After watching all 13 episodes of Defying Gravity it's been quite an entertaining experience. However, I'm not surprised the series was cancelled after only 1 season. I'll explain why without any storyline spoilers for those who haven't yet seen the previous episodes.
First of all there's the demented timeline skipping. This happens fequently and usually without any indication that, from one scene to the next, the viewer has been taken back months or years into the past in order to relive events and experiences of the character(s) involved. This is confusing and disorienting as one minute the characters are in one location and in the next breath they're somewhere completely unattached and different. For example, character is having a conversation on the space ship and in next frame the same character is in the gym doing a workout or in the bar drinking with friends. These previous experiences and memories of characters could have all been put into one episode to get them out of the way or at least put them into a timeline that's logical and easier to follow. There's no valid reason to keep skipping in and out of the current timeframe in order to relay events. It makes no sense and ruined the continuity of the story being told to the point where it made me mentally dizzy while trying to keep up.
Then there's occasions where characters totally ignore other people and what's going on around them, often to their detriment, in moments of rational disbelief. Even when higher ranking colleagues are repeatedly barking orders at them they seem to have gone totally deaf and oblivious to their surroundings. This is completely unrealistic and 'made-for-TV' surrealism because in the real world there's no way an astronaut would act this way and if they did they'd be off the space program and burned faster than a micrometeorite entering Earth's atmosphere.
Then there's the storyline in space and the one back on planet Earth, which isn't always contiguous or collated. Again flying around timelines for the sake of ... (dream up a good excuse and insert here because I cannot think of one). I cannot imagine what the writers and directors were trying to do other than make a joke out of bad writing and directing along with poor and weak decisions. This utterly destroyed the show's chances of securing a season 2 in my opinion.
But the real bummer is that the series gets cancelled just as it was becoming interesting. There was a lot of potential in Defying Gravity and if the writers and directors pulled their socks up and told the god damned story, instead of including a soap opera of irrelevant and mundane personal relationship drivel, there might have been a chance for it to succeed. Instead it fell flat on its face and went down quicker than a cast-iron balloon.
The acting was great. The space ship sets were awesome. The idea of the 6 year mission was intriguing and exciting to realise, but it just took too long to get there. Having to endure the character flashbacks etc. Made the story a BIG hard grind rather than anticipated with enthusiasm and excitement. Usually when you tell a story you start at the begining and work towards the end, not add bits in after you've started which took place before the story began. I honestly think the writers must have been hallucinating while writing each episode and then somehow caused the director to hallucinate while filming it. Either that or they are time travellers themselves and are used to this kind of thing.
On a personal note, anything with Peter Howitt starring in it is never going to turn out well. Best thing that he ever did was as 'Joey' in 'Bread' in the early 80s, which isn't anything to boast about at that. Another thing I found laughable was the female astronauts all wore makeup and had their hair done like they were attending a dinner party. Some even applying lip gloss. I mean, really? In space? I wonder how much foundation and lipstick they'd have to take with them to last the entire 6 year mission. Exactly, it's a joke beyond words.
As a result, Maxim Roy, Florentine Lahme, and Christina Cox looked absolutely stunning throughout. Which was part of the attraction of the show for me.
I'll give this 13th episode 9/10 because it was somewhere near the excitement level to what it should have been in episode 5-6. Most of the other episodes were filled with non-relevant ER type dilemmas that had no place in a sci-fi show. Shame that's all we'll ever get because Defying Gravity did have some great promise and potential. It was just badly let down by the writing and directing on a Biblical scale.
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