Nautilus’ Episode 2 Review
In episode two of ‘Nautilus’, the crew of the submarine continue to run from the company as they are pursued by officials aboard the Dreadnaught, an advanced ironclad warship.
If this show has a real problem it’s the characters. There are a lot of them, for a start, and none of them have yet been given much of an opportunity to stand out from the crowd. This episode introduces even more, like Lord Pitt, Honesty’s potential husband. Not only that, but almost all of them are unlikable. It doesn’t matter whether they are meant to be heroes or villains, whether it’s Nemo or Crawley, I can’t like any of them. They all make bad, often selfish decisions, and don’t think of the effect their actions might have. The rest of the cast are simply 2D cut outs, there to fill up screen time.
Even when there are opportunities for character growth, the show doesn’t take them. Honesty, for example, what’s her motivation? She tries to escape the Nautilus, only to return when she fears being found by the Company and taken to Pitt. The whole scene of her trying to swim ashore feels like padding, as it does nothing for her character.
I don’t know if I’m meant to, as he could be seen as a bad guy, but the only character I’m really rooting for is Captain Youngblood. He seems decent and honourable, caring about his men, not acting out of selfishness. Even in his role as an EIMC officer, he’s not zealous, merely competent and professional, giving respect to his adversaries.
Outside of the characters, there was a lot of stuff onscreen in this episode, but not much really happening. It was all just random action with no purpose, like the scene with the whalers, which felt unnecessary, like it was just forced in to add a few more minutes to the runtime.
Likewise, the whole deal with the Nautilus being tracked by the Dreadnaught and having to hide underwater lacked any tension, as the submarine had the advantage, and should have been able to escape undetected. Even today, it’s not easy to track targets below the water, and certainly the Nautilus would have been able to evade the surface ship, even if they couldn’t defeat it in a straight fight.
Two episodes in and this show still hasn’t grabbed my attention. The episodes are fifty minutes long but next to nothing has been done to establish a proper story or develop any of the characters. I can take a slow burn, but there needs to be some intrigue there to keep you invested, and this series doesn’t have it.
The most interesting thing was the discovery of who’s been stealing biscuit from the stores, a company soldier who was onboard when they stole the ship and must have been trapped there since. Is he a friend or a foe? Hopefully we’ll find out in episode three to add some more depth to the story, because I’m struggling to see how the next eight episodes are going to be filled otherwise.