Critic Reviews

Colony isn’t exactly dense with hope. But here in Season 2, it remains filled with great ideas that make it challenging television, in the best way.

A detailed and utterly compelling examination of the motives and morality of collaboration—like a Casablanca in which the protagonist is not Humphrey Bogart’s heroic Rick but Peter Lorre’s oily Ugarte. If that sounds dramatically counterintuitive and even confounding, get used to it; Colony is mostly about upsetting apple carts.

What the series lacks in depth and visual elegance, it more than makes up for in sheer entertainment value. Colony combines the best aspects of USA’s past (generic shows that are nonetheless sugary treats) with the heady rush of its contemporary, Mr. Robot-era mission: Classing up the joint.

Sure, a couple of subplots--one involving Will and Katie’s teenage son getting involved in a black-market operation, and another hinting at a romance for Katie’s sister (The Mentalist‘s Amanda Righetti)--feel a little extraneous at the moment, but enigmatic glimpses of “Factory” indoctrination promise that Colony won’t run out of ideas anytime soon.

However things shake out, USA should feel good about having made an investment in what seems, for the moment, like a work of real science-fiction, rather than science-fiction-flavored action or horror--a work of ideas and real emotion, with strong performances (it's nice to see Holloway playing scared and overwhelmed at times) and a keen grasp of which storytelling cards to play and which to keep in reserve.

Holloway and Callies, no strangers to speculative, high-stakes drama, make a formidable pair as characters human enough to be relatable, skilled enough be potentially heroic.

Aided by a strong script that seems to recognize this [Next to fear, sadness would of course be the overwhelming shared emotion if some otherworldly force disrupted our social order.], Holloway and Callies come across as characters who know the real depth of a doomed world.

Colony might not be particularly original, but it’s compelling nonetheless, delving into moral and ethical quandaries via complex and engaging characters.

The setup leaves Holloway as a person torn between two bad choices--a spot in which the actor thrives--and the mystery of who now rules L.A. should be enough to keep you interested. [8/15 Jan 2016, p.99]

Like “Lost,” you’ll be left with more questions than answers by pilot’s end.... Should be a fun ride.