“Night Sky”: to watch or not watch the series with JK Simmons and Sissy Spacek on Prime Video?

The teacher Irene (sissy spacek) and the carpenter Franklin (J K Simmons) are a retired married couple who spend their days in the fictional town of Farnsworth, Illinois. Until then, nothing differentiates them from any long-term marriage in the United States. However, both keep a secret that makes them witnesses of something unique. Under the tool workshop of their home there is a mysterious access that, after pulling some latches and waiting a few seconds, allows them to see what would be an unknown planet just centimeters away.

This is the basic idea of ​​“Night Sky” (“Night Sky”), a science fiction series that premiered a few days ago on an international level on Prime Video. In eight episodes, we will witness a new attempt to get closer to that world that man has tried to know (and conquer) over the last decades. But beyond the fact that the endearing Irene and the curmudgeon Franklin have “seen the stars” almost 900 times (because yes, they keep a record of each of their trips to this kind of interplanetary cabin), the proposal created by Holden Miller has much more .

And it is that to think of eight one-hour episodes in which it is only a question of seeing how two grandparents imagine it would be to “cross” to another planet without dying in the attempt, it is certainly monotonous. That is why “Night Sky” has a second level of reading that is quickly revealed. The protagonists of this story have not been able to overcome the loss of their only son. Thus, Irene -sick and very battered- harbors a constant sadness in her gaze. On the other side, Franklin suffers to see his wife in these conditions. In his despair, he would be unable to do anything to make his days grayer. Perhaps that is why when, overnight, they find a stranger in his workshop cabin, their lives change.

Sprawled on the floor and visibly injured, Jude (Chai Hansen) appears on the floor of the Yorks’ cabin. Far from calling the police, Irene decides to take charge of the stranger, still not knowing if he is a Martian or an interplanetary traveler. While the visitor does not speak or react, the series maintains a thread of credibility that satisfies us. However, at the precise moment that he becomes aware of himself, “Night Sky” becomes the drama of a mother who sees her son that she lost long ago in a NN.

Even before the premiere of the series, the specialized press praised the final product considering the talent of its award-winning protagonists. It is worth saying that, when it comes to expectations, they were met. Simmons plays a stubborn and worried grandfather. At one point in the series his character, Franklin, seems desperate to get rid of the intruder (“Are you aware of the damage you are doing to us?”), but then he ends up going back on his own steps before the forcefulness of a truth: without Jude. , Irene could die of grief.

But if the talent of Simmons and Spacek is the most outstanding thing in this Prime Video series, the objective would be to say that we are not facing a round proposal. In its apparent desire to encompass everything, “Night Sky” takes certain directions that only weaken it. This happens with Byron (Adam Bartley), Franklin’s neighbor who, dissatisfied with his miserable life, tries to attract the approval of others by running for political office in his town. After it is discovered that he is forging signatures for his registry, his political career quickly goes up in smoke. The same could be said of Denise (Kiah McKirman), the granddaughter of Franklin and Irene who – without having gotten over the death of her father – suffers from how unsatisfying her university life is. Finally, there is Chandra (Beth Lacke), a kleptomaniac nurse whose contribution to the plot is inexplicable.

Beyond these characters who lack a proper livelihood (in the case of Byron, it should be made clear that he later takes another flight), the Prime Video series shows –in addition to the lives of the Yorks– a parallel story, which takes place in distant Argentina. Stella (Julieta Zylberber) and her daughter Toni (Rocío Hernández) live there. This subplot shows a mother trying little by little (almost forced by fate) to show her teenage daughter the “special” origin that her family has.

Between secrets and half-truths, Stella and Toni –in a twist super close to plausibility– suddenly teleport from the Argentine highlands to New York. Here they must fulfill an unusual and dangerous mission for which, obviously, they do not seem to be ready. Behind both is Cornelius (Piotr Adamczyk), a rather exaggerated villain in gestures and forms. Up to this point, the eight-part series has already offered us a share of science fiction, another of drama and a police finale. Thinking that this ensures the attention of viewers can be a bigger mistake than one imagines.

Is the talent of two Oscar winners like JK Simmons and Sissy Spacek enough for the balance of a series to be satisfactory? At first glance one would say yes. And certainly in several specialized media in the United States, the duo we have on screen has been praised, their ability to move us with the idea of ​​love in old age, even going so far as to propose “a series just for these two old men to talk.” However, it would be unfair to say that two outstanding performances can cover a series of errors, exaggerations and gaps that end up turning “Night Sky” into a production that will hardly transcend in the summaries of the best of the year.

Night Sky / Prime Video

Synopsis: Irene and Franklin York, a retired couple, have a secret: a Chamber buried in their backyard that miraculously leads to a strange desert planet.

Original title: “Night Sky”

Duration: 8 episodes

Classification: 16 years

Gender: science fiction, drama