The I-Land
Desert Island Dicks
UK/US Netflix, streaming now Showrunner Neil LaBute Cast Natalie Martinez, Kate Bosworth, Ronald Peet, Bruce McGill
There are many similarities between The I-Land and Lost, but only one way in which Netflix’s new sci-fi series improves on the older show: it’s a hell of a lot shorter. At just seven episodes (and, we’re betting, little chance of a second season), most of which fall short of 40 minutes, at least it has the decency to shuffle off the screen as soon as possible. Not that anyone other than paid reviewers is likely to make it through to the finale.
It doesn’t do itself any favours by spending its first two episodes looking for all the world like it’s happy to be a cheap Lost knock-off. Ten people wake up on a mysterious desert island, all with amnesia. They argue – god, they argue. They ask loads of questions, but none of the ones the audience actually wants answers to. They discover a strange recurrence of a number. There’s a power struggle. There’s a shark attack. There’s an attempted rape. There’s more arguing. One of the women seems more tuned-in to the fact that there’s something odd about the island. But she’s really shouty, so everybody hates her. Oh, and she has flashbacks. Of course this show has flashbacks.
Since none of the characters are the least bit likeable or interesting, there’s nothing to alleviate the stultifying familiarity of it all, so most viewers probably won’t make it to the twist at the end of episode two. We won’t worry about spoilers, because Netflix certainly weren’t with trailers which merrily revealed that the I-Land was some kind of virtual construct. Turns out, in the exposition-heavy third episode, that the islanders are death row criminals who’ve signed up for a VR experiment to see if they can be redeemed.
None of the characters are the least bit likeable