With the core of the show now becoming more established, Debris is extending its horizons. In episode 8, ‘Spaceman’ we see some interesting developments on several fronts, which look set to take the show in more intriguing directions. *Warning! Spoilers Ahead!*
The principal plot this week is a continuation of where we left off last week, with it now being widely known that Finola’s (Riann Steele) father George (Tyrone Benskin) is alive, and that the CIA has a potential location. This puts into action a plan to rescue him from Influx, or at least what we think is a rescue mission.
The supposedly amicable relationship between CIA/Orbital and MI6 has been strained by mistrust and duplicity from the first episode of Debris, and here it is no different. It has reached a level now though, where it is surprising that anything actually gets done. Cards are played extremely close to the chest and as they go into this mission, almost every member of the team has a different agenda or orders.
A saving grace for the show at this point is that an uneasy bond has formed between Finola and Bryan (Jonathan Tucker), which puts them at odds with both of their bosses. Bryan is still hanging onto the hope that Maddox (Norbert Leo Butz) is somehow on the right side of things, but reality seems to be undermining that belief. The fact that he orders Bryan to make sure that George doesn’t survive the mission is a red flag for even the most loyal operative though, and is enough to make him break ranks.
Finola on the other hand has a much clearer picture of who can be trusted, as Ferris (Anjali Jay) has been obviously untrustworthy for a while. That she has been using Finola’s sister Dee (Gabrielle Ryan) to try to manipulate Finola is enough of a problem, but that’s then compounded by her orders to double cross the CIA. They play these complications for both Bryan and Finola very well, and the actors take it in their stride. Bryan especially is portrayed as particularly conflicted, and his discomfort at the shifting paradigm comes across well.
The plot from the British side is an interesting one, as the operative sent to try to ambush Finola’s convoy is Brill (Sebastian Roché) who we have previously seen warn her about Ferris. What we don’t expect in his scene’s this time is that he appears to be an imposter, who has the real Brill drugged in the back of a van. There appears to be some debris related shenanigans going on too, as he peels off the real Brill’s face and replenishes his own disguise with it. Was this the same person who warned Finola previously, or was that the imposter?
Who exactly this character is, is a mystery and it isn’t clear whether it is a human using some debris, or as suggested by the episode title ‘Spaceman’, an alien. This raises the question of whether all sides potentially have aliens in their employ, or whether there is another faction in play. If there is an alien faction, they could easily be behind Influx, or even another group entirely. Whatever the truth is, it definitely makes things a little more intriguing going forward.
While this whole episode doesn’t feel very self-contained and has more of a serial nature than usual, it still holds the interest, without being too frustrating. This is predominately because they have landed on a central foundation that can drive the show, and while they’re still operating in the grey areas, they’re not floundering around, searching for a direction. There have been suggestions and sparks previously that indicated this was coming, like ‘Earthshine’, ‘You Can Call Her Caroline’, and ‘In Universe’, and now it seems like they’re really on their way. Hopefully from here it’s just going to keep improving.
