Main cast: Peter Franzén (Snow), Zita Hanrot (Hirald), Alaïs Lawson (Visser), Jonnie Hurn (Baris), Piotr Michael (Jharit), Julie Nathanson (Jharilla), and Scott Whyte Trot)
Directors: Léon Bérelle, Dominique Boidin, Rémi Kozyra, and Maxime Luère
Snow in the Desert is brought to everyone by the people behind Beyond the Aquila Rift, and it shows. The same aesthetic, the same sci-fi vibes, the same “based on a short story by a well-respected author” (Neal Asher, in this case) genesis, but sadly, without an interesting story like the other other episode.
Basically, we have an albino fellow, Snow, who has a secret that causes him to be either the subject of assassination attempts or capture. Hiding in a Desert planet like he’s the hero of the early 1900s pulp fiction heroes that live in Mars, sadly, doesn’t work, as in this episode the whole posse catches up with him.
He finds an ally in Hirald, a lady with a French accent… but is she an ally ally, or just someone else hoping to get her hands on Snow for non-sexy reasons?
This one is a pretty conventional action-banger with romance thrown in, but it’s actually a very generic story that suffers from its length time occluding any decent attempts at characterization or depth. Snow is a standard lone wolf with angst archetype, while Hirald is the strong action heroine sort that comes with pretty standard vulnerabilities.
I suppose one can say that this is an action-packed episode that is also about loneliness at its core, but meh, this isn’t anything new in the first place as this is a pretty standard trope in itself!
It’s still the best episode to date in this season, for what that’s worth. After all, it boasts solid pacing, fluid animation, and gorgeous scenery. The only “but” here, and it’s a big one, is how it is also a predictable, generic, and emotionally empty episode.
So yes, this is a gorgeous episode, but as a follow-up to Beyond the Aquila Rift, it’s tad underwhelming in comparison.
The post Snow in the Desert (2021) first appeared on HOT SAUCE REVIEWS.
