This seems like another reality TV mystery quest,/treasure hunt in this instance, based on the same template, and faulty logic as Hunting Hitler. If you watched that show you were regularly insulted with the principals jumping to conclusions based on non-substantiated hearsay. The whole idea that the RMS Republic bears what today would be about a billion dollars in gold and artifacts is the same: unsubstantiated. As far as the actual show goes it's frustrating. Say for arguments sake there is a real mother lode waiting below. As the show's first six episodes show it's going to be extremely difficult to get to with the manned diving techniques used. Each diver has 40 minutes only and usually half of that is getting to a point of interest on the wreck. This has been repeated over and over in the six episodes. Aside from the revealing the wreck has literally crumpled upon itself nothing is actually found and it appears the wreck has deteriorated so badly a diver with approximately 20-minutes of working time could never breach the tangled mess. This is the overview of the actual logistical nightmare so I advise to skip most of the initial episodes and go directly to episode seven called "The Mystery Deepens". You get up to speed and will be spared a lot of the relentless repeated dives revealing nada as well as the frustrating re-caps after the mandatory commercial breaks.
Now, what makes this mystery/treasure quest a bit more substantial is both the strange lack of a proper manifest which all RMS ships were known to have, the lack of the usual after sinking inquiry, and the almost unbelievable saga of Martin Bayerle whose 1987 failed expedition set in motion an unbelievable series of events not the least of which in his downfall he became a convicted murder who only served two years for his criminal act. You'll get all of these pertinent elements in episode six.
Like Hunting Hitler there seems to be no real resolution on the horizon. A lot of pie-in-the-sky beliefs that remain unproven while the viewer is repeatedly beat over the head with those beliefs. I'm not too scientifically knowledgeable, but isn't it obvious that without some heady robotic methods of ingress into the crumpled mess divers with short dive times are never going to be able to get deep into what is basically a mangled sealed vault? Why is there no discussion of a method to dissect the wreck robotic-ally? These dives with little to show could just go on and on as long as the money lasts with nothing much gained. So, this is what seems like a stalled treasure quest to which I say watch the sixth episode and decide if there is interest. You may save yourself some time. I'd say if it doesn't improve, and do so fast, what, if anything, is hiding inside the RMS Republic will stay that way and there will not be a season two.
Now, what makes this mystery/treasure quest a bit more substantial is both the strange lack of a proper manifest which all RMS ships were known to have, the lack of the usual after sinking inquiry, and the almost unbelievable saga of Martin Bayerle whose 1987 failed expedition set in motion an unbelievable series of events not the least of which in his downfall he became a convicted murder who only served two years for his criminal act. You'll get all of these pertinent elements in episode six.
Like Hunting Hitler there seems to be no real resolution on the horizon. A lot of pie-in-the-sky beliefs that remain unproven while the viewer is repeatedly beat over the head with those beliefs. I'm not too scientifically knowledgeable, but isn't it obvious that without some heady robotic methods of ingress into the crumpled mess divers with short dive times are never going to be able to get deep into what is basically a mangled sealed vault? Why is there no discussion of a method to dissect the wreck robotic-ally? These dives with little to show could just go on and on as long as the money lasts with nothing much gained. So, this is what seems like a stalled treasure quest to which I say watch the sixth episode and decide if there is interest. You may save yourself some time. I'd say if it doesn't improve, and do so fast, what, if anything, is hiding inside the RMS Republic will stay that way and there will not be a season two.
