Commander Emma Green heads up the first ever manned mission to Mars, but as the crew prepares to launch from Moon Base Alpha, an incident suffered on the journey to that staging post raises questions among her crew, Ground Control and even in herself as to whether she’s ready to take this giant leap for mankind.

Away never bothers itself with exactly when it’s set but it’s apparent that this is another one of those ‘near future’ things where everything is basically absolutely recognisable even if what the characters are doing is beyond anything of which we can dream. That’s OK though, because as good as the science-y stuff is (and it’s fairly strong without being hard sci-fi levels of accurate), this is a very human drama.

Emma has a husband and a daughter she’s got to leave behind to embark on this three year mission, and the show makes sure to show us early that while it’s a happy homelife, there’s a little bit of sub-surface tension thanks to some particular circumstances.

In a world that feels achingly far from anything we can currently see out of the window, the major powers of the world have come together to jointly fund a space program (though the script can’t resist slipping in that the USA was of course the major contributor) to send a manned mission to Mars. Joining American Green are a bunch of staple sci-fi archetypes including the middle-aged, cocky, ever so slightly sexist Russian cosmonaut, the quiet but brilliant Asian chemist, the affable Indian man who just wants everyone to get on and the shy, slightly nervous and gets-sick-really-easily Brit who’s on the mission as an expert in botany. I’ll leave you to guess who gets on best with whom.

Despite presenting a united front to the world in flashbacks (the episode opens with Emma already on the Moon), the crew in the present have tensions, surrounding an incident which occurred on the opening leg of the trip en route to the moon. As the show patiently unfolds the background, we are presented with a variety of different versions of this incident and Green’s conduct throughout it. The show leaves the audience none the wiser even as it follows Green as the viewpoint character. Her vaguely defined sense of dread and guilt leave us wondering exactly which version of events to believe.  The show also bombards us with flashbacks of family life, the reason she’s on the mission and not her husband and various minor incidents on the ground as the different crew members speak to their various counterparts on Earth and people at NASA try to head off an international incident.

As if that all weren’t enough, the show then throws another curveball at Green, which causes her to question all over again whether she’s suitable for this mission which is due to launch in 24 hours from the surface of the moon and gives her crew equal new opportunities for concern.

In different hands, it could be a car crash. The continual jumping back and forth as it lays out various elements of backstory, the escalating list of reasons against Green going versus the one reason she apparently should (being lots of characters telling us she’s the best without showing us why) – it could all just be an incoherent mess. But Hilary Swank won all those awards for a reason, and her character acting here is what anchors the show. Her fellow cast members do their best with what they’re given, but make no mistake that this is a Swank star vehicle and everyone else is pretty much along for their stereotypical character arc ride in service of her character’s arc.

Verdict: Think of it like Gravity, if Sandra Bullock had a bunch of other castmates up there with her whose main function had been to act as background to her main arc. It’s an intriguing opening, but I’m interested to see if anyone other than Swank ends up with anything to do. 7/10

Greg D. Smith