The Rig: What Lies Beneath

Sometimes having no knowledge of what you are about to watch makes the viewing more enjoyable.  You are unburdened with preconceived notions or expectations so what you are left with is an honest impression of what you have just seen. I had not heard or read anything about Amazon Prime Video’s new streaming series, The Rig, and my lack of information made the storytelling that much more interesting and exciting. As I began watching the first two episodes, I did not even know if this was a genre piece or a straight drama, but was happily surprised by the mysterious supernatural elements.

In the North Sea off the coast of Scotland stands Kinloch Bravo oil rig.  Just as its crew are about to rotate shifts with a new crew and return to the mainland all communications are cut off and they are surrounded by a dense fog and falling ash. Offshore installation manager Magnus (Iain Glen) attempts to keep his crew safe while trying to figure out what is going on, but a serious accident to a crew member sets tempers ablaze and Magnus not only has to deal with the strange supernatural events around him, but also try to keep the crew from mutinying.  What force is behind all this, and can the crew of Kinloch Bravo survive the coming doom?  Watch and find out!

The Rig has the honor of being the first Amazon Original series to be filmed in Scotland, and the cast is almost entirely made up of actors from the United Kingdom, primarily Scotland but with some British and Welsh actors as well. The exception to this is the female lead, Rose (Emily Hampshire) who is Canadian.  So, if you have a hard time understanding the Scottish or Welsh accents, you may want to turn on the subtitles (it’s one of my favorite accents, so this was a huge plus in my book). Aside from their nationalities, the actors are all very well cast and give some great performances. People who live together in a confined space develop a bond with those around you, even the ones you don’t particularly like.  They become a family, for good and bad, and the cast captured the essence of this bond very well.  The camaraderie and the fights, the playful banter, and the feeling of devastation when one is lost.  Most of this is not apparent in the dialogue but in the actors’ faces and actions, giving credit to the cast. The one downside to the smaller seasons (The Rig only has six episodes), is that we don’t get full, in-depth character exploration, so where the actors do a great job making their characters more than one dimensional archetypes, I am not sure we will get to really know these people like we could in a longer season, with all their back stories that could explain motivation and intentions. Even with the limited character development, I was able to connect with several characters, especially the character of Alwyn (Mark Bonnar), who seems to hold a kind of calm wisdom from all his years working on rigs. He is the voice of reason and a fatherly guiding light to the crew.

The production value for the series is pretty good with limited special effects but some very nice visuals.  The dense fog and falling ash create the appropriate spooky vibe while the script along with the acting create tension that is palpable. The first episode is mainly expositional, and we are left with a feeling of confusion about what is happening.  In some cases, this can be a detriment, but I feel like this worked well for The Rig.  It built up suspense and left you wanting more to the point that I immediately watched the second episode. Overall a very enjoyable watch and I look forward to viewing the final four episodes to see what happens.