The Rig: Season 1

 

Created by: David Macpherson

Produced by: Derek Wax, John Strickland, and Suzanne Reid

Written by: David Macpherson, Meg Satler, and Matthew Jacobs Morgan

Starring: 

Emily Hampshire (Rose), Iain Glen (Magnus), Martin Compston (Fulmer), Mark Bonnar (Alwyn), Rochenda Sandall (Cat), Owen Teale (Lars), Richard Pepple (Grant), Calvin Demba (Baz), Emun Elliott (Leck), Abraham Popoola (Easter), Stuart McQuarrie (Colin), Molly Vevers (Heather), Dougie Rankin (William), Nikhil Parmar (Harish), Mark Addy (David)

The Rig season 1 trailer:

One of my initial reasons for trying out this show was to see oil rig environments depicted. Even though it's fiction and not meant to be accurate, I still found it fascinating to have the environment replicated, and I agreed with the concept idea-- it's a great place for a thriller series. 

The Rig is about a rig team that's due for their shore leave rotation, but transportation is interrupted when a mysterious and unnaturally thick fog rolls in. When the fog stays in place for days (and days), some crew members begin exhibiting odd behaviors, and the crew learns that there's a lot more to the situation than meets the eye. The show being billed as a "supernatural thriller" isn't technically accurate because the show's explanation is actually entirely scientific, but that makes it all the more interesting. 

The rig crew debriefing at the beginning of the series, before things start happening

My only complaint about the series is that in its final couple episodes, it begins getting too big for its britches. That is to say, the plot's danger supposedly goes to effect far more than just the rig and spills out onto the surrounding country, and more. That can be good in a lot of ways for a lot of stories, but it didn't feel right for this one. For one thing, the show is called the "rig." Not "the country of Britain" or "the World." Secondly, having the plot unfold on this small, isolated rig is what made it work. The enclosed spaces, isolation, labyrinthine vertical & horizontal passageways, complicated & dangerous engineering, and ominous allure of the open ocean all worked together to add considerable intrigue to the already-compelling plot. This is especially concerning for the future of the show because the season finale saw the (surviving) crew transported off the rig to escape complete disaster, suggesting they wouldn't return. Still, I'm hopeful the writers will be able to recapture the allure for the already-renewed second season. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

The rig as the fog rolls in the background

The enclosed space and limited crew aided not just the environmental intrigue but character development. In what better circumstance do personalities readily come out than stressful environments with the same people every day? It also helped me acquaint myself with the characters more quickly, which is something I have a hard time with, especially in shows with larger casts. (I've really had some troubles in shows large casts that the main characters fade into.) In this show, I got to know a small handful of important individuals quite well, and really came to know the characters who I rooted for and the ones I poignantly did not. For me personally, becoming attached (or the opposite) to certain characters is how I really connect with a show. 

A crew member investigating a situation

I also appreciated the degree of realism that I could understand in the show. Obviously, I know nothing about oil rig engineering or about the science that the story purported. But the important thing is that it was believable. All the daily life operations seemed legit, and this carried into when things got hairy. A pet peeve I have about disaster (or otherwise action-type) shows is when characters don't respond in common-sense, helpful ways that we'd expect them to in real life. To a certain extent, organizations have protocols for emergencies, depending (of course) on how fantastical the emergency. For most of this show's episodes, it followed such protocols: upper management crew took charge when they realized something bad was happening, called for aid as best they could, and did their best to sort out solutions depending on what was available on the rig. They followed what felt like legitimate regulation. 

Mid-series, the crew begins speculating and taking sides

Another thing I enjoyed was the alignments of "good" and "evil" were not what we expected. Or, put differently, characters who we believed had good or bad intentions-- didn't. Characters we thought of as good or bad at one point in the series switched, and not because they changed their minds, but because the story shifted perspective. That was exciting to watch happen and made for a fun intellectual challenge. 

This blog has become plenty long, but the show was definitely a fun watch, so I'm glad I found a lot to say! For a short, six-episode thriller, it had some big concepts. I still feel anxious about that ending because too much changed, but no use thinking on that any further until we get details of the second season.