TV Obsessive
Into the Night
Hawk: Netflix’s Belgian show Into the Night can best be described as Speed, on a plane, during the apocalypse, with a healthy dose of character work. And it’s as awesome as it sounds.
The series focuses on a small group of passengers aboard a red-eye flight suddenly taken hostage by an Italian NATO soldier, Terenzio (Stefano Cassetti). Terenzio is raving about a sudden apocalyptic event—as the sun rises, it kills anyone its light touches. Once his claims are confirmed, the plane of survivors must stay ahead of the impending sunrise, stopping to refuel and resupply, keeping their eye on the clock to travel indefinitely at night until they can reach a bunker said to be a final place of refuge. The other survivors include Sylvie (Pauline Etienne), who is transporting her deceased lover’s ashes, pilot Mathieu (Laurent Capelluto), Rik (Jan Bijvoet), a security guard, Azizi (Nabil Mallat), a custodian, Zara (Regina Bikkinina), a mother transporting her terminally ill child, Ayaz, (Mehmet Kurtulus), a man with a mysterious past and suspicious combat readiness, and Ines (Alba Gaia Bellugi), an internet influencer. Tensions and suspicions clash as circumstances get increasingly dire.
It’s a wild show, one of those great ones with continually escalating stakes where the next resolution is only moments from the introduction of the next problem. Bountiful fuel and food are found to be irradiated. The next promising checkpoint is not a viable destination. The survivors have to constantly improvise, and hope for the best on razor-thin margins of time and fuel reserves. There is rarely room for error, a Plan B does not exist, and reliance on blind faith or luck is often all they have to go on. It’s ridiculously tense.
I like narratives that occur before the post-apocalypse, as things are in the process of falling apart. There’s an unparalleled sense of dread, chaos and hopelessness, even as the characters try to hold on to what they’ve known and figure out what’s happening. It isn’t long before it’s revealed that the sun is the source of humanity’s near extinction, and once that is out of the way, the focus is purely one survival.
The pacing is terrific—while it’s not literally “running from the sunrise” on a visual level, it still is on a narrative one: every technical failure, group disagreement, and landing to resupply don’t stop the clock and the impending sunrise. Every second counts, but the show also takes time to explore character moments. Most of these are done while the plane is in motion, letting things breathe and explore backstories. Each episode is named for one of the characters, and opens with a little bit of backstory and context for them.
One of the show’s best elements is its broadly multicultural cast. Belgian, Italian, Russian, French, Danish, and Polish players are amongst the characters. Netflix defaults to English audio, but it’s well worth it to switch to the native audio as each cast member often gets to speak in their native language, giving the series a very interesting cultural melting pot. It significantly increases the immersion of the series as there are several instances where a character’s innate cultural biases are enriched by them speaking in their own language. It’s an asset to the show, and while not essential for viewing, is an important element.
A good story is only as good as its characters, but I’d argue that this is even more important in apocalyptic stories. Luckily, Into the Night delivers: several of the characters have a level of nuance that transforms across the season. Language barriers are less of an issue in the latter episodes, but several characters make decisions and rash judgements based on unconscious cultural biases. These are eventually resolved as the core cast learn to trust each other and begin to open up, but certain behaviors remain and as bridges are rebuilt, others are burned. This first season is structured around just under a dozen characters, and their interaction is the emotional center of the show that fills the gaps between the ridiculous emergent issues that plague the group. Each episode is named after a main character, and opens with a flashback that gives a bit of context to said character. It builds a bit of background to help better understand where the character is at in the present, and is surprisingly impactful.
I also love the awesome, punchy synth soundtrack that swells with pulsating beats at the most dramatic moments like an elevated heartbeat. A good title card is an art form, and Into the Night nails it with the introduction of a new problem being introduced alongside rising music before a smash cut announces the title card.
Into the Night goes down quickly and easily with six 40-ish minute episodes, but has a level of intensity and tension that made it difficult for me personally to tackle more than two at a time. The finale finds the characters in an interesting place, and given the book on which the show is based, holds some extremely interesting implications for potential further seasons. It’s one hell of a nail-biter, and absolutely worth seeking out.
Those are our recommendations this week! What are yours? Let us know in the comments!
