I thought I’d share my initial thoughts about The Ark after having streamed the first 8 episodes.
Frustrated, is perhaps the single best word that describes how I feel. While the premise is neither new nor ground-breaking, that doesn’t mean it didn’t have the potential to be a gripping show. But so far, it isn’t. I’m still watching, hoping it will get better (or at least less clichéd), but that’s mostly because I know there are only going to be 12 episodes in season one. I can last for four more episodes.
The frustration I feel stems from what I consider to be lazy choices made across the board by the creators and writers. The worst of which are the annoying cardboard-cutout stereotypes that take the place of well-thought out characters (why yes, every time Alicia opens her mouth I do want to yell at her to shut the hell up, why do you ask?). Then there’s the relentless string of life-threatening emergencies that play second fiddle (or maybe even third) in importance to the petty squabbles among the remaining crew (wait, we’re going to run out of water and we’ll all die? Rather than pitch in and work together with you to solve the problem, instead let me argue with you about how I should be in charge).
The first thing that struck me was how self-centered the majority of the characters are — and how little I care whether any of them live or are killed off. There’s no one single character that I’m pulling for, not even Lt. Garnet, and she’s probably the best of the bunch. But even she’s too wooden to feel like a real person (yet). More than anything, making me care about the characters is crucial to convincing me to spend my limited available time with them, to watch the show to find out how they fare, and so far, it isn’t working.
Then there’s the fact that none of the characters seem to give a rat’s ass that they’re among the last survivors of humanity and that maybe that means something. Like maybe it’s time to set aside the ‘it’s all about me’ attitude and start working together as a team. At least once every episode when the characters are fighting amongst themselves or focused on something that can only be described as dangerously selfish, I find myself thinking, ‘your survival and the survival of the human race is at stake, and this is what you’re concerned about right now? You suck.’
Another curious thing, we’re eight episodes in and I can’t find any fan fiction for The Ark. Maybe its out there, but a simple internet search (as well as a glance at AO3) returned nothing. Radio silence after this many episodes doesn’t bode well for The Ark’s future within fandom, and I have to believe that’s a problem. It’s the intangibles that draw fans to watch – and become devoted to – even the worst of genre TV shows (not throwing stones here, I’ve loved my share of ‘bad’ TV). But that doesn’t seem to be happening with this show.
I won’t say I had high hopes for The Ark. But I did expect it to be better than what I’ve seen so far. Here’s hoping those last four episodes dazzle.
Yeah. I’m not holding my breath.
