at times it didn't feel like it was filmed on an oil rig at all,I don't know if it was or it wasn't,but at times it had a stagey/set feel about it which took away from the feeling of isolation,that to me, it should have had.

Having said all this,it was an easy watch,just switch your brain off before you start viewing, and don't question it too much. I'm sure some of the bigger names in this might leave it off their CV though!