In A Girl and an Astronaut, an orbiter with Marta’s boyfriend aboard disappears in space and returns to Earth 30 years later, making a now-married Marta question her feelings. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Story
In 2052, Space orbiter Niko-One, which disappeared in space in 2022, along with Captain Nikodem Borowski, also known as Niko, reappears out of nowhere. Niko is still alive, and he has not aged at all in the past 30 years.
Niko and his long-term friend, Bogdan, were pilots in 2022. Niko was always better than Bogdan at everything. When the two men fell in love with the same girl and competed for her attention, their relationship suffered even more.
A Russian space corporation, SkyCom, chose Niko to go to space to test a stealth technology. However, there was a secret experiment involved in the equation. When the experiment went wrong, the orbiter disappeared, and the public was told that Niko died in an explosion.
Niko’s return and his physical condition attract not just the attention of the FSB but also that of Marta, who is now older and married to Bogdan. Will Marta get a second chance at the love that she could never leave behind, or will the FSB get to Niko first?
Performances
Vanessa Aleksander as a young Marta is a free spirit, but she is just that; she does not portray Marta’s feelings well. Similarly, Magdalena Cielecka, as Marta in her fifties, should feel varying emotions due to the sudden changes in her life, but her performance does not quite convince the audience.
When it comes to Jędrzej Hycnar’s performance as Niko, the viewers will see nothing but a smirk on his face, which is supposed to portray him as a carefree and confident pilot.
Andrzej Chyra, as older Bogdan, gives a passable performance, but Jakub Sasak, as young Bogdan, sticks to one expression throughout the series.
Daria Polunina as Nadia gives an adequate performance as compared to the rest of the cast. The below-average performances by the cast make it hard for the viewers to connect with the characters.
Positives
The show’s imagining of the role that AI might play in our lives in the next thirty years is interesting. To see “the system” being involved in every human activity and taking away the freedom of people to make their life choices would remind the viewers of Big Brother.
The show’s visuals are praiseworthy. The scenes that depict the world of 2052, the pilots in the air, Niko and Marta underwater, among others, are truly a delight to watch.
Negatives
The show makes use of clichéd characters that fail to leave an impact. It is hard to relate to the characters that lack depth and whose personalities comprise a single attribute.
Furthermore, their problems and conflicts are nothing unique; they invoke no emotions. For a show that claims to be a romance drama, the love between the characters seems to be insubstantial because their stories are never truly explored.
The main focus of the plot is on the love triangle that lacks genuine emotion. The show does not do anything innovative when it comes to Niko’s disappearance and his body’s condition.
Some problems get resolved too easily and too conveniently without explanations. Apart from that, the ending does not fit in when the whole plot is taken into account. The ending even fails to tie up the loose ends. For instance, the cause of Niko’s hallucination is never questioned.
Verdict
A Girl and an Astronaut neither delivers as a romance drama nor as science fiction. The romance between the three clichéd characters does not leave a positive impact on the viewers, and the science fiction aspect is never truly explored. There are better science fiction and romance dramas out there.
Also Read: A Girl and an Astronaut ending explained: Do Marta and Niko end up together?
