The episode I was looking forward to the most based on casting - Aaron Paul and Kate Mara, sadly was a huge disappointment. It wasn't from the lack of amazing casting and performances, but from the underwhelming direction from John Crowley, who lacked any real urgency and was poorly and slowly paced, but also from the very pedestrian and predictable writing. There was barely any unexpected suspense, zero twists or revelations (with the exception of the first act's events), and this felt more like something a high school drama class would come up with. It started off setting up nicely, but then everything was basic writing 101, and as one reviewer stated, the huge plot hole that basically cancels out the entire narrative; why not keep the replicas in space, and the real humans on earth? It's not like the two-man crew needed to be active 24/7, heck they both simultaneously spend Mon-Fri on earth, and both run the ship on weekends, so what's the point? Clearly Brooker's creativity lapsed in this episode to make it one of the most predictable and pedestrian episodes of the entire series. Nevertheless, a generous 6/10 for the cinematography and Paul's outstanding and very convincing dual-character performance.
Review of Beyond the Sea
