Thibaud
If something is important in TV shows, it would probably be its first season, because it is supposed to establish all the bases of the upcoming series - apparently written and completed beforehand... at first sight - while keeping coherence to the show. That's exactly what EFC did not respect by implementing new elements which simply broke the illusion and made it clear, for any sort of audience, that the show was simply getting low-minded, as another reviewer put it, and I do agree in the cases of T'Than (Seasons 3-4) and Zo'or (Seasons 2-4), the characters were simply overplayed, making them sound illogical by moments.Everything that there is to say is said in the other reviews, read them, I found them really accurate and properly written. In season one, you had a good red line, it had all the elements to promise a good show : Taelons were fascinating, ill-wiled or benevolent,you really asked yourself the question. There were aspects of a big conspiracy theory which - though not really revolutionary nowadays, was pleasant to follow and then decipher. Then, there was season 2, WTF is happening you think, okay, a Kimera impregnates a woman who gives birth to Liam Kincaid, the only guy on earth who can grow up in five minutes, watch in hands. The guy - physically supposed to be more attractive than Kevin Kilner, that is the reason why they put him away, you see; has superpowers you cannot imagine and he eventually lost them. Well at least, the staff realized that these superpowers were simply under-used if that term exists in English.Yes, one of the factual mistake is the rotation of characters, let us put it that way. Some characters are simply thrown out like rubbish and you are never to see them again (or you have to wait.) Some examples to illustrate that : William Boone (buddy, we took four years to realize that you had to be on the show, shame it was Season 5), Lily Marquette (literally thrown out into space then she reappears, her characterization is seemingly accomplished in Season 4 but you realize that the whole thing sounds impossible, the character was virtually rearranged so as to make her quickly disappear, in other words, sounds hypocritical), Jonathan Doors (clearly misused in Season 2/3, except at the very end of Season 2 when he is nominated to the presidential election, shame he lost because that was promising) then there is Augur whose character was at first promptly repudiated from the show but they managed to do something quite interesting because he too was misused - something which never occurred with William Boone). There is definitely a problem with the characters. As it was said, Renee Palmer does not have the profile to fulfill our expectations as the leading character in Season 5, she is too plain and she was only correct as a secondary character (Season 4-5) because she is not very interesting : she knows too much people, she is always ready to help, you almost never see her pushed to her limits because she seemingly has none, the only moment when I was surprised about her is when they say she is infertile and effectively, it makes the show move on. Moreover, as regards for sweet Julia Street, she is completely A) boring B) useless and you never see her on screen, the only moment she is interesting happens once and that's all but THAT too remains undeveloped.But the show tries to be saved. That is something you realize when you see how they try to make it interesting. The first change to occur is the new open titles which take a more flashy form, gaudy or dowdy you choose, I find it casual and almost burlesque ("A man ... who is more than human'' - note that if you do not know the show, you'll find it weird to see that Liam is fundamentally human, as we said, his powers are misused.) I think this show can be watched from the beginning to ... the end of season 4. If, like me, you like William Boone, then you can make up your own red line because you will need to force yourself into watching the whole series, some episodes are craps, some are really goods (a couple in season 2, same in season 3, season 4 is a little more interesting that the last two we mentioned.) The best inevitably remains Season 1 and I'm glad to realize that Season 1 will always be there, no matter what they did to the show. Don't get into the plot too much or you will be astonished by the quantity of inconsistencies that there are in this series. However the ideas are there, some are really worthy to reflect upon - if contradicting elements had not been established in previous episodes -. This show needs to be watched for its first season only, and a half-dozen of other episodes throughout the following seasons. If you hesitate, do it, the first episodes are vintage.
ricknorwood
The pilot episode written by Gene Roddenberry is excellent, but the show goes nowhere, all hugger mugger and no real story. Roddenberry's basic idea, that contact between humans and superior aliens will not be all black and white but will be filled with ambiguities, is a good one. Later writers, however, think in terms of good aliens and bad aliens. The use of female actors to play androgynous aliens was a good idea, but in later seasons everybody except Da'an overdoes it. In the third season, there are a number of scripts by Howard Cheykin, who is an excellent writer, and who wrote some memorable episodes of The Flash TV series, as well as some great graphic novels. However, he is unable to do anything here, because he is locked in to what is really not a workable story line. I have not watched the fifth season, but I have read that it throws out most of what was established in the first four. For scifi completists only.
