The Pilot – As the first episode of Moonhaven begins, settlers have been sent to the moon with our most powerful artificial intelligence to solve Earth’s problems and save us. After three generations, they have built a society that can survive the future and the time has come to bring it home. We see Chill Spen running through the woods at night as she uses a device in her hand. She is chased by a young man who grabs her and tells her to calm her craze. He takes the device from her, but she tells him he is making a mistake. They argue whether it is too late. Strego claims he is doing this for them and everyone else. Chill takes off again before he catches up with her and we hear a struggle. In the morning, Paul Sarno (Dominic Monaghan) walks with Arlo (Kadeem Hardison). They discuss the fact that everything is changing.
When Arlo tells Paul he is stuck, Paul says he may like being stuck. He tries to talk to her about how he feels, but he thinks they’re past talking now. Arlo asks him about Fritz the Fireman. He is coming around the house a lot so the kids are getting used to him. Although Paul says he isn’t a fool, Arlo says he is and that has been long established. Arlo accuses him of watching and doing nothing as they drift away. Paul tells him that he sometimes has trouble sleeping. Arlo has a way out of that by going outside naked in the dark with his bare feet in the dirt. You have to get small because big problems don’t find small men. Once they find the victim’s body, Paul uses his handheld device to identify her as Chill Spen. The body is cool at 92 degrees.
Paul suspects she has been dead for seven and a half hours. Arlo isn’t sure why they care since the Chancellor does it all for them. Paul wonders why she was wandering through the dark woods at night. Paul uses his controller to determine that Strego Nall (Adam Isla O’Brien) is the killer. He is in Back Park around Middle Way right now. They notice a woman in the distance who calls herself Asus. She claims she did not see the killing and the victim did not reach out to her for help. A dreadfeel swept over her so she came here, but it was too late. Since she had the dreadfeel, it means she must’ve known the dead. Asus admits it was her sister. Paul says they lug the Bright since they’re detectives. He offers to give her one to release her from memory, pain, and drudge. When she refuses to take it, Paul tells her his name and reminds her to come to him if she changed her mind.
He will make sure that her sister is cared for and receives justice. After the intro, we learn it is only two more weeks before the bridge or the first wave of Lunars arriving on Earth. They will bring planet-saving advances created by IO, humanity’s self-teaching artificial intelligence buried in the moon. Indira Mare, who is considered the Envoy of IO, reiterated her trust in IO’s ability to deliver tested solutions to their most daunting challenges. Indira (Amara Karan) says the technology that can save their world is coming as well as the people who can teach them to live in harmony with this technology. This isn’t just about solving the crushing problems of the planet. It is also about solving us. Bella Sway (Emma McDonald) identifies herself and confirms she is in transport logistics.
She is the first flight out of here in a month. Later, she is introduced to Tomm Schultz (Joe Manganiello) who calls himself the muscle. She wasn’t expecting passengers since this was supposed to be a cargo flight. Tomm admits they weren’t expecting to be with her either, but their pilot is sick. He says their names tell their story, but Bella says she didn’t ask him to explain anything to her. His destiny will take him to the mountains although he isn’t sure which ones yet. As for Bella, it means beautiful and war. She doesn’t want to choose. Tomm sees “be all” so he suggests that could be God. He sees a bell ringing with all the noise of life. The A stands alone. When asked what she sees, Bella says she sees that he is a bad fortune teller. She asks who he protects before Indira enters the room. Tomm tells her that they’re waiting for her in quarantine.
Once Indira is introduced to Bella, she asks her to get them there and back in one piece. Tomm tells Bella that she was vetted and her military experience qualifies her to transport Indira. He’d stake his life on anyone who survived what she survived. She claims she isn’t what she was, but Tomm says nobody escapes what they were. Before leaving, he says he’ll see her on the moon. When alone, Bella talks to a friend about her passengers. He reveals they want her to bring home a singer. It’s their name for a drug or a mechano-pharmasude and is used in their kook ceremonies. It supposedly uses nanos to blow open your doors of perception. She tells Jatey that they’re coming for him. He says they only need one sample to duplicate it here. Bella just needs to park and wait because someone will deliver it to her.
Then, she walks to the room where Tomm and the Envoy of IO sleeping. She touches Indira’s nose and honks before leaving. Paul and Arlo go to the jail to visit Strego. When asked if he killed Chill, he questions whether it matters. Arlo uses the Chancellor to recall the moment he killed her. Arlo calls him guilty and decides to go to lunch. Paul tells Strego he knows he will make this right and heal what he wounded. Strego says he doesn’t deserve to be healed before headbutting Paul and running away. Arlo returns to check on Paul. They’re told to let him go since he doesn’t have anywhere to go. Bella wakes up Indira while Tomm takes a bit longer to come around. She makes the run once or twice a month with cargo, but she stays on the ship since she isn’t allowed on Glade. She is fine with that and glad that IO has solved all of their problems.
Indira says IO is only a tool so it is going to need people to teach and guide it. Then, it will be able to guide them to the end of suffering. There are many people who want to stop what they’re doing, but Tomm says it must work. Once Indira learns that Bella stands apart but not alone, she says she likes her. Bella turns on music because it helps her concentrate. Indira asks why she keeps coming back if she doesn’t like it here. Bella reveals she likes being miserable. After landing, Tomm admits he packs a gun even though weapons do not work on Glade. Indira invites Bella to come on shore with them as her guest, but Bella thinks she should stay on CAT. Tomm tells her to dance with the dark and the darkness is a gift you must embrace. Indira admits it is something they say here. Indira goes to land where the locals sing to her.
After the singing, Indira tells Council Chair Maite Voss (Ayelet Zurer) that she didn’t expect to meet her. They discuss the IO as Maite says those who make it make the world. Indira says the IO serves the world and works for the many. They’ll shut it down when it serves the few. Maite says the first wave is eager to return to the mother because they’ve waited a long time for this moment. The real work begins now. Bella watches a bird dive into the water before an egg floats to the surface. She gets it and brings it back inside. After it is cracked open, she finds a strange object inside. The alarm goes off when Paul and Arlo arrive outside her ship. She hides everything as they come inside and begin looking around. Once she confronts them, she is told that she’ll need to come with them. As she rides with them, she warns them that the envoy won’t be happy about this.
She asks about getting a lawyer only to be told they do not have lawyers here and that is why it is a utopia. Paul tells her about the Kinetobet which is a dance alphabet that they all have to learn. They reach the interview room. Paul says they have two breaths to clear the mind, but Bella doesn’t want to try it. They ask about her job as a pilot and whether she likes money. Then, she is questioned where her mind was yesterday night. She says it was about 45,000 miles from here. If it is about the encrypted call to Earth, she was testing her secondary comm channels. Paul says it is about a murder before telling her about the dreadfeel that they experience here.
Bella knows nothing about the murder and didn’t know they had murders here. She is asked about her mother who was a Mooner or one of them. Bella only knows that her mother decided to come here after she was born and left her behind. Paul asks if she has had a yearning to reconnect with her mother. Bella says she would be the last person to know if her mother did anything up here. She insists she feels nothing about her mother giving her up. Before she can leave, she is told that her sister, Chill Spen, is dead. She is six years younger and the gonesoul was found this morning. When Bella entered their airspace, IO flagged her as blood. Bella doesn’t think it matters and questions if they want her to take over the interrogation since they don’t seem to know how it works. She roleplays to show them how it is supposed to work.
They don’t think it matters why she was killed since they already know who did it. Instead, they’re interested in helping her grieve. They believe she wanted to be near her mother since she has flown the Moon Loop hundreds of times. She learns that her mother died ten years ago. She didn’t know. They would offer her a Bright, but it is prohibited because she is an outsider. Instead, Paul says they can do the Scrinjig. She tries to get them to stop, but they begin performing the ceremony anyway. Tomm opens the door and invites her for a drink so she leaves. Bella won’t tell him why they pulled her in. Tomm warns her that Mooners don’t give up so they’ll get that dance before she leaves. Bella doesn’t know how any of this is going to work because people back home are killing each other, starving, and wearing gas masks.
Tomm says this is for their children and not them. When you’re born into it, this is just life. Bella talks about learning to survive on Earth before Tomm shows her his tattoo and reveals he did two tours in the China Sea. The people here study it and know what they’re capable of, but they don’t know what war is like. Bella believes darkness will always find a way even though this is supposed to be their future. Strego takes off his shirt and retrieves a strange object from a chest hidden in the woods. He uses it to remove something from his back. Paul visits Bella on the ship again although he didn’t like the idea of coming here again either. He says it is important because her sister had a water sister named Asus. A water sister is a sister she grew up with. They don’t raise their own children here and instead raise others’ children.
They only see their blood children when they’re born and about to die. When you don’t raise your own, they’re all yours. He reveals that Asus has asked him to give her the Bright which is good because the pain is deep for her. She’d like to meet Bella before she forgets. Bella doesn’t care and wouldn’t have had to deal with any of this if the Envoy’s pilot hadn’t gotten sick. Asus has a message from her mother. Asus introduces them to Chill’s dog Orbis when they arrive. She asks Paul how this works since it is her first time. He says you take the pill and it puts you to sleep. When you wake up, you feel better because the Bright unhooks your heart from the memories. The picture still plays but there is no friction. Although she’ll still remember her sister, the pain will be frozen and the killing will be gone. Asus tells Bella there is pain in her root.
She believes it would be better for Bella to take this than her. Asus takes the pill and lays down. She tells Bella that she wanted to see her face so she knows now. When Chill and Asus were little, they’d play alone down by the sea. One day, a woman walked out of the forest and she had Bella’s face. Before she left, she picked up Chill to hold her and say goodbye. She also whispered something into her ear. Asus says she doesn’t want to forget her sister. Chill told her that she said she had another sister on the Earth who would watch over her and keep her safe. Asus says there was a third in the Glade. She came as Chill fell after the murder.
There were three including sister, killer, and watcher. As they leave, Paul tells Bella that there was no third and their machine is never wrong. Bella would be worried too if the machine that creates the air she breathes starts missing things. IO doesn’t miss anything. After she asks how it sees, Paul says it uses the satellites since they’re all marked from birth. He shows her the mark on his back. He claims IO watches them to learn from them instead of watching them to control them. Paul hears a noise confirming the Envoy’s speech will begin soon. The Envoy says agriculture forced them to save each other for many years and energy demand created massive inequality. Scarcity divided us while pestilence and disease weakened us.
They’ve turned a corner over the last century. With assistance from IO, they’re on the verge of being able to explore an undiscovered country and an Earth population with all its basic needs met with a climate that no longer seeks to destroy us. The mission of Moonhaven is to show them how to do this. Soon, the technological advancements on Lune will be brought back to the Mother. Bella and Paul go to the spot where the body was found. She finds something on the ground and sticks it in her pocket without Paul noticing. Then, she gets Paul to admit something is off about this case, but she wants him to think about it. They hear someone in the woods and decide to chase them. Once they reach a wall, Paul tells Bella to stop because there is no going past this. She says they did so she is going to go past it too.
She climbs through a hole and begins running toward the person in question but stops when she notices something. Bella and Orbis fall to the ground as the person hides in the tree. Maite tells Indira that they owe her everything. Indira tells her that she came because ICON has requested the council swap, but Maite says their council has two more years. Indira says new members will be picked immediately and elect a new council chair. Maite has spent her life preparing for the day when the first wave would leave for Earth. IO has detected a pattern of responses that suggests a risk of corruption of workflow. Maite says IO sees the future and past, but the past doesn’t always repeat. Indira doesn’t think Maite has done anything wrong, but she believes the past speaks for itself. Maite is told the swap is preventative and she can step aside with honor.
Maite mentions the pivot or the movement from the people who seek to understand the mysteries of the universe to the ones who create them. When asked if she believes in God, Indira says she believes in right and wrong. Maite says things can change with thunder or a pin drop. They pivot by grace better than IO. She wonders if a machine could see that coming. Indira hopes she’ll cooperate before leaving with Tomm. Bella gets up and joins Paul who introduces her to his love named Lone (Elaine Tan). She learns she was barely alive under the tree so they brought her here to recover. Their son Wish (Josh Tedeku) will ride the first wave back to Earth. Bella says he’ll be the tip of the spear but Wish hopes the people on Earth know they’re coming to help. She is told she was stupid to go past the wall and someone born here would never make that mistake.
Paul lied by saying the dog was crazed by an animal and Bella was brave enough to go after it. They discuss the differences between people on Earth and the Mooners. Lone grabs Fritz’s hand after he talks about people on Earth following or breaking rules. Later that night, Paul and Bella discuss the girl and what they saw. He wonders if it was a little ghost and says there will be a reason because there always is. They talk about Fritz who Bella already hates. Paul wishes she didn’t have to leave since he is a bad detective. When she returns to her room to get her stuff, Paul’s daughter approaches to talk about her Mooner mother and sister.
She has never met her mother either although she sees her every day in her thinks. Elna wants to give her the dance. Bella relents and lets her dance for her. Once she gets back on the ship, she gets an alert saying motion has been detected. She uses a stun glove of sorts to attack Strego and drop him to the ground. He wants a ride to the Mother so he can leave forever. She accuses him of killing her sister, but he says she called and you answered. She makes him stay down there while she returns to Tomm and prepares to leave. Strego comes up and says it is done. Where one world ends, the next one begins. Tomm shoots and kills him before going after Bella. They fight for a while until she grabs something into his neck and drops him. Paul is outside because he had a bad feeling.
Bella says she walked into something and doesn’t know who to trust. He turns on something around her wrist, tells her to trust him, and causes her to pass out.
Moonhaven Review
The first episode of Moonhaven was a double-edged sword with mainly dull edges. The story has some interesting points although we’ve seen so many of them in other projects such as Halo and Brave New World. The pills reminded me a lot of Brave New World while the implant was nearly identical to Halo. The big difference is that both of those shows were better and that is considering how poor Halo turned out to be.
Everything about Moonhaven feels like a cheap imitation of so many Syfy shows. Everything about the show feels cheap, including the props, special effects, and cast. Through the first episode, none of the characters are easy to connect with. In fact, some of the main characters are difficult to take to the point of being cringeworthy. The story is a bit too bloated although not enough has been explained very well right now.
The episode dragged on far too long so I ended up getting frustrated with it before it was over. It was a relief when the episode finally ended so the hour run time created a dreadful affair. There is always a chance that the second episode of Moonhaven will be a lot better. That will have to happen or viewers will likely stop watching. The first episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Moonhaven can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
