There are a lot many ways to imagine and find what our first contact is. With the intelligent extraterrestrial life would actually be like. But according to the new science fiction television series Invasion, keep in mind that the odds are non-zero.
That we are more interested in extraterrestrial visitors than we are.
The new series from Apple TV Plus, which premieres on October 22. It attracts viewers with a global view of an alien invasion. Since it’s on the same streaming platform as big sci-fi epics like Foundation and See. It’s understandable to assume that Invasion will have the same feel: a big-screen genre show. That regularly features wild new landmarks. Invasion doesn’t lack that dynamic, but the first five episodes. They focus on a series of small, intimate dramas. That takes place around the world at a time when we realize we are not alone.
The Alien Invasion show, which didn’t involve many aliens before. It can seem frustrating, so it’s worth stepping into Invasion with a bit of a glimpse of their activity. Invasion is told from the perspective of five people worldwide. While aliens forcibly arrive on earth to achieve an unknown destination. They are only shown instantly, so it is impossible to analyze what they represent from each episode; The only sure thing is that humanity is on its way.
It’s an approach that treats first contact as a natural disaster. Rather than an all-out war, and most of the characters below aren’t in a position of power. To study or engage with these creatures. Instead, they are ordinary people, frustrated or worried about each other in the smallest of mundane matters.
Each of the main characters had already experienced difficulties before the aliens attacked.
Sheriff John Bell Tyson (Sam Neal) is about to retire from his little job in Oklahoma. But he doesn’t think he’s done enough to clean up his neighbourhood. Trevante Ward (Shamir Anderson) is an American soldier. Who goes missing in Afghanistan who is then isolated from his unit. Mitsuki (Shioli Kutsuna) is a specialist in the control room of the Japanese space program.
In a secret relationship with the astronauts who will send him into space. Casper Morrow (Billy Barrett) is a London schoolboy with bullying problems. Who finds himself in a Lord of the Flies situation. And Anisha Malik (Golshiftech Farahani) finds out that her husband Ahmed (Firas Nasar). Who is having an affair with another woman in the all-white suburb of Long Island, which they try to adjust to.
At best, Invasion uses its sci-fi crises to turn the knife in these stories. Sheriff Tyson is slowly moving toward retirement, feeling he can never make the difference he hoped for. And then he found a disaster he couldn’t fix. There was a similar dramatic irony in the audience. Who knew Mitsuki helped send her love. Where she would be in the greatest danger.
These moments are preloaded into an effective pilot. After which they are rarely scattered in subsequent episodes. Invasion squanders the potential benefits of the five storylines offered by the show’s five different styles. By painting it all with the same brush. Which looks more like soap operas than science fiction. The silent litany of inner drama is interrupted by the confusion of the epic catastrophe. While the two sides of Invasion Coin operate individually from time to time, they rarely satisfactorily complement each other.
Most of the time, Invasion spends its first five episodes meandering from character to character:
With Trevante in particular, the show’s scriptwriters seem most interested in humanizing the Afghans they meet. Inadvertently further exoticizing them and not taking their humanity for granted. They slowly develop their drama as they increase their stress levels. In the emotional connection to its characters. And not the sci-fi trappings – and isn’t shy about manipulating a bit to get there.