Debris has had an interesting start to its first season and there have been some sparks that show this could really take off. Episode 6, ‘Supernova’ is a bit of a transitionary one though, and doesn’t particularly stand out. *Warning! Spoilers Ahead!*
Sometimes you get an episode of a show that has a particularly weak main plot, but the secondary storylines carry it along. What we get this week in ‘Supernova’ is unfortunately a bit weak across the board and nothing particularly saves it, except for a couple of key scenes. The biggest issue is that the main story is just very obvious, and you can guess the ‘twist’ very quickly. They try their best to conceal it, but it becomes apparent very quickly.
This is a shame as last week’s episode was pretty solid and showed some promise of where this show could go. That promise is all a bit squandered in ‘Supernova’, with there being a lot of ‘reveals’ occurring which don’t really tell us anything new, but instead just sort of confirm what we already know. Maddox (Norbert Leo Butz) trading with the Russian Tarkolov (Dmitry Chepovetsky – ReGenesis) for instance is just a continuation of a previous storyline, which just isn’t that interesting. It doesn’t really go anywhere this week, except to tell us he got a new bit of Debris.
Similarly, Maddox’s chat with the captured Anson Ash (Scroobius Pip) is essentially the weakest interrogation of all time, which boils down to Ash asking for some Moo Goo Gai Pan and then pretending to fall asleep. There is much more to come from Ash, that much is certain and they’ve hinted at it already. What they need to do now is begin delivering on some of these promises, as so far we’ve only had confirmed what was already self-evident about Influx.
To a degree they have started to address the issue growing between Finola (Riann Steele) and Bryan (Jonathan Tucker), which we knew had to happen. Here, Bryan comes clean about knowing that her father is alive, but stops short of being fully open. This is an awkward scene between the pair and Steele and Tucker do a great job of maintaining the tension, not letting either off the hook. It’s elements such as these which save this episode from being essentially skippable, and they will be invaluable in the long run for character development, as they’re giving this pair a true foundation from which to work.
It had been a bit of a precarious situation in the past as to whether this pairing would become enemies, or something like this scene would occur to form a new alliance, underneath the prying eyes of their handlers. Both sides, Ferris (Anjali Jay) and Maddox, are clearly not to be trusted, which is now obvious to some of the characters, and even third parties have been warning them to look out. Brill (Sebastien Roché) is one such figure who will no doubt feature more prominently fairly soon. At the very least this is a great move, as Roché is always a strong guest star.
Early in a series life you can expect have a few clunkers as they find their feet, but it seems that a lot of elements that may have been weaker parts of other episodes have all congregated here. That’s a shame, but it does mean that maybe this is the worst of it and from here it’s only a upward curve.
