TV Review - Debris (2021)

Most science-fiction or fantasy on television has some kind of comic book or super-hero aspect to it. Some exceptions include Snowpiercer (2020) on TNT, The Orville (2017) on FOX and The Expanse (2015) on SyFy and Amazon. However, there is a niche genre within science-fiction television that has tried to surge up and out for the past 20 years and that niche could be called the "mystery box" show. It's a type of show that arguably began with ABC's Lost (2004), which was co-created by J.J. Abrams, the uber TV producer and blockbuster film director. Ever since the success of Lost, Abrams and his collaborators have been trying one after the other to launch more mystery box shows. Most haven't lasted on TV long. The only one that was really successful was Fringe (2008), which ran for five seasons. One of the writers and producers on that show was J. H. Wyman. Wyman tried to create another science-fiction show called Almost Human (2013) but that didn't last. However, a couple of years ago, NBC released a mystery box show that became a hit called Manifest (2018). It might have helped Wyman to pitch this mystery box series for the same network.

The true beginning of the mystery box show would have to be The X-Files (1993), which was simply about two FBI agents, a man and woman, who investigated unexplained phenomena, some that was presumed to come from outer space. Fringe had essentially the same premise, that of FBI agents investigating unexplained phenomena, some that are presumed connected to a parallel universe. This series from Wyman again utilizes that same premise. Wyman mixes it up a little because instead of the FBI, this time it's the CIA, as well as MI-6. However, Wyman again goes back to the unexplained phenomena coming from outer space. Deviating from The X-Files premise a bit more, Wyman doesn't make this series about doubting the existence of extraterrestrial life or about government conspiracies working against humanity. Instead, Wyman makes everyone open to the science-fiction that occurs. Wyman's series also doesn't hide the science-fiction. All of the fantastical happens out in the open and in the daylight, not in the cover of darkness, which was how The X-Files liked to operate.

Jonathan Tucker (Westworld and Kingdom) stars as Bryan Beneventi, a former marine from Texas who now is an operative with the CIA. Not much else is known about him. He's one of the lead operatives in a unit that gathers and investigates what are pieces of a spaceship that have broken up and been scattered all over the country. The pieces fell to Earth a few months ago and Bryan's unit goes around and collects them all. What they find is that each piece of the spaceship exhibits a type of radiation that causes all kinds of unusual phenomena that affects either space or time or both.

Often, each piece of the spaceship poses some kind of danger or threat. Bryan and his team have to assess and then neutralize that threat. Usually, it results in people getting killed. Bryan and his team try to stop those deaths, but the power from these space pieces are sometimes too strong for Bryan and his team to handle. The first episode has Bryan and his team go to Kansas where they encounter a piece, which they call debris, that brings a woman's nightmare to life. It's a creepy scenario, but subsequent episodes don't terrify or intrigue, as much as they could. The second episode, for example, is about clones. Bryan gets near a piece of debris that creates a clone of himself, but the show really doesn't do anything interesting with that. The classic example is Star Trek (1966), which did an episode where its protagonist was cloned with an evil twin and how that clone revealed something about the protagonist or just the thrill of confusing the two, but this series doesn't do anything with Bryan's clone, except have it be a brief plot point.

Riann Steele (The Magicians and Holby City) co-stars as Finola Jones, an agent with MI-6, the British version of the CIA. She's working with Bryan and his team to find and identify these space debris. Unlike Bryan, she seems like she's less military and more of a scientist. If this were The X-Files, she would be the equivalent to the character of Dana Scully, but, unlike Dana Scully, Finola is not a skeptic when it comes to these phenomena. She's never trying to disprove that these fantastical things are happening. She's simply trying to study and discover what it could mean about what's out there in the universe. Her presence here is two-fold. She's more of the heart in Bryan's unit. She's the one with the most empathy and compassion, particularly when it comes to the people being affected by the debris. She's also the key to the greater mystery that is essential to any mystery-box show.

The greater mystery is answering the question of what happened to Finola's father. In the first episode, Finola reveals that her mom died of cancer and her dad, George Jones, who was an astrophysicist also died. However, by the end of that episode and into the second episode, it's suggested that Finola's father isn't dead. Even though she saw his corpse, it's hinted that George is alive. So, it's a matter of them figuring out if Finola's father is alive and if so, how, why and what he's doing? The greater mystery also involves what's going to happen when all the debris are found and put together. The show had a slow start. It wasn't until the fourth episode that the show presented a phenomena and a scenario around it that piqued my interest by presenting a compelling dilemma. Unlike The X-Files, I wasn't hooked from the very beginning and I don't think the characters are as interesting as well, but it does seem to have potential.

Rated TV-14-V.

Running Time: 1 hr.

Mondays at 10 PM on NBC.