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Michelle MacLaren, Oliver Hirschbiegel, Joseph Cedar
Apple TV+

WHAT kind of life would you rather have: one filled with ecstatic highs and dizzying lows, or one of middling satisfaction, free from disappointment?

I suspect most astronauts would opt for the former, while risk-averse normies like me plump for the latter. I ask because I find myself fixated on a series about an astronaut, a show of such varying quality that it frustrated and delighted me by turns.

Constellation, an eight-parter from Apple TV+, is a psychological thriller that follows Jo Ericsson (Noomi Rapace), an astronaut with the European Space Agency living on the International Space Station, away from her husband Magnus (James D’Arcy) and daughter Alice (Davina Coleman). A mysterious object strikes the ISS, damaging its life support systems and leading to the death of commander Paul Lancaster (William Catlett), so the crew is forced to evacuate in one of two Soyuz escape capsules.

The other capsule is damaged and Jo must stay, alone, to fix it, as her oxygen supply dwindles. Racing to secure her way home, she is plagued by visions and her memories falter. Spookier still, we see glimpses of her in another time and place, dragging Alice through a snowstorm to a cabin.

Back on Earth, NASA scientist Henry Caldera (Jonathan Banks) is desperate to retrieve an experiment from the ISS. He and his team are seeking a new state of matter, a condensate that – for reasons we aren’t privy to – can only be formed in space.

If you found that sentence frustrating, you will have a hard time with Constellation: its scientific allusions are grandiose, but they are rarely anchored in a recognisable reality. At best, these start to explain what is happening to Jo. At worst, they don’t make a lick of sense, particularly when Caldera hints at the specifics of the experiment. Hearing an actor of Banks’s calibre chew through the exposition, such as it is, will probably set your teeth on edge.

There were times when I wanted to stop watching. Yet what kept me going (beyond my sacred duty as a TV critic) was the series’ knack for arresting images. The uncanny figments conjured by the show’s directors – Michelle MacLaren, Oliver Hirschbiegel and Joseph Cedar – stayed with me, from the object that hits the ISS to a bloody shroud that drifts across the space station. They call to mind dramas like Twin Peaks, composed like paintings and led by the eye.

Compelling, too, is the idea of the ISS as a haunted house, cracking under 20 years of service. As Jo floats through it, you fear for her. Yet Rapace walks the line between fear and flint-eyed clarity, credible as a smart leader unmoored by her experiences.

Constellation is one of the most exasperating, incoherent shows I have watched lately. I was irritated by its scientific posturing, yet drawn in by a bold premise and a mystery at its heart. It poses a key question: is consistency all it is cracked up to be? Think of Constellation as a TV litmus test: will you be lured into the darkness of space, with all its highs and lows, or opt for milder fare?

Bethan also recommends…

Mike Flanagan
Netflix
Flanagan’s reimagining of Shirley Jackson’s seminal novel is one of the finest horror series of recent years.

Silka Luisa
Apple TV+
After Kirby Mazrachi (Elisabeth Moss) is brutally attacked and left for dead, her reality begins to shift in unpredictable ways.

Bethan Ackerley is a subeditorÌýat New Scientist. She loves sci-fi, sitcoms and anything spooky. She is still upset about the ending of Game ofÌýThrones. Follow herÌýonÌýX @‌inkerley

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