The Deep (2010)

 

Superficial The Deep is Disappointing

by Kristin Battestella

After the mysterious loss of the scientific expedition Hermes, her sister submarine Orpheus – led by Frances (Minnie Driver) and Samson (Goran Visnjic) – dives 2,000 feet below the Arctic to continue the renewable energy research. Engineer Clem's (James Nesbitt) wife Catherine (Orla Brady) was on the Hermes and salvage expert Raymond (Tobias Menzies) may know more then he's telling as Russian rivals, underwater dangers, and surprise vessels expedite the race to explore the sea bed in the 2010 five part British serial The Deep.

Archive videos and bleak recordings from the lost Hermes open “To the Furthest Place” amid witch's stone tokens, family goodbyes, and a final toast at the pub before the Orpheus shoves off to the North Pole. The first twenty minutes builds the backstory and the upsetting potential of what happened to the Hermes. However, we shouldn't have seen the Hermes in res prologue if the current crew has their ominous logs, and once we are below in the Orpheus, we should stay amid the isolation, eerie underwater vents, and hydrothermal life possibilities. Automated arms work outside while the people wait with monitors and headsets. They're on a first name basis yet some have a terse, patronizing tone despite oxygen emergencies, trapped submersibles, and ominous sonar signals. Failed wench recoveries lead to alarms, flickering lights, airlock intensity, and crushing disasters. The accident happens fast, with enough disaster visuals but not ridiculously drawn out shock and awe CGI panoramas. Something else is diving above the Orpheus, and again, there's no need to revisit the trawler above thanks to the congested arguments, convulsion injuries, and apparent murders. Desperate repairs, written notes held up to the port hole, low power – the possible killer on board could have been a taut episode unto itself. Unfortunately, The Deep's pace falters with the bloated “Into the Belly of the Beast.” Once again, unnecessary scenes above break the underwater weight versus buoyancy, nosebleeds, and radiation fears. How long has this massive Russian vessel been drilling in this protected environment? The spooky ship is never full explored despite the should be ominous flashlights, bodies, leaks, and bad smells. This episode is much slower moving – redundant rather than horror of the unknown. Bigger issues on UN treaties or industrial pollution disappear alongside lab computers, abandoned equipment, and hissing tanks forgotten rather than used for, you know, information. The lack of a medical doctor shows with autopsies, gunshots, and nuclear dangers, but once again, The Deep must revisit outside perspectives apart from Orpheus. The contrived antagonism already feels silly and superficial, calling the serial's entire structure into question. Maybe there should have been an episode from the Russian perspective, another with the conspiracy depths, and one dedicated family episode rather than dividing the drama between everything but the eponymous submarine.

The motherboards are fried in “Ghosts of the Deep,” but there's no distress beacon, only people arguing whether they're on Russian or Greenwich time while the reactors overheat. Nobody explores who or what is on the vessel, and control rod fixes begat a lengthy lottery contrived for suspense. The irrelevant lethal exposure is not empathetic when the engineer or mechanic could have done their jobs, and repairing Orpheus with salvaged parts is treated as a surprising last minute realization rather than the primary goal. They conveniently find the lost Hermes instantly, and the back up pod's copy, over, roger, repeat interrupts the eerie tomb search with family mementos and pictures in the deceased's locker. An entire flashback hour recounting what happened to the Hermes could have been interesting, but the quiet personal and any intrigue on what happened to the crew are dismissed until a provocative figure seen at the porthole. There aren't any medical check ups, explanations, or debriefings for those rescued, and everything but the last ten minutes of the Third Hour could have been skipped. More meaningless, anonymous technobabble opens “Everything Put Together Falls Apart” before arguments about the pile of body bags and shootouts across the moon pool. Hydrogen producing lava bugs are equated as an organism that eats crap and farts clean fuel, leaving The Deep sorely lacking in a realistic medium between the highbrow gobbledygook and treating viewers like we're stupid. One scientist must deduce what would have been known had somebody turned on the computers found in Episode Two, and another already knew everything but didn't say. The race 8,500 feet deep isn't that interesting despite forbidden pipelines and buckling infrastructure, and this is another half an episode that could have been excised. Each useless excursion and finite maneuver somehow always succeeds despite pressure risks, Nitrogen biproducts, acid, and power drains. Emotions versus research waver, and marathoning The Deep acerbates the uneven motivation flaws and overly dramatic nick of time cheats. Staying alive would have been enough for The Deep without the rival conspiracies as supposedly smart people become foolish to serve the plot in “The Last Breath.” Turnabout shock attempts, multiple traitors, and more shootouts that lead to nothing delay the ruined families and people crying over the deaths they caused. The Orpheus surfaces lickity split to meet generic conspiracy henchman confiscating their research. Oil secrets versus bio fuel discoveries hit the audience over the head yet never address the deeper issues thanks to time wasting technicalities, preposterous survivals, ridiculous deaths, laughable characterizations, and ghosts.

Cold captain Minnie Driver (Phantom of the Opera) goes over all the checks and measures and insists her priority is the crew's safety. However she catches feelings and puts everyone at risk when not calling others selfish for their personal agendas. Frances vows to leave no one behind – after leaving somebody behind every episode – falling back on tired “We don't have a choice!” apologies with each dire failure. She tells others to bury their emotion but is unable to do her job thanks to uneven tears and ineffectual characterizations proving her wrong. Rather than doing what is necessary or surfacing for help, Frances foolishly never considers who really holds the expedition purse strings. Goran Visnjic's (ER) Samson is excited that the Hermes' failure is now his chance to go deep. He thinks he is so cool, but his wife worries he'll cheat – probably because Samson and Frances already knocked boots. Samson only tells Frances how he really feels when she's unconscious yet boasts when he's lifting dead bodies less than a day after being shot in the shoulder. He really doesn't seem like a nice guy and is an even worst scientist. Widower James Nesbitt (Murphy's Law) doesn't actually do any engineering, either. However, Clem's grief doesn't need any other sounding board, and the redundant daughter at home storyline contributes to the bloated problems on The Deep, taking away from Clem's immediate angst and the arguments over family, death, science, and priorities. Flashbacks of Orla Brady (Star Trek: Picard) as his wife Catherine before and during the Hermes mission also waste time, and seeing her through logs or archive research is forgotten because through it all, nobody bothers asking what's been happening the last six months. Of course, we know to be suspicious when Tobias Menzies (The Night Manager) claims to be an outside salvage man who knows nothing about what befell the Hermes, and the stereotypical Black person also dies first. Three secondary diverse yet disposable and undefined crew members on the sub seem too young to even be there. They repeat everything everyone else says a la Sigourney Weaver in Galaxy Quest, fearfully objecting and questioning everything. They never know what to do and are even told to shut up for being so annoying. Translators don't translate, anonymous mechanics never fix anything, chefs never cook, and the bad guys' allegiances change from hour to hour as the wishy washy plot decides. It's almost fascinating to see so many characters embody such frustrating minutia.

Ironically, the ominous blues set the mood well with reflections, ripples, and enough light for us to see the well done underwater effects. Creepy green lighting and choice reds set off the rounded glass, ladders, and hatches while ice, puffy coats, and chunky sweaters keep the chill. Darkness beyond the submarine lights, foreboding hull noises, and neat, if meaningless vampire squid add atmosphere while talk of recycled neon and oxygen accents the congested interiors. Where an American piece is often panning awe and cool wonder, The Deep is largely still until the final episode visually rushes with noticeably jarring handheld action and shaky cam zooms. An onscreen running out of air countdown or duration under water clock would have actualized the timing for the audience as well as anchored the pacing for series director Jim O'Hanlon (A Touch of Cloth) and writer Simon Donald (Fortitude). Unfortunately, the previouslies illuminate how superfluous the middle hours are, and the next week teasers indicate how many apparent calamities amount to nothing. The Deep should have been three parts or two ninety minute movies, for every tangent deflates the contained characters under pressure premise, and the playing at science fiction perils runs aground with derivative politics away from the water.