The Discovery

Right now you can watch The Discovery in Australia on Netflix, and in the US on Netflix — and it goes further with its ideas than most genre entertainment bothers to. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. A 6/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Watch it for Jason Segel — the performance elevates material that could easily tip into self-seriousness. Put it on tonight on Netflix and see for yourself.

There is a reason The Discovery keeps coming up in conversation. The Discovery treats its concept seriously enough to follow it all the way through. In the near future, due to a breakthrough scientific discovery by Dr. Thomas Harbor, there is now definitive proof of an afterlife. While countless people have chosen suicide to reset their existence, others try to decide what it all means. Jason Segel and Rooney Mara lead a cast that keeps the bigger ideas grounded in something human. It hit screens in 2017. What separates The Discovery from lesser genre entertainment is a willingness to let the concept cost the characters something. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

Sci-fi fans who want ideas alongside the spectacle will find The Discovery genuinely rewarding. It rewards viewers regardless of what else is in their watch history. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Jason Segel's performance is the anchor the more ambitious moments need. The world-building pays off in ways you will not anticipate on a first watch.