Into The Night - The Old Axolotl

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(Edited)

Name - Into The Night
Released - 2020
Creator- Jason George


I had a late night last night finishing off the awesome Into The Night series on Netflix. This is a great series where there was lots of action and if you are into apocalyptic sci-fi, you would enjoy it.

When I first saw the series, I thought that it could be interesting, an aeroplane flying away to avoid the sun and was wondering where it could lead and more about this possible extinction event. Whilst I found the show very good, it was also equally missing on a few parts too, but did not distract fully from the enjoyment of the show.


Whilst thinking of this show, I was immediately getting Falco - Out of the Dark vibes as it seems to fit the series theme perfectly.

The series caught me by surprise first of all because it is in french! I learned later that it is the first netflix series from Belgium of all places and I guess this is why it had sometimes a weird euronews type feel to it at times. However, I quite enjoyed to listen to the french and read the subtitles. Often the show would have parts in english, german or russian depending on the characters, so it was refreshing rather than everything dubbed.

My expectations were that they would be flying non-stop west to avoid getting caught by the sun. I am not sure how long I could stomach constantly flying in an aircraft, or if that is even feasible to out run the sun?!

spoiler alert
What was disappointing was the background of the extinction event in that unlike say in Snowpiercer where the heat was rising so they tried to cool the atmosphere, there was some change in the gamma or something or other radiation of the sun altering the molecular structure of people, the food etc.. which just seemed a little ridiculous and hard to believe. You need to be a strong believer in Science to take that on. Putting that aside, the idea however is still quite good and interesting.

Where it gets really good is some of the storylines and character interactions that keep the action flowing, however this also detracts from the main extinction sci-fi element and falls down more there. Somehow, relationships in these extinction type films turn everyone to go crazy and do crazy selfish things rather than more peaceful, co-operative type situations. I guess this is more because it makes for more interesting TV if there are constantly many bad guys and they switch from bad to good and you need to keep up with it.

For me, the standout performance was from Mehmet Kurtuluş, whos on screen presence was amazing and really glued many storylines and characters together. I am certainly going to check out some of his other stuff. There were a few other strong performances too, which was keeping you watching.

Once they found a bunker, after we learned most bunkers weren't protection enough, the show did have a little Silo type feel to it, but maybe more modern. They idea of going up only in the night instead of day idea could have been explored more, instead, the military seemed to go rogue and turn into Lord of the Flies which I am not sure soldiers would switch to being so barbaric in a critical situation as this.

The show is 2 series long and quite short with 12 episodes in total. I didn't read the original book but am intrigued to give it a look because it seems this series isn't really a direct move to TV, but just the inspiration. The inspiration is from the book The Old Axolotl which is a recently written book by Jacek Dukaj and is more in the cyberpunk genre according to the Wikipedia article. It has certainly peaked my interest and I have added it to my reading list.

I am not sure if they will make a 3rd series, but they did leave a cliffhanger at the end of the 2nd series and you sort of know how it could play out, but then what? Will the show go more in the direction of the book?


Here you can see the promo video for the ebook when launched which gives you a taster of it. My preview reading of the book is that people start to digitise themselves and transplant their conciousness to become robots. This would be a cool direction they could move in, but the tech doesn't seem to be there in this film. Mostly Nato has stacked some seeds and the tech seems to low to follow in this direction.

Either way, a 3rd series would be pretty cool. There is a spin-off series in turkish with a submarine that I didn't watch yet. It could be worth watching.


As the series was produced in Belgium, I was happy to see that it featured the song from Angèle. Probably not the song you want to listen to when an extinction level event is going on around you, but it did bring a smile to my face. I am sure I featured her in a #threetunetuesday post before.

Thanks for reading.

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29 comments
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Sounds like one I would probably skip then. I don't like shows that cause drama just for the sake of being dramatic. I think what really drives me nuts is whiny kids in shows. It seems like no matter what there needs to be an angsty teen that is mad at their parents and mad at the world. Stuff like that.

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(Edited)

Yeah, there was one main scene with the Nato woman in the airplane in Oslo was just not making sense at all and felt like that totally, drama for sake of it. The series doesnt do the book justice, where there are many great sci-fi ideas to explore like I mentioned, rather than just good guy, bady guy drama.

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Wow wow wow.... Yeah, I get what you mean. I prefer shows with more substance and less unnecessary drama too. It's like they add drama just for the sake of it sometimes, especially with those whiny teenage characters.

As always good choices

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I still enjoyed the series, but the book sounds pretty amazing with the sci fi ideas.

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When you mentioned Silo, I thought of a novel by Hugh Howey that I read about a year ago, but then I saw that it was something else. I will treat myself to a movie night over the weekend and watch this series.

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Silo was pretty good and I am looking forward to the next one. This series here took me just 1 night to watch, but it is good and worth watching imo.

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First Netflix series from Belgium?
I’m shocked. With the explanation you gave, it seem like an interesting movie

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Yes, when the show started playing in French, it was a little unexpected! lol But I do love the french language!

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Seems interesting from the overview you have provided. They will provide the third part but will take time... I hate cliffhangers 😭, they just make me think all night that what is gonna happen in the next part

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Thanks, yeah, they left a pretty obvious one this time, but I will watch the submarine series while I wait for the 3rd series.

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From the trailer, it seems like a series that was mostly shot in a plane scenery. Unlike you I prefer English speaking shows with subtitles. I think the lack of English feels like I watching with only my sense of sight which can take away a sense of concentration.
In apocalyptic shows the theme tend to be similar; greedy people, chaos and blood shed

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Yes it was mostly filmed on a plane, although it seemed quite static for a plane 😉. I think you are right with these apocalyptic shows, they go to extremes to show greedy people, chaos and bloodshed. I am not sure that would happen IRL, but lets hope there are no apocalyptic situations to find out! 😅

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Well, I'm a Christian and I believe that post apocalyptic or post rapture era is real and according to the Bible, but hopefully not in this age and era.

I think these type of shows mostly portray that people can do anything to survive, hence the greed and bloodshed.

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I can only agree, there is likely to be some post apocalyptic era, hard to know what it would be or look like. Instead of being from "science" like in the movies, it would be from God himself. Certainly is very feasible.

That makes sense about the survival aspect, I hadnt considered that so deeply.

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I saw the walking dead and to be very honest, I saw the perspective of survival and it was really harsh. The writers did brilliant jobs of predicting the morbid possibilities of survival instincts of people.

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I do like my zombie films, but don't think I watched this one to the end. I will check it out. Thanks for the tip 👍

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Do you watch korean movies too by the way? :p

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I've caught a few here and there. Do you have recommendations?

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did u watch squid games i mean thats a series. for movie maybe train to busan or miracle in cell no 7 if u want to cry o.o

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Yeah I was watching squid games, hopefully there will be a a sequel. I heard about Train to Busan, can't remember if I watched already. Love those zombie flicks!

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not sure if there is a sequel i did hear rumors but nothing confirmed! UM then im not sure hwat others to recommend maybe. maybe u can try sweet home if u like zombies but this one i s a series

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Watched the 'Dune. Part 2' yesterday, still under impression and have a very pleasurable aftertaste. Watched part 1 with my wife in a theatre, sadly due to sanctions part 2 was not broadcasted to the wide screens and I had to torrent a pirate tracker. (Well, since they reject our money what else option to go?... ) Did you watch it?

!BEER

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That sounds good then, I havent seen part 2 yet. I need to take another 3 months subscription to apple and watch it when its available there. Sorry to hear about the sanctions, i guess there is no other choice then :)

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Ah! well it is timeless stuff, sooner or later you well get to it and then I will see your review, and we may discuss it. Absolutely no rush 🙃 You wasnt blogging frequently recently, hope everything is fine with you and it is just a lazy summer mood? 🍻 !BEER

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It is on my list to watch for sure. Yeah I have been a little under the weather lately and taking it abit easy to try and recover. Hopefully get back in the blogging again soon.