AKA “Alien” in the North Sea.
I binge watched The Rig on the recommendation of an old friend who, like the rest of the known and unknown world, won’t be reading this somewhat apathetic review. I rarely write in regard to television series’ as I’m an old school fan of film, however after watching this as well as The Last of Us and The Serpent recently, I thought I’d compile a brief hat-trick on these streaming series and the beginning of a February devoid of interesting films to review.
For the uninitiated, the premise is a simple one: Enveloped in a thick and unexplainably freakish fog that cuts off all lines of communication back to the mainland of Scotland and more commonly known as “The Beach”, the tired and bewildered occupants of an oil rig in the North Sea who were once looking forward to the escape home and back to the mainland are now confined and quarantined inside whilst black ash covers the outside of the rig.
Amid tremors and failed rescues, something is growing within the oil rig.
Living and working inside the “Kinloch Bravo” is a motley crew of youthful inexperience and grizzled veterans all desperate for a return to the beach, the shore and the terra firma of nearby Scotland. Headed up by an excellent Iain Glen (Game of Thrones) as the oil rig’s “Offshore Installation Manager” or simply “OIM” and aided and abetted by Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) with her scientific knowledge, knowhow and experience, the fog is just the tip of a deadly North Sea iceberg that is slowly claiming the lives aboard this “ghost ship” and much to the consternation of the always excellent Martin Compston (Line of Duty) and particularly so the stand out performance of rage fuelled panic and anger from Owen Teale (Game of Thrones).
Whilst I didn’t particularly care for this 6 part series (though a sequel is very definitely set up for future seasons), there were eerie call-backs to films such as 2016’s Deepwater Horizon as well as numerous central themes including mortality, life, death, escape, the circles within the circles of life and a constant swamp of ecological messaging encompassing the reclaiming and protection of the earth.
I saw this mini-series slightly differently in as much as I went off world and into space with the Daniel Espinosa directed Life from 2017 but more specifically the space invader story that spawned a universe all of its own: Alien. The parallels are stark. A dwindling in number scared and disenchanted crew aboard an old hulk of a ghost ship adrift in the darkness and in the midst of continual in-fighting lies a very real desperation to return home. With a contagion and outside invader now inside their crumbling life raft and zero rescue in sight, the alien parasite continues to grow whilst all the occupants can now only dream of returning home.
Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film and television articles are linked below or there’s well over 200 blog articles (with 400+ individual film reviews) within my archives from which to choose:
“The Last of Us” (2023)
Depeche Mode and a whole lot of love.medium.com
“Babylon” (2022)
End times fun. Without the fun.medium.com
“The Beatles: Get Back” (2021)
“Rehearsed until lunchtime. Left The Beatles. Went Home”.medium.com