Underwhelming eight episode sci-fi drama series where an unexplained underground chamber in rural Illinois is a portal to a seemingly uninhabited planet.
Having accidentally discovered the chamber in their backyard years earlier, retired couple Irene (Sissy Spacek) and Franklin (J.K. Simmons) York spend time staring out across the planetary skyscape in the safety of a sealed antechamber. How the chamber got there, why it’s there, or how it works remains a mystery to the couple (and us). They just know that they must keep it a secret and have informed no-one in their small town of its existence. The new neighbour Byron (Adam Bartley), however, is proving a little too inquisitive about the Yorks’ nocturnal habits.
An ageing couple, the two are contemplating their own mortality and, after 20 years, are on the cusp of sharing their secret with granddaughter Denise (Kiah McKirnan). Struggling with her health, Irene still mourns the suicide of their son (and Denise’s father) years earlier. She believes the discovery of the portal is somehow linked. So the sudden arrival in the antechamber of amnesiac Jude (Chai Hansen) sets in motion a confusion of emotions whilst a concerned Franklin looks to rid the house of a young man covered in blood on his unexpected appearance.
Simultaneously, a seemingly separate narrative in the vast deserted Patagonian landscape sees teenage Toni (Rocío Hernández) struggling with the isolation of living on a llama farm with only her mother Stella (Julieta Zylberberg) for company. When the mysterious Cornelius (Piotr Adamczyk) turns up at the farm, he sets in motion a series of events which make it clear that there is more than one portal and Stella is part of a long line of ‘keepers’ of these secret chambers. They need to find Jude and the unmapped Illinois portal.
In a lugubriously paced eight episodes, the unquestionable high point is the relationship between the two seasoned Oscar-winning actors who dominate the screen. Less successful is a cast that struggle with the paucity of half-decent dialogue and absurd narrative developments – not least Stella and Toni in their search for that buried portal. With seasons two and three cancelled, Night Sky struggles to resolve the various strands of its narrative – little is revealed about the chamber’s origin or ultimate purpose. The cancellation was obviously unexpected – new plotlines were being added as late as epsiode seven!
Rating: 54%
Thankfully, this tetralogy is now consigned to history.
An Opinion or Two 