See - Season 1 - EP1: Godflame + EP2: Message in a Bottle + EP3: Fresh Blood
SEE - APPLE TV+
As part of the initial launch for Apple TV+, Apple have decided to try to capitalize on the significant success and critical acclaim of the blockbuster fantasy series Game of Thrones and merge it with the now-popular “dystopian world where something happened to one of the senses" gimmick popularized by films like A Quiet Place and Bird Box. The result is See, taking place in a world where a disease has caused the entire population to go blind and now the idea of sight is simply a myth. See follows the Alkenny Village led by a man named Baba Voss (Jason Momoa). His wife Maghra (Hera Hilmar) gives birth to two babies whose father was believed to have the ability of sight.
First reactions coming out of the show's reveal and the first initial reviews painted the AppleTV+ show in a negative light, which in hindsight is not too surprising — both key elements that make the backbone of this show have been regurgitated to death — with See already on the backburner of unoriginality before it has even aired.
The world of See is easily the most impressive thing the show has going for itself. Where most of these types of worlds take place in a more immediate future, See takes place hundreds of years after humanity loses their vision. This means that has the remaining population evolved to survive, the culture itself having grown uniquely, with people having superior hearing to the point of being able to detect small changes in one's breath to tell if they are lying. This world has an incredible amount of unusual and exciting elements. Feeling fully fleshed and thought out, so many subtle elements in the production design come together with the world presented to us through the various characters we meet to create something that feels memorable and fresh.
The acting also does wonders for transporting us into this strange world and the characters present are not so easy to pull off. The performers have to give everything in scenes of incredible emotion while keeping the illusion of this society being blind alive. This is some of the most substantial work Jason Momoa has given in his career to date. Mamoa is terrific as Aquaman but when it comes to showcasing the actor’s emotional range, this role is explicitly much more impressive and effective. Hopefully, it signifies the start of Momoa being taken far more seriously as a dramatic and emotionally charged actor, making the excitement of his next outing in Denis Villeneuve's Dune later next year all the more appealing. Alfre Woodard is the other major highlight — at least in the first three episodes — showing a wonderful, emotionally rich side to the actress that speaks to her range when compared to her other big performance from the year as Warden Bernadine Williams in Clemency.
The camera work by Jo Willems is impressive and pairs nicely with the directing work from Francis Lawrence. This has been seen throughout the directors’ work before, especially in films like the first Hunger Games movie. Lawrence is a wildly underrated filmmaker, especially when it comes to gritty, violent environments like in this show. In scenes of violence, the camera work is perfectly rough and dirty — getting the audience into the barbaric action while also still being of high quality — never falling back into lazy techniques like the overused shaky cam format. The one issue with the visuals is some of the special effects the show decides to use, especially in the first episode, are some rough-looking CGI set pieces and some unneeded effects — like a bloodstain on the camera that really feels out of place — but luckily at least in the other two episodes of this first batch in the series the filmmakers avoided these weaker elements of production nicely.
The story builds well but this is sadly the element of the show that is least engaging up to this point. Queen Kane has struggled to be an interesting villain as of the first three episodes. Granted, the character is kept very much so on the sidelines but comes off as a bland, one-dimensional villain that lacks any depth and is just servicing her role as a source of conflict rather than an entirely crafted and dimensional human being.
It would seem on the first impression that there is plenty here to make eight episodes of compelling television and to have a generic villain that will probably lead to a generic plot structure being pushed onto this world. These characters feel like a missed opportunity to do something more unique and interesting with the material that was already struggling to make its own impact in a saturated market.
The first three episodes of See that Apple TV+ have launched is enough to build this world and characters correctly and for the time being; they are interesting enough to suffice. Sadly, it is evident by those very episodes that the plot is more than likely going to grow less and less attractive as the war between these characters and Queen Kane grows. Hopefully, just like with its initial effectiveness of building a plot and world that works, See will surprise again creating something captivating and different, but don't put any money on it.
See is released and streams exclusively on APPLE TV+
