Siberia - Series Premiere - Recap: What the Hell Did I Just Watch?!

Credit: NBC

Okay, so let's talk about Siberia. The show is a "found footage" thriller that presents itself as a Survivor-esque reality competition series in which sixteen contestants are dropped into the middle of the Siberian wilderness with one goal: survive through the winter. The prize at the end is $500,000, to be divided among whomever is still remaining in the competition at the end of the harsh, brutal Siberian winter. There are no rules, no votes, and no challenges. The only way a person can leave a game is by withdrawing, by going to a designated "safe zone" and hitting a red button to send for a helicopter. This is all well and good, presenting an interesting twist on the venerable Survivor formula. But the show blends in a bit of Lost to make things interesting, adding the threat of an unseen, malevolent force.

Credit: NBC

I tend to enjoy going into a new series completely blind. Thus, I didn't know this was a scripted drama. Looking back, while the production was fairly transparent in its manipulation of the "contestants," the series does an excellent job maintaining the facade that these are real people dropped into an overtly manipulative game in which producers essentially enact a string of psychological tortures. Sure, I feel like a bit of a moron for not being able to pick up on the scripted nature of the entire thing, but it's a credit to the production team that the show feels as authentic as it does. Even as this "social experiment" becomes even more implausibly f***ed up, the show still looks and feels like a genuine reality competition. This is why I was glad I didn't know jack about this series before watching the premiere, since the last fifteen minutes pack a massive wallop that benefits from the shock of wondering just how far the producers are going to go in messing with these contestants' psychological well-being.

Credit: NBC

It's only afterwards, when it becomes clear that this is all just scripted drama, that the whole thing falls apart. In particular, the episode-ending preview for the season ahead drops all semblance of verisimilitude and embraces sheer camp. All the realistic, grounded reality show performances are tossed out the window in favor of over-acted histrionics. In essence, the cast was smart to play it low-key in the premiere, since this is the only episode where one could realistically be fooled into thinking this is a genuine reality show. But the brief collection of preview snippets does not give me confidence for where this show is headed. I might actually enjoy the show more if it actually was a reality show in which the producers are basically playing head games with the contestants. At least that would have been a novel approach. Granted, a "found footage" serialized drama is fairly novel in itself, but the entire plot collapses once you realize that there's no way this production wouldn't have been shut down once s*** started getting real.

Credit: NBC

But then, that's part of the mystery, in certain respects. Yeah, there's a lot that's happening within the world of the show that could simply be the byproduct of supernatural Siberian nonsense, but there's also a certain intrigue in the idea that the story is about a bunch of sadistic producers who decide that horrifying, violent television is the only way to rescue a dying model of viewership (a satire in the same vein as the legendary 1976 film Network). Whichever direction the story decides to take, it still feels like a reality show, first and foremost. Thus, it ends up feeling like nothing else currently on TV, for how it takes something woefully implausible and makes something nearly intelligible from the disparate pieces. The actors do a fine job of playing the reality show formula to the hilt -- except for the host, a bland Australian Jeff Probst who is just woefully miscast in the role, particularly in a pivotal moment towards the end of the first episode, where a better actor really could have sold the gravity of the "tragedy" that befalls the cast. But he's the only sore spot, as most of the actors are able to work within the confines of the material to create realistic, lived-in performances.

Credit: NBC

This is mostly because the cast is comprised of the kind of easily identifiable archetypes that every reality show casts, from the former model to the self-serving jackass who "isn't here to make friends." Also adding to the verisimilitude, the first half of the episode features the sorts of low-stakes conflicts that exemplifies most reality shows, such as the former model flipping out on her fellow castmates for making her sleep on the floor, or the grizzled vet who's angry that the self-important pretty boy doesn't want to do any work around camp. In addition, the show making use of an international cast (with American cast members being joined by characters from Australia, the UK, Taiwan and Israel, just to name a few) makes each cast member slightly more distinguishable in the early going.

Credit: NBC

The less you know going in, the better. But even then, while this is a strangely compelling show, I'm not sure how well it's going to work once the show begins to slowly do away with its more realistic elements. Every ingredient is here for a unique, engaging drama series, although the previews for the season ahead imply that the next episodes will be doing away with any semblance of verisimilitude, and instead opt to engage full-on with the over-the-top horror/mystery elements. I'm not sure how good the cast and writing will be when taken further out of the comfortable, identifiable context of a reality competition series. But for right now, it's enough to recommend giving the series a look. There really isn't anything else like it on TV right now.