REVIEW: ‘Moonhaven’ is An Original Sci-Fi Story Worth Checking Out

AMC+ is set to debut their rather ambitious sci-fi original, Moonhaven to their platform with the first two episodes available to stream starting July 7th. Set in the distant future, earth has now become a destructive dystopian future with their only hope of survival laying in the hands of a group of colonists who’ve lived on the Moon for 100 years with advanced artificial intelligence. The first wave is set to leave the Moon when malevolent forces seek to disrupt the peaceful society and take their Utopia for themselves.

From creator Peter Ocko, Moonhaven features the eclectic talents of Joe Manganiello, Dominic Monaghan, Kadeem Hardison, Ayelet Zurer, and Amara Karan. The series pushes the importance of the Moon colonists and their 100-year mission of creating a new culture by which to live in the hopes of saving the planet before its inevitable doom.

The story begins with Bella (Emma McDonald) a cargo pilot who’s tasked with transporting the Envoy of Earth, Idira (Karan), to the moon with her personal security, Tomm (Manganiello). Tensions with the lunar leadership have been stretched thin, with the first wave of Moon inhabitants set to depart for Earth any day now. Fear resonates through the lunar base with the notion that Earth can not change, and the first wave may be doomed to fail. Why share their utopia at all? After Bella learns she had a blood sister on the moon who was recently murdered, it sets off a chain of events that unravels a mass conspiracy larger than anyone could have anticipated.

Moonhaven is certainly an intriguing watch, but the choice to anchor Bella’s story as the narration for the audience gives you something to attach to that at least feels familiar. Bella serves as a smuggler and survivalist in a harsh reality that spares no mercy for the weak. A character trope that’s been done in television and film many times over, but rather than beat that trope to death, it’s sharply contrasted through the lunar culture which is itself personified in Paul (Monaghan).

Paul serves as a translation piece for Bella. He is a living, breathing vehicle for the exposition of her to better understand their ways, which in turn brings the audience into the same space. Beyond that though Paul is hope. He’s a believer in the societal structure he’s been raised in, and helped support, and in the larger mission to bring this knowledge to Earth in an attempt to abolish the old ways of humanity. In the beginning, it really does feel quite grating in the dialogue used, and the activities they engage in, think Cloud Atlas had a baby with the elite of the people from Demolition Man.

Honestly, I was worried this would become too much of an obstacle to overcome at some points, but as you delve further into the story with Bella as the guide you learn to appreciate how their society has developed without the influence of outside interference all while being guided by artificial intelligence designed to equitably improve and affect the lives of everyone involved.

Ocko took some bold creative choices as well. Take for example the decision within Moonhaven’s society that every baby that is born is raised by another family. Thus each family raises someone else’s child as if it were their own to foster what they call “water family” to help them embrace their outward look on togetherness rather than an inward look on blood relationships and the need to protect their own. It’s entirely startling at first. It really unsettled me as a Father myself, but this impassioned notion really stuck with me throughout the show.

Utopia doesn’t last forever, however, and in what felt like a moment inspired by Elysium, the resentment builds amongst those who’ve had to live without for so long as inequity demands retribution.

The series has all the right makings for a great show and captures some fantastic sci-fi elements. The visual effects are really entertaining, especially for the cinematography looking skyward from the Moon to the Earth. The plot does suffer some from pacing issues somewhat regularly as the backstory becomes needlessly convoluted at times, shoehorning in a lot of history where it’s not needed.

I’ve got to give it up for the cast because they bring this story to life, especially through the pairing of McDonald, Monaghan, and Hardison, and I really didn’t like the lunar detectives at first, but man, they grow on you. Paul especially has a quite compelling growth, and his effect on Bella is noticeable.

Moonhaven should be celebrated for what it is though, an original sci-fi story with an enticing cast. While it’s not perfect and suffers from heavy-handed dialogue, and pacing issues, there’s a lot to enjoy and admire. I’d love to see where this plot goes in Season 2.

The first two episodes of Moonhaven are available now, with the rest following a weekly schedule.