Constellation

With a strong, suspenseful start, Constellation revels in detail and process while resisting the urge to keep the audience fully in the dark. But the pacing soon stalls as the series reveals it has no place left to go before its prospective next season.

When streaming services inevitably start cutting back on original productions, meandering and mundane ventures such as this will be first on the chopping block.

We’re reserving judgement about the slow pacing of Constellation until we get to see more episodes. But for a show that starts with a disaster and leads into a conspiracy, we were surprised at how little we were engaged with the material.

While Rapace and Banks were expected to be the main draw of this series, and they’re excellent, the performances from Davina and Rosie Coleman are the glue that holds it together. But despite these moving performances, “Constellation” spends too much time floating aimlessly. The show likes to believe it's clever, but the reality is that it often falls flat.

As it exists, “Constellation” is a couple of strong performances stranded in an uncanny vacuum, not unlike Jo left dangling in an abandoned ISS.

If only the pace of this well-acted but confusing drama moved as quickly.

Constellation runs on the sheer unsettling thrill of watching Jo try to puzzle out what’s really going on. But vibes only go so far when satisfying answers aren’t forthcoming, and by the end of its first season, the drama has run out of steam.

At the conclusion of the three episodes with which the show launches, it is clear some sort of ominous and murky conspiracy is afoot. However, to reel the viewer in, Constellation needs to move faster. Instead, it floats about in a zero-gravity funk. The view is spectacular but the lethargic orbit makes for frustrating watching.