Jason Momoa is taking on much more than leading the Dothraki for his latest venture SEE, he’s carrying the launch of an entire streaming service on his notoriously chiseled back in Apple TV+ and, we cannot stress this enough, if anyone can mend the wounds of Game of Thrones’ final season it’s the star they let off too soon.
See’s premise is ambitious, to say the least, and with good reason – there’s a lot riding on its success. To set the scene: Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s story jumps 400 years to the future after a virus has wiped out the Earth’s population with the exception of 2 million people, marking a scarcely medieval new start.
Only, those ‘fortunate’ to have survived the cull emerged without their sight. In fact, vision has not only become something of the past it’s become folklore. Until two children, born to an elusive stranger rumoured to be the only human with sight, are born to a community – The Alkeny – putting its people in grave danger from all those desperate to snatch the babies.
From there, Momoa’s Baba Voss leads the pack as a warrior with a dark past, who takes it upon himself to raise the children and protect their secret before they hunt down their biological father and start building the new world.
But, inevitably, there are perilous obstacles standing in his way. The twins are a prime target for lurking vultures, most notably the barbaric Queen Kane played by Sylvia Hoaks, who is among the many highlights of the series – as mesmerising as she is genuinely haunting.
Apple TV+ release See’s first three instalments this week – three hours of unbroken tension. While Game of Thrones comparisons are somewhat inevitable – even if Momoa desperately wants you to overlook them – See does show promise of reaching the extraordinary heights of HBO’s once pinnacle of epic television.
With a $15 million (£11.6 million) budget, See is the first spectacle worthy of being uttered in the same breath of GOT. The battle sequences are extraordinary – within a matter of minutes a merciless bloodbath sets the tone of what’s ahead: blockbuster sequences with no-holds barred, a punch in the gut for the faint-hearted, beautifully choreographed with Momoa largely, and successfully, leading the way.
While we’re not seeing Momoa branching out too far from the familiarity of Khal Drogo or Aquaman, in See the 40-year-old shares a closer resemblance to the puppy-loving doting father that continues to ‘break’ Instagram daily and openly sobs to The Lion King, because who doesn’t? While he’s proved himself as a natural at slicing the odd limb off his foe as a millennial answer to Arnold Schwarzenegger time and time again, almost a decade since the notoriously one dimensional Drogo was killed off, Momoa finally gets to serve some of his chops.
There’s still elements of the grunty primal hero we’ve become accustomed to, but Momoa also proves he can carry a sincerity we’ve not seen before. Though, he far from carries See on his own. Alfre Woodard – who’s among the frontrunners for a 2020 Oscar – is captivating as Paris, arguably Vas’s number two in command and fierce protector of his children, while Hoaks’ performance as the wild mad queen should, and more than likely will be, talked about in years to come.
As a concept, on paper See seems absurd, but makes perfect sense when executed – even if on occasions the survivors’ blindness is suspicious at best, often totally unbelievable. Not that watching Momoa slaughter a bear and an entire army with questionable ease takes away from its enjoyment whatsoever though.
Immediately See feels accomplished. Almost as soon as it’s begun there’s a comfortability to Knight’s vision of a blind dystopia, where the well-publicised sell of a population without their sight is swiftly forgotten and the constant threat of danger, which never falters, makes for a consistently thrilling watch.
While millions will no doubt come for Jason Momoa, everything about See is worth staying for. I’ve already devoured the first three episodes twice and there’s a good chance I’ll gobble them up again before Friday.
See episodes one, two and three will be available to stream on AppleTV+ from November 1. The rest of season one will be released weekly.
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