TV Talk: ‘Constellation’ starts strong, ends weak

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

PASADENA, Calif. — “Constellation” is one of those post-“Lost,” labyrinthine shows, the kind of series that may or may not ever provide satisfying answers or reach a decent conclusion. It’s a twisty conspiracy thriller with a confusing, complex scientific theory at its center.

The first two episodes sucked me into the story of European Space Agency astronaut Jo Ericsson (Noomi Rapace (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) who is involved in an incident aboard the International Space Station that leads to severe headaches and memory gaps upon her return to Earth.

I stuck with “Constellation” but ultimately regretted that choice. The show punishes viewer allegiance with a frustrating season finale that only creates more questions. (The show’s pace set the expectation that this might be a limited series; that’s not the intent.)

The first three episodes debut on Apple TV+ Feb. 21 with one episode premiering every Wednesday after that through March 27.

Written and created by Peter Harkness (“Wallander”) with the first two episodes directed by “Breaking Bad” Emmy winner Michelle MacLaren, “Constellation” offers suspense in spades in its early episodes that give way to mysteries that take the rest of the season to slowly – sometimes too slowly — untangle.

Early on the mystery element proves intriguing but eventually the audience gets far enough ahead of the characters in understanding what’s going on that “Constellation” loses a bit of its spark.

Rapace deploys wide-eyed fear as a mother struggling to reconnect with her daughter (Rosie and Davina Coleman) and husband (James D’Arcy, filmed-in-Pittsburgh “Those Who Kill”) after her harrowing return from space. Rapace makes a viewer care about what is going on even when the complexity of the quantum physics-influenced plot grows dense.

Jonathan Banks (“Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul”) doesn’t share a lot of scenes with Rapace but largely carries half the story as a former astronaut whose experiences mirror those of Jo.

“Constellation” shares thematic DNA with the 2017-19 J.K. Simmons-starring Starz series “Counterpart,” though to say exactly how would be a spoiler.

During the recent Television Critics Association winter 2024 press tour, Harness said his initial interest in telling this story stemmed from wanting to explore what it’s like for people who come back from outer space “after they’ve seen the Earth beneath them and been completely separate from anything they’ve ever known. Because that has a huge effect on astronauts.”

Then he learned about some astronauts’ other experiences.

“I also began to understand that there were these odd, little, spooky stories about what astronauts go through in space,” Harness said. “They do hear dogs barking and sometimes they see weird things outside the capsules. And I thought, ‘That’s a sci-fi show that has spooky elements in it as well.’ And that leads almost naturally into a conspiracy about facts being covered up.”

Harness also wanted to tell the “fairly relatable” story of “a parent trying to reach a child, and a child trying to reach a parent, and the fault lines in that relationship,” he said. “That was the important thing for me, and the genre stuff just folded in alongside it.”

Even if “Constellation” gets renewed for a second season, it’s way too convoluted to welcome new viewers who would be baffled if they jumped in mid-stream. But Harness expressed confidence that he has more story to tell.

“There’s a bigger story to tell about space, about the history of this, and I think these guys have got a long way to go,” he said. “They’ve only just landed back on Earth and life is very long for these characters.”