4 out of 5

Created by: Dean Devlin and Jonathan Glassner

covers season 1

Sure, I started watching The Ark, a new SyFy series, because why not, I liked showrunner Dean Devlin’s The Librarians quite a bit, and I like science fiction, and it’d be nice to have something filling an Expanse-shaped hole in my life. And then partway through the first episode – shortly after the Nth overly-obvious character subplot waggled its eyebrows at the screen (setting up relationship dramas, no doubt) – I stopped watching The Ark, figuring I had enough predictable popcorn TV in my queue already.

But sometimes I’ll get a twinge to try again, and the announcement of a second season for the show encouraged me to do just that. So I strapped in for the eyebrow waggling, and found my way though the first episode. …And then was hooked for the remaining 11, thankful that more initially patient viewers than myself encouraged SyFy to sign on for another season.

I should’ve taken The Librarians link as a hint of what to expect: that show had a mighty share of heavy-handed scripting, but it was ultimately in service of rewarding characters and a good balance of overall interesting plot ideas and fun bottle episodes. Moments were eye-rollingly dumb or cheeky, as they are on The Ark as well, though they both have payoff, as though the writers are willing to use a complete trope or hammy bit of dialogue as a starting point for something better in the long run. That’s a bit of a roadblock, and makes for “just give it a chance!” type proclamations when trying to convince others of the show’s qualities, but that’s a worthwhile effort: I was truly surprised at how satisfying many of those dramas ended up being.

The Ark’s name and space setting could probably be used to extrapolate its premise: it’s the future, Earth sucks, and we’re traveling on massive ships toward a new home. The ships are automated, though, fitted with sleeper pods, and it’s only when a collision kills off the vast majority of the crew of “Ark 1” that our characters are awakened as part of emergency procedures and scramble to figure out what’s what. Right away, you’ll see the same red flags I did: the captain / senior officers were all offed, leading to a power struggle; couples have been sundered, leading to new, “but I just lost my lover” potential romances; people are thrown into positions for which they’re not trained, leading to easy “I pushed the wrong button whoops” nonsense. These are red flags because they’re obvious episode churn, rarely offering anything new.

And we do go through all of those storylines, except… The Ark solves them miraculously quickly (and logically!), as the crew understands they need to prioritize the things that matter, like oxygen and food shortages – as their awakening has happened literal years before it should’ve.

The first half of the season is then a breathless speed run through problem after problem after problem on the ship, and not of a hackneyed variety, but rather the legit business of how you organize something that’s lost its leaders and does not have the fundamental building blocks for organization. Beyond that initial collision, no outside force is threatening Ark 1 – it’s just about survival. Inevitably, though, some balance is effected. …And then we can get into the external threats, and that’s when a lot of the world building – if of a Checkov’s Gun variety – starts to pay off, again and again.

Due to the writing style, which has a play-like factuality to it (again, familiar from The Librarians), pointing out fantastic performances is difficult, but literally everyone brings as much dimension as possible to their “functional” characters, with Stacey Michelle Read’s tech expert, Pavle Jerinić’s security officer, Christina Wolfe’s psychologist, and Tiana Upcheva’s engineer all offering more under the surface of their roles than the scripts may have offered. However, every actor is enjoyable when they’re on screen, and all of the leads have necessary parts in the whole dynamic.

For a 2023 show, I suppose I could take The Ark to task for its pretty rough CGI, but this is used sparingly; most of what we need is taken care of through dialogue. And – minor spoiler – can we also appreciate a series that provides enough of an ending to its season that it wasn’t just baiting for a followup?

While I’d stray from calling series hard sci-fi, it deals a lot more with the nitty gritty than, say, most modern Star Trek does, which is generally more parable-style stories. The rounded-edged nature of the dialogue, and cookie-cutter setups may easily mislead into thinking you’re watching a CW-type show, but, y’know, Just Give It A Chance! I am confident that if you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll find it worth it.