Critic Reviews

Harsh Realm doesn't just resonate, it shakes, rattles and rocks the brain. [8 Oct 1999, p.1E]

"X-Files" fans have been talking up this show, sight unseen, for months, based mainly on rumors and snippets from the set. But Harsh Realm may well validate all that hype. [8 Oct 1999, p.F1]

One of the season's most promising new series.

What's there is fascinating. More than perhaps anyone writing for TV, Carter understands the tactical value of withholding information; he gives us just enough to pique our interest and then pulls back, promising to deliver more when the time is right. The first installment of Harsh Realm promises plenty. [8 Oct 1999, p.71]

Viewers who like Carter's government-conspiracy paranoia and his penchant for confusing plots will embrace Harsh Realm. It requires close attention to details that propel the story, and it has instantly likable characters in Hobbes (Scott Bairstow) and Mike Pinocchio (D.B. Sweeney). [8 Oct 1999, p.38]

The early prognosis: bizarre, unsettling, perplexing, captivating. [6 Oct 1999, p.10]

Tonight's premiere looks a little bleak and proceeds a little predictably but this may well be due to the amount of exposition necessary to establish the world Carter and company will be exploring. [8 Oct 1999, p.144]

A neatly conceived show that borrows from sources like Joseph Conrad's "The Heart of Darkness" and George Orwell's "1984." The plot is hard to summarize thoroughly - you'd need an instruction manual for that - but it unfolds easily on screen. [8 Oct 1999, p.D12]

Harsh Realm looks to be capably acted and artfully creepy, but I'm not sure I care to get involved in another dark, paranoid drama from Chris Carter.

Unfortunately, the pilot doesn't flesh out the premise, making the episode little more than an average "Outer Limits." With all the special-effects possibilities of a virtual realm, "Santiago City" looks like the set of "Combat" with a high-tech fence around it. [8 Oct 1999, p.S34]