Defying Gravity on Hallowe'en

The seventh episode of Defying Gravity was Hallowe'en themed. Obviously they had hoped for a Fall air schedule and ended up starting in the summer. Not that they are too early; after all, it's Labour Day weekend, which means once the kiddies are back to school, the Hallowe'en decorations go on sale. But it's nice to think that 50 years in the future, when the show is set, we will still have kids going house to house in costume to celebrate.

This week's theme was fear, weakness. The show was originally advertised as Grey's Anatomy in space. I don't see much resemblance between the two shows, except in the framing devices used. Both shows start and end each episode with a voice over from the main character which talks about human nature. The challenges of the plot line fit the theme so that a lesson can be learnt by the end...at least by the audience watching if none of the characters picked it up.

In this case, admitting your weakness, your fear, may in fact be less damaging than keeping it a secret.

The astronauts were supposed to shoot a candy commercial in space to get 10 billion dollars. This seems like a lot of money...but will it be in 50 years? I doubt it, but as I plan on still being around, I'll tell you when I get there.

So preparations begin for the shoot, and suddenly all but two of the astronauts are suffering from hallucinations, and the shoot doesn't happen, the 10 billion for science is lost. How sad.

Why are they having hallucinations, you ask? Because of some weird alien thing they found on Mars that's somehow running their ship. Not that they have any idea about it. Only one of the astronauts actually knows.

The hallucinations, the back stories, are what make the show worth watching. Will Zoe ever tell Donner that she was once pregnant with his child? What really happened to Donner and Ted on Mars? Who are Nadia and Eve seeing? And why aren't Was and Jen having hallucinations in the first place?

And so I'll watch again next week and hope that, despite the budget required for a science fiction show with a large cast and the low ratings threatening to sink it, eventually I will know the answer to these questions.