On paper, Hulu’s new drama The First should be an instant classic.
First, and foremost, it’s created by the minds behind House of Cards — the show that proved streaming services could produce elite television content. Second, they snagged multi-time Oscar winner and nominee Sean Penn for his first leading role in television. Lastly, the production — from the effects and cinematography (put on full display in the trailer) to the combination of indie film and seasoned TV directors — is top flight.
Yet, after watching the first episode, there’s no real reason to ever watch this show again. There’s no compelling reason to binge this series, and most importantly — care one iota about it.
The premiere episode of The First is a perfectly shot, well-acted, and well-produced episode. However, that seems to be the crutch the series is leaning on. The plot is so stupefyingly predictable and the dialogue (outside of technical jargon) is so scant that it has to rely on all its strengths to cover up the fact we have no emotional connection of the characters.
The predictability starts right from the jump. From the moment we see Sean Penn’s astronaut Tom Hagerty, watching the launch of the first ever mission to Mars, you know that the spaceship is going to explode, (or at least somehow the crew is going to die). We’ve seen imagery of Penn in a spacesuit in the trailer, and every plot summary is literally says Penn is part of the crew to the first mission to Mars. It doesn’t take a master detective to figure out this mission is going kaboom.
And that “kaboom” actually crystallizes the problem with the series. We watch this gorgeously animated spaceship taking off into space, but viewers are literally waiting for it to explode. You know it’s going to happen. When it does, it’s literally a moment of, “Oh, really? That’s it?”
The explosion happens so quietly, and with such little tension that you feel detached from the moment. This is the problem with The First. You see where you’re supposed to have an emotional response in, but you’re completely detached. You have zero information on these characters, thus no reason to be invested in them. So you honestly don’t feel the impact of these big moments.
This only exacerbated by the first episode’s devolvement into an exercise in emotional flogging. It’s a lot of weeping, yelling, and gnashing of teeth. It’s all a bit too much, particularly when Hagerty’s presumably estranged, drug addled daughter shows up back in his life, hours after his former crew has been incinerated. It’s saved by a great moment where Penn has a silent emotional break, which Penn nails perfectly. But again, you have no reason to feel anything for Penn’s character. You see it’s a great moment, you just don’t feel it.
Oddly, the premiere weaved in a flurry of art film motifs at the episode’s end. Jump cuts to seemingly unrelated moments while a narrator waxes poetic about God, life, and death even further detaches the audience from the characters.
All of this combined with the future episode trailers and plot descriptions revolving around politics, personal drama, and more emotional turmoil gives you less and less of a reason to return to this series. What’s the hook here? To watch more people emotional flog and flail? To follow characters you have little to no information on, and definitely no connection to? To see Sean Penn on a series? To hear a detached narrator’s thoughts on God and death? To eventually (maybe) see what the effects team comes up with for when they go to Mars?
The First has all the trappings of a great show. For some, The First’s positives (acting, cinematography, production value) could help them look past the massive issues this show has. However, at the end of the day, all the gloss and acting cache cannot makeup for emotional detachment, and predictable writing.
Rating: 5 out of 10
The entire series of The First is currently streaming on Hulu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngl2W_VLp1o
