As the first episode of The Rig begins, there seems to be an earthquake or something under the Kinloch Bravo rig. Baz Roberts (Calvin Demba) plays a video game with another worker. Rose Mason (Emily Hampshire) tells everyone that there is a new transfer rota. Baz jokes with Rose before hoping he still has his window seat on the chopper. Magnus MacMillan (Iain Glen) is told that the Kilscour isn’t reporting in so they don’t know when the helicopter will arrive. After the call, Rose enters his office. Magnus is looking at a document that is only for OIM. He reminds her that this is the home for the guys out there and not a career stepping stone.

He tells her about the heliport calling about a divert. Leck Longman (Emun Elliott) asks Baz if they need all the shouting and shooting. Baz believes he is drying out and suggests the rig would be the best place for it. Heather Shaw (Molly Vevers) argues with Baz about whether they can handle it out there. Cat Braithwaite (Rochenda Sandall) changes the channel so Baz decides to talk to Alwyn Evans (Mark Bonnar) about a discipline issue. Everyone begins laughing when Leck reveals Baz has been bumped and will be staying for a few more days. Fulmer Hamilton (Martin Compston) tries to reach Pictor to no avail.

Magnus asks him to come to the briefing room. Cat talks to Kacey on her computer as she is urged to tell Magnus. She is interrupted by Heather who tells her the briefing is starting. When Lars Hutton (Owen Teale) joins Baz, he learns he has been bumped. Magnus tells everyone there has been a report of a power failure on the North Kilscour platform. Helicopters from their sector are being diverted to evac. Lars keeps pushing to know how long it’ll be. Leck mentions that the phones are out so they can’t even call home to tell people they’re not coming. They want to know why Baz was bumped for Fulmer.

Rose explains that the company made a request for an experienced radio operator to be released for a liaison meeting. She picked Fulmer. Baz says it isn’t right. Magnus asks if this was cleared. Rose reminds him that Pictor requirements have contractual priority over the helicopter rota. Magnus tries to calm everything down by reminding Hutton he has said his peace. When the lights begin blinking, Magnus activates blackout recovery procedures. Fulmer learns that all generators are down and the battery backup just started. They can’t get the well restarted. Baz and the others get in place to wait for orders.

Rose tells Magnus she could’ve handled them, but Magnus doesn’t think she should’ve had to. Fulmer tells them what is going on. Alwyn goes outside and notices the rails shaking. Magnus wants the stand-by vessel radioed since they might need them. He wants to contact Charlie platform too since they seem to be having problems. Rose worries they’ll be way off quota if they have to shut down. Fulmer can’t get in touch with anyone because the radio is dead. Alwyn calls Magnus to tell him the safeties are on. The pressure climbs higher so Alwyn asks what he should do. Magnus orders him to shut it down.

As the power begins returning, Rose says they could’ve waited. Alwyn is told to send guys out to check on the module. Rose claims the safeties would’ve held. Magnus insists they have to stick to procedures so people don’t die. Fulmer says not everything is back since the radio isn’t working. Magnus wants the stand-by vessel in a shelter position until they know what caused that. After he asks if there is a way to signal them without a radio, Fulmer says he can get some flags so they can wave at them. He also has the SAT phone and says the best signal is on the helideck. Magnus wants to find out if it is linked to the Kilscour and he’ll do it alone.

When they’re alone, Fulmer checks on Rose to make sure she is okay. He tells the workers that the equipment is to be stored and they should wait for the debrief. Heather has to help Leck remove his jacket because his hands are so shaky. Hutton thinks it was a drill to get out of them out of the briefing room before the rig begins trembling. Grant (Richard Pepple) admits he has never seen anything like that before. Magnus sees fog in the distance and it seems to be approaching them. Soon, the entire rig is covered. Heather leads the others back inside. Fulmer and Alwyn realize no one is going to be flying a chopper in that fog.

Magnus returns without getting the phone to work. Fulmer says internal comms are working, but the external comms are not working. Magnus wonders if the tremor was seismic. Alwyn suggests the Earth is eventually going to punch back if they keep punching holes in it. Rose doesn’t believe it because they’re not on a fault line. Alwyn reminds her that the whole sea used to be land and they’re drilling through that. He goes on to say that things that can’t happen actually happen all the time out there. When they do, they usually cost lives. Fulmer asks if he should check the tower.

Rose doesn’t think that is a good idea in these conditions, but Magnus explains that they can’t change the conditions. Magnus decides to send Baz up with Fulmer even though Hutton says it isn’t safe. Magnus argues with Hutton about the risks involved and the risks of not going. Hutton tells Baz that he doesn’t have to go, but Baz believes he’ll get his chopper seat back if he does. Magnus offers to give him his seat if he manages to fix it. Baz climbs the ladder with Fulmer following close behind him. At one point, Baz gets nervous and can’t see Fulmer below him.

When he is scared by a bird, he nearly falls only to be saved by his harness. Fulmer catches up with him and urges him to move. Meanwhile, Heather can’t get the television to work. Leck talks about them being kids. When she asks what they are, Leck says they’re fossils digging fossils. While Fulmer works on the equipment, he tells Baz that Rose picked him because the company told her to. Baz argues getting close to her won’t help when they start cutting them loose and Hutton claims that is coming. He says the reps don’t hang around for long. She will be moving up and on while Fulmer will be left on his own again.

Fulmer gets mad and pushes him against the rail while asking why he gets to decide who is one of them. Once Fulmer gets it working, he prepares to leave. Baz drops the volt meter so Fulmer decides to leave him. A seagull drops dead on the platform. Magnus tells Hutton to keep it to himself if he has a problem with the way he runs the rig. They’re shocked when Baz’s body crashes to the ground. Magnus calls for help while Rose runs to help. Fulmer climbs down and claims Baz was coming down after him. Hutton argues with him about what happened.

Cat figures out that Baz is still alive so they begin working to help him. Magnus orders Fulmer to find a way to contact the shore. Rose shows Magnus that the pipelines have no pressure. Whatever happened there is happening elsewhere too. Fulmer is ordered to get them back online no matter what it takes. Cat works on Baz while Lars gets upset. Cat admits she has done all they can do here because his injuries are internal and they can’t open him up here. They can only stabilize him and make him comfortable until he can be transferred. Lars knocks things over and storms out. Alwyn believes he’ll understand in time, but Cat isn’t sure about that.

Fulmer tries to get in touch with the coastguard but doesn’t get a response. Rose comforts him as he admits he should’ve seen it coming because Baz already slipped on the way up. Fulmer tells her what Baz was saying about her and the company canning everyone. Rose kisses him and tells him it wasn’t his fault. Heather checks in with Cat in the bathroom and learns Baz is bad. Cat admits she shouldn’t even be there because she had a plan with Kacey. Heather is optimistic that they’ll get back and suggests people are working on it right now. Hutton grabs Cat in the hallway and urges her to fix him, but she fights back and leaves him on the ground.

Leck looks at Easter’s dark sketches. Heather visits Baz and tells Alwyn that they did their training together. As she leaves, Baz grabs the bed and sees whatever happened under the water. Hutton approaches Magnus to tell him to call the navy or do whatever he must to get a helicopter. They argue briefly with Hutton saying Baz should’ve never gone up there. When Magnus leaves, Hutton finds the urgent memo only for the OIM. Alwyn notices everyone is going up, but he stays to talk to Cat about Hutton. He asks her to find Dunlin. Magnus tells Rose they need to know it is safe out there before people start asking.

He asks if Fulmer seems okay to her. Magnus says you can work with people for years out here and everyone still has something they hold back. You don’t see what they believe in and care about until the pressure hits. Rose learns there are procedures in case they get stuck. Magnus says the problem is that there is no work and nothing to focus on except what they’re missing. They’re interrupted because there is something going on up on the helideck thanks to Hutton. Lars tells everyone that they’ve been lying about it just being fog and bad weather. He accuses Magnus of sending Baz up the tower because he was scared of something.

He urges Magnus to start telling the truth before showing him the secret memo. Hutton reads it as it begins talking about the full decommission of all Pictor assets until Magnus stops him. Magnus confesses they’re finished because Pictor is going to junk the whole field. They didn’t want him to tell them because they’d start quitting before they’re ready to start decommissioning. Magnus says his job is to get them home and that is what he is going to do. They see ash falling from the sky. Baz climbs up and joins them. He says it is too late because it has already started.

 

The Rig Review

The Rig has a cast packed full of reliable actors and actresses with the likes of Mark Bonnar, Emun Elliott, Owen Teale, Iain Glen, Martin Compston, and others. The performances were good in the first episode so that likely won’t be an issue from the leads. The Rig looks great and authentic while the camera work is well done.

The story isn’t totally original with components feeling familiar to other films viewers have seen previously, but it may be just good enough to justify a binge. There was a lot going on in the first episode so it is going to take time to connect to the cast and understand more about each character’s backstories.

Certain scenes were silly to the point that they will probably take viewers out of the mood even if for a moment. It is really too early to say whether The Rig will be a brilliant success or if it’ll crash and burn because we don’t know where the story goes from here. The opening episode was decent with some promise even if it wasn’t jaw-dropping.

It scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Rig are available on Reel Mockery here. Visitors can support Reel Mockery by following this link. Advertising opportunities are available on Reel Mockery. Learn more here.