Critical Condition: The Passage

The Passage | TVNZ OnDemand, from Tuesday

☆☆☆☆ “The Passage is a high-concept sci-fi thriller based on popular novels by Justin Cronin. It has been boiled down to its most essential elements and easily digestible plot points, exactly the right way to mainstream the show for a broadcast audience without making it dull, dumb or disingenuous … what makes Passage great is the clever way it melds mile-a-minute action with mystery-box mythology … It could be divided into several shows, but it never feels like shows that were poorly stitched together. The Passage is the sci-fi epic broadcast TV deserves.” — USA Today.

☆☆☆☆ “It’s been lurching around in development hell for 11 years, morphing from a movie to a series of three movies to a TV series as different producers got hold of it … But the pilot has finally emerged, not too battered, though its resemblance to Cronin’s books has grown much blurrier. Characters have vanished, romantic triangles have been inserted and the general ambiance has, in some ways, grown cruder. But quibbling seems silly. Vampires are overrunning the world! How ya gonna look away?” — Reason.com.

☆☆☆☆ “You have to give The Passage credit for being more ambitious than your average broadcast drama in 2019. It’s at least trying to be good … The special effects look expensive, the action scenes are well-choreographed and the dialogue is flavourful for a plot-driven broadcast show … Is The Passage presented by Fox as good as it would be if it were on FX or HBO? No. But is it better than 95 percent of the other broadcast dramas that have hit the airwaves in the past 18 months? Yes.” — TV Guide.

☆☆☆☆ “Satirical self-awareness pops up now and then in what’s otherwise an earnest genre jambalaya: a medical-supernatural-conspiracy shoot ’em up … For now, The Passage should appeal to those who like their popcorn TV less touchy-feely and more action-oriented than NBC’s fall hit, Manifest.” — New York Times.

☆☆☆☆ “The Passage is a very middle of the road network drama. It’s fast-moving, filled with adventure and base level on its character development (at least by the end of its third episode). The funny thing is that that feels downright refreshing in the age of streaming television where entire series premises are sometimes not revealed until the second or third episode of a debut season. A trend that should be downright unacceptable.” — Forbes.