Project Blue Book

Too often “Project Blue Book’s” approach makes “Dora the Explorer” look like a work of subtlety. Government coverup? Check. Conspiracy? Sure. Shadowy men wearing fedoras? Why not? The truth may be out there, but is it here? With a series like this, it’s best to indulge your own inner Scully.

Even if the show has trouble finding its sea legs, it’s a perfectly fun bit of distraction that could find an admirable groove if it proves willing to take a step back and make some calculated adjustments.

It is a little dumb in a way that might or might not be intentional--it's hard to tell--and too predictable to be really suspenseful, even when nominally suspenseful things are happening. But this means that watching is also a relatively stress-free experience, and there is something to be said for that.

This show’s inelegant writing and underdeveloped characters and themes keep it from rising to the level of greatness. ... Still, Project Blue Book works as a paranormal procedural in the X-Files mold; the story moves quickly, the performances elevate the scripts and episodes strike the right balance between Allen and Quinn’s run-ins with rural eccentrics and a darker scenario that drives the season-long arc. It’s a missed opportunity, sure–but one that yields a very watchable show.

Project Blue Book feels like “X-Files” Lite, only with a whole lot of indistinguishable men--and all the women are stuck on the sideline.

In all, the six episodes of Project Blue Book did just enough to keep me moving forward in the hopes that everything will click. Even if the storytelling comes together at some point, I'm not sure what can be done to make Hynek and Quinn a better duo. As it stands, the show is interesting without ever being as fascinating or involving as it ought to be.

There's little surprise or suspense in these by-the-book anecdotes of weird phenomena in the skies and sinister cover-ups on the ground. [7-20 Jan 2019, p.11]

Overall, the show squanders a fantastic, real-life premise by trying to patch together its own flimsy mythology. Sometimes there’s a deeper meaning behind those lights in the sky. Sometimes it’s just lights. Project Blue Book is just lights. Case closed.