Having only the vaguest memories of the film 12 Monkeys … and not even remembering whether I really liked it (it was 20 years ago!) … I thought it was worth giving the new TV series reimagining that story a try.
The TV version of 12 Monkeys does not disappoint. It launches with scenes in the future and the recent past that are as exciting as they are intriguing. The pilot had me hooked from the get-go.
The idea of a character being sent back in time from a post-apocalyptic world in order to change the past is hardly new. 12 Monkeys feels like Terminator meets Time Trax with a dash of Survivors thrown in for good measure … with the result being some gripping TV.
The action revolves around two well-acted, 3-dimensional leads, James Cole and Dr. Cassandra Railly, with additional supporting characters adding background interest. Their mission is to prevent a disease from wiping out much of the world’s population in the near future.
A series that jumps between different time zones could have been confusing but 12 Monkeys handles this well, turning it into an asset that fills in back story in some places and keeps up the suspense in others.
Lagging a couple of weeks behind the transmission date when I watched the pilot episode, I was so gripped that I immediately watched the next 2 episodes back-to-back and am eagerly looking forward to the next instalment.
If you haven’t yet seen this series, new episodes air on Fridays at 9pm on Syfy and you can find the previous episodes on catch-up, with the pilot available until Sunday 29th March.