The middle section of Season 1 features some of the best character development, perspective shifts, and overall writing this year.

Not all of the series’ risks pay off, and the overall approach is so counterintuitive that it’s bound to frustrate audiences who expected more of a problem-solving space mission story along the lines of Apollo 13 or The Martian. ... But once you get used to The First’s peculiar rhythms, it weaves a spell that’s somewhere between a ’90s John Wells drama (think ER or The West Wing) and a slowed-down TV answer to Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life especially).

Some viewers may find “The First” too slow, especially in the first two episodes, but “The First” becomes more engrossing as it unfurls, especially when the show’s scope broadens out from Tom and explores the other characters.

The First is a glossy, often-inert tale of devotion and spaceflight. Its first two episodes treat inevitabilities as questions, and unfold with the zip of a DVR-ed sporting event for which you already read the box score. ... But The First does get better after its first two episodes (before getting worse again) by jettisoning inevitability. ... As flawed as I found the first season, I’ll admit, it hooked me enough that I’m interested to see how they live life on Mars.

In a season spent almost entirely on the preparations for an interplanetary voyage (the two-and-a-half-year round trip will be covered in future seasons, if they come), science, engineering, politics and adventure are rationed to make room for soap opera.

For now, centering The First around a family story that hits painful but often-predictable beats and that siphons away what is, elsewhere, a friskily passionate geekiness is a choice that keeps the worthy show from soaring.

At every turn, The First is far more interested in lingering shots of Tom in pensive thought, or delivering a monologue about man’s destiny for space travel, or grieving for his dead wife. And perhaps that would’ve been fine if the show had something else to offer, but it also misses the mark in telling a genuinely compelling story about space travel.

I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. Pretty amazing series. It is sort of Terrence Malick meets The Right Stuff. I didn't mind that most of the show is set on Earth. And I don't think Sean Penn has ever been better.

Sloooow. But some of the space sequences and the atmospheric soundtrack are memorable. Cut out all the crap with the daughter and it would've been a more watchable 5 episodes instead of a tedious 8.

If you expect to see a fast sci-fi series forget it, because The First isn’t that kind of science fiction, and also because there’s not much sci-fi (the first episodes and the last). But sci-fi can also be in the background if there is a good idea, which this series reaches in half. Behind everything there are the feelings of the characters (and their families) who are involved in the mission that will take them to Mars. Sometimes this kind of style (like Malick) works very well, thanks to actors such as Sean Penn and Natascha McElhone in a state of grace, but other times no and it becomes trivial, boring and in which the dialogues become just chatter for commercials. There are characters that we've seen a few hundred times (like Denise Hagerty). Of others characters (like Sadie Hewitt) we understand the fate from the first episode, and they are there… don’t know why. The episode 7 doesn’t have any logical sense. But still, The First has its charm thanks as I said to the protagonists, a great photography and beautiful music.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

The narrative is extremely disjointed and is marred by a lot of self indulgent scenes that go no where. They had an interesting premise then pulled out various plot points randomly out of a hat and shoved them into the story whether they fit or not. Nothing much happens, the characters are pretty much one dimensional, even though Sean Penn tries his hardest to bring some life to his. It like listening to a four year old tell a meandering story about nothing. This happens, then this happens, then this happens… it's a Hulu snore-fest.