When the original Prime Video series The Rig came out in 2023, it was one of those series that sounded interesting, but not quite interesting enough to prompt me to watch it. However with The Rig season 2 landing on Thursday, January 2, I decided to finally give it a go over the Christmas break (don't get excited, it's really not a Christmas show).
The Rig is a mystery sci-fi series about the crew aboard a Scottish oil rig, which is cut off from the mainland amidst a spate of strange occurrences. It's what you'd get if you added in equal doses of Lovecraft's nautical horror, Lost's format and Stephen King's entire premise for The Mist.
And as a fan of some of those above ingredients, I was pleasantly surprised with how The Rig panned out! It was better than I had expected with some neat twists and turns but not too much melodrama.
Reception to the show was really divided when it came out. On Rotten Tomatoes, the critics score is 67% while the audience one is 44%, suggesting that viewers were almost entirely split on it. I didn't even know it was this polar upon release, as those scores must make it one of Prime Video's most divisive shows.
I can see why people weren't sold on The Rig: it's a character-based mystery series but, for the most part, the characters are the weakest link. You've got a captain incapacitated by a past trauma that feels really tangentially linked to the crisis at hand. You've got a corporate representative who's a little too quick to turn into a good guy, removing any potential drama. You've got a few other major characters whose motivations aren't made all that compelling, and one of my two favorite characters was killed off surprisingly quickly.
Yet what kept me coming back to The Rig is its central premise. Each episode brings multiple different new bits of information, changes to the situation of the characters and ramifications for decisions made, and this kept me interested in where the series would go. Initially billed as a 'supernatural thriller', I was impressed by how scientific and logical the issue is (for the most part, at least!), and it certainly wins its 'sci-fi thriller' badge of honor.
At the time of writing with one episode that I still need to watch, it seems mostly all sorted out, but there are a few lingering questions which don't quite make sense to me.
Episode 4 in particular rejuvenated my interest in the show, giving a tease as to the scope of the issue which caused me to ask loads of questions that I want answered. And I'd imagine that The Rig season 2 is where these get answered.
The premise for season 2 of The Rig totally spoils the ending of the first season, so I'll be coy: it continues certain characters' stories after the season 1 finale. That may sound obvious but writing any more, or even who's in it, could affect your viewing of the first season.
You won't mind spoilers for season 2 if you're in the roughly 50% of The Rig viewers who didn't like it, but for people who like mystery sci-fi thrillers like Lost, Flashforward or 1899 (especially the latter, being nautical-based), it could well be worth a watch.
You mind find that it's a hidden gem that you regret sleeping on for so long. Plus, it's only 6 episodes, which admittedly means that it rushes over some key character points as I mentioned, but means you won't be wasting much time if you don't enjoy it.
