TV Review: NAUTILUS Episode 6, ‘The Big Blue'

Geek Girl Authority

2 days ago

We're halfway through the season, and the team behind Nautilus still knows how to keep viewers guessing. After the high that was Episode 5, we settle in for more intrigue, professional machinations of the East India Mercantile Company, and sadly, some tragedy.
'The Big Blue' is a reminder to viewers that adventures are great, and some perils may be easily overcome, but real danger is always around the corner for the crew of the Nautilus. Nautilus, Season 1 Episode 6, 'The Big Blue'
'The Big Blue' is quintessential seafaring stuff. I'm glad Nautilus took this long to lean into classic ocean clichés, such as searching for lost cities and badly-rendered sharks. The crew, back to being themselves after a mysterious island infection laid them low, has their curiosity piqued. Is there a lost city under the seas?
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Gustave Benoit (Thierry Frémont), creator of the Nautilus, scientist, and explorer, is champing at the bit to investigate. He and Humility Lucas (Georgia Flood) can't wait to get out there, but Nemo (Shazad Latif) takes a lot of convincing. It's never not going to irk me that the Nautilus version of Nemo doesn't jump at the chance to find a lost city.
This is the first episode of Nautilus that feels like a direct homage to Jules Verne's book. Their visiting a lost city should give you an idea why. But Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas is far more interested in exploration than Nemo in the show is. I get it, his mission is revenge, but, seriously? He doesn't even get a glint in his eyes at the idea of a lost city?
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Nemo isn't one-dimensional in the show, but by removing any of his scientific curiosity, which is a vital part of the book character, we lose the layers that would make the screen character just as mesmerizing.
While the crew readies themselves for this new mission, Jagadish Ghosh (Chum Ehelepola) receives an impossible choice from Captain Billy Millais (Luke Arnold). I have to admit, I may have read Millais wrong. The Nautilus team is keeping us viewers on tenterhooks, trying to figure out what this man's real intentions are. Death and Betrayal
Nautilus is an adventure show resplendent with spectacles and a general air of fun. But death, betrayal, and injustice have been key themes of the show starting with the premiere. Nemo's history is filled with the horrors of Imperialism and the loss borne from it. Humility struggles against the patriarchy, and was (still is?) destined for a life trapped as a wife to a man she doesn't know.
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The rest of the Nautilus crew face their own personal demons. We get snippets of dialogue in Episode 6 from some of the supporting characters that tell us more about what they've lost. The whole episode is tinged with a sense of melancholy.
This is a clever move by the creative team, especially director Ben C. Lucas. 'The Big Blue' doesn't have a sudden tonal shift, but eases us into the realization that, at the end of the day, the Nautilus is manned by a crew of escapees still on the run from the villainous Company. And that the seas are not always your friend.
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We're never far from some much-needed levity on Nautilus , but viewers will be left worried about the crew. The Company, and everyone in it, are untrustworthy. They may be cartoonishly evil, but their deeds are still just as deadly, as we see in 'The Big Blue.'
Nautilus airs every Sunday on AMC and AMC+.
On Location: The World of JOHN WICK's New York Continental Hotel Monita has been championing diversity, inclusivity, and representation in entertainment media through her work for over a decade. She is a Tomatometer-Approved Critic. She writes for Bam Smack Pow and Geek Girl Authority. Her bylines have appeared on 3-time Eisner Award-winning publication Women Write About Comics, HuffPost, Reactormag.com (formerly tor.com), Soundsphere/Screensphere, FanSided's Show Snob, and Vocal. She was also a TV/Movies features writer at Collider.com. Alongside her twin, Monita co-hosts the pop culture podcast Stereo Geeks.