Cobra Season 1 (2020) Review

Cobra Season 1 (2020) Review

 I saw the adverts for this show and I was intrigued to watch Cobra, so this is my review for the 6 episode first season. The premise of the season sees after a solar flare takes out all the power in the UK, the government led by the Prime Minister have to attempt to get the power back on. 

Main Character

Robert Carlyle plays the prime minister in this show and I thought he did a really good job in this show in the role, he started off a bit boring but he really grows into the show and ends up delivering a pretty powerful performance. You can see the stress build as the season goes on and he has to deal with quite a bit in the show and you care about him in the role.

Supporting Characters

Richard Dormer from Game Of Thrones is in this show and is probably the best character in the show, he gets plenty of screen time, especially at the beginning of the show and you do care about his character. He delivers a strong performance and I hope we see more of him in other things now Game Of Thrones has finished. David Haig plays an antagonist in the show and he is very unlikeable and he is pretty charismatic to watch, you really grow to not like the guy and he comes across as a true distasteful character. The rest of the cast wasn't as interesting, Victoria Hamilton is one of the main characters but I really didn't care about her character or the story arc that she has in the show even though the show really tries to make you care. The rest of the cast is forgettable and some of them I wonder why they were even in the show. 

Story

The story when it comes to the power going out is pretty interesting, you see the basic insticts come out in people quite quickly which I feel like might happen in real life if this happened. The tension is built very well and as the season progresses it builds and builds to make you care about the situation that the cabinet are put in. However, there are all these side plots that are just boring and they feel tacked onto the main story to attempt to flesh out the characters but you don't really care. Also this show ends really abruptly clearly setting up a second season but it makes this season feel incomplete and like there are elements of the story that aren't complete.

Script

The drama is pretty good, the characters confront each other very organically and it feels very real. The use of bad language doesn't feel overused and does a good job of showing just how stressed that these characters were. The humour is attempted to make these characters feel more real but it just doesn't work and feels out of place, this is one show that probably could have done with being very serious due to the subject matter.

Style

The show as mentioned does a very good job of building the conflict and the tension amongst the government and the public which for somebody who lives in the UK feels very real. But I had a bit of an issue with the tone of the show, I wish it had been a bit more of a balanced argument between the government and the working class but they don't, they clearly make it protagonists and antagonists which weakens this show.

Overall

Overall, this is an okay show, there are some good parts of this show especially when it comes to building tension. But this show isn't that interesting and if you have a little interest in it then it might be worth a watch but other then that it isn't really worth the time.

Rating - 6/10