Sedate sci-fi gets lost in space: A Girl and an Astronaut Season 1 Review first appeared on Ready Steady Cut.
There are no spoilers in this analysis of the first season of the Netflix series A Girl and an Astronaut.
You could be excused for believing that A Girl and an Astronaut, according to Netflix‘s synopsis, is a far more engaging show than it actually is. It has a lot of juicy genre tags attached to it, like hot, which is always helpful, and a premise that initially appears like something very interesting and thought-provoking. But don’t let that deceive you. This Bartosz Prokopowicz-helmed and Agata Malesinsk-written Polish original series almost appears like an experiment in how subdued a sci-fi drama might become under the appropriate circumstances.
A Girl and An Astronaut Season 1 Review and Plot Summary
Thankfully, instead of eight or more, the story here is spread out over six excessively long episodes. The plot is also set in two different historical periods. Younger versions of Marta, pilot suitors Niko and Bogdan, and their tepid love triangle are depicted in 2022, while Niko’s abrupt return to Earth after a space mission sparks a conspiracy theory and Marta’s repressed emotions in 2052. Nothing about this is as fascinating as it may sound.
The fact that Niko was meant to be dead and that the organisation behind the expedition publicly announced as much complicates his homecoming. Even after 30 years, he hasn’t aged, which raises some reasonable concerns. But we never once get a sense of why we should care, as the series progresses, we start to see how both pieces of this narrative come together.
The 2052 plot is particularly weak in the early episodes, which instead concentrate on sexier encounters that are nevertheless rendered ineffective by the formulaic presentation and flimsy characters. A Girl and an Astronaut suffers from a general lack of interest in its characters throughout. The heavy lifting is done by archetypes like carefree girl, cocky young man, and buttoned-up self-serious professional, and neither era’s plot devices have much of an impact on the interpersonal dynamics. There hasn’t been much growth or progress, and there aren’t many decisions that appear to have been made logically.
Also Read: The Top 10 Best Anime Shows on Netflix Ever.
Even though I wasn’t timing it, I was nonetheless surprised by how rapidly I lost interest before the plot really started underway, which is obviously a challenge. The multiple timelines place a similar pressure on everything. A Girl and an Astronaut transitions between time periods carelessly and inadequately, complicating a very straightforward plot with unnecessary toing and froing, unlike other shows that use this technique, including the recentIn Love All Over Again, also on Netflix. It doesn’t add much to the narrative and never gives the impression that the show is attempting to do something unique with the concept.
Is a Girl and An Astronaut Good?
There is a feeling that the show’s makers were overconfident in their powerful visual effects, which could have concealed a weak human component if they weren’t ultimately insignificant or scarce. Granted, there are a few scenes that look great, probably nicer than you’d expect from a streaming programme, but they serve a weak plot and tediously uninteresting characters. In the end, nothing comes together to form a satisfying narrative, and everything remains as lost in space and time as Niko himself.
Do you agree or disagree with A Girl and an Astronaut? Please leave a comment below.
If you have a Netflix subscription, you can view this series.
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