Written by Luke Barnes
3/5
There is definitely shades of The Office here: American not British.
I think if anything this show is a testament to the likeability and the warmth of Steve Carell, the other characters in this show are quite underdeveloped, yet luckily the entire focus is on Carell and he sells it and makes the series as good as it is.
The major issue with this series is that it will/has age horribly. There are a lot of references to then current American politics, which feel dated and stilted even now, and it has only been a year. Also a perhaps more importantly I didn’t find this series funny, charming yes, but funny no: most of the jokes didn’t land for me.
Though the characters were underdeveloped, I still ended up caring for them by the end of the series and am excited to see where next season takes them.
As far as the series ideas go, I think the premise has a lot of potential and the actual execution is also quite strong, I enjoyed the one-ups Manship between the US and Chinese Space Forces and thought it was well built during the series.
Overall, though the characters are a little thin you still end up caring about them, with a strong lead performance and an interesting idea that helps this series to get at least part of the way to the moon.
Pros.
Carell
You end up caring about the characters
The US Vs China storyline
Cons.
Dated references
The jokes don’t land
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Another Millennial Reviewer 