Jason Momoa may be blind in See, but he's still a major badass

They have the power to see

In a time where Netflix has built up a reputation for daring originals with novel premises – think Bandersnatch, Stranger Things, and Dark – See steps up to the plate as a worthy challenger with a very interesting setting of its own. The show wastes no time with tedious expostulation, opening simply with captions that describe the world its set in. We're hundreds of years into the future and everyone is now blind, the result of a virus that also reduced the human population to less than two million. These surviving humans carried forward their disability, and after spending multiple generations without sight, humans now speak of vision as a heresy and almost a myth.

Of course, not everyone is quite blind. The trailer makes a big show of this, revealing that two babies are born who have the power to see. And that's exactly what vision is in See – a superpower that lets someone kill from a hundred yards away with an arrow and build a bridge that spans a yawning abyss. When something as ordinary as sight is taken away, the rare few that can see are akin to gods. It's an intriguing paradigm shift that makes you think about your senses and the way you use them to perceive the world.

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The sightless human race has constructed its own mythos too. Without the ability to see and make empirical observations, science has fallen by the wayside. Superstition and beliefs in witchcraft have returned to take its place, and people now refer to the sun as the God Flame. Steel is called God Bone, and they believe that the tall, straight structures that the Payans live in are just strange "mountains" (we obviously know them to be buildings from our time).

However, humans have managed to adapt and evolve as well, and some of them have developed heightened senses to make up for their loss of vision. Aside from the fact that it's a little implausible for evolutionary changes to take place in just hundreds of years, it's still a really fun part of the series' narrative.

See makes casual mention of people who have these abilities, such as the ayura that is able to tell how big an army is from the stamping of hoofs and footfalls, or the scentier that knows the enemy has brought horses and dogs from the scent in the wind. Then there are those with more mystical abilities, like the presage that can sense "savage intent" in the air. I really like that it doesn't dally on explanations of what these people can do, preferring instead to drop them into place like chess pieces on a board and have them flesh out the new world with their actions.

A world gone dark may seem like a formula for blandness, but this culture built on near-universal blindness lends an unearthly and fey quality to everything. It's an underlying ethereal murmur that bursts through at times in scenes like the one where Queen Kane (Sylvia Hoeks) leads the Payans in song. "We are Payan. We are holy," she intones, and the haunting notes resonate long after they've gone silent. 

Sound also makes up a huge part of the series' fabric, but despite most of its main characters not being able to see, the show also plays host to some gorgeous landscapes that make for a real visual treat. The series starts off in the lush forests of the Alkenny homeland, but you're eventually taken along winding rivers and expansive plains as the tribe seeks sanctuary from the Witchfinders hunting the sighted children.

The opening sequence to each episode is excellent too, reminding me of a bat's echolocation with its clicks and pops that ping from left to right. It sets the tone perfectly, as the series comes up with myriad ways that the blind have managed to adapt to a vicious world, relying on just things like sound and touch.

One of the most successful demonstrations of this is in the third episode, titled "Fresh Blood". Jason Momoa gets plenty to do here with a brilliantly choreographed fight scene that weaves in clever moves and tricks to help him find his enemies. Both slick and brutal, it's one of the best executed fight scenes I've seen in a while. What's also really cool is how everyone, or at least the key characters, appears to have a distinctive fighting style. Momoa as Baba Voss has a signature move where he deftly flicks his sword around the entire circumference of his foe's neck, while Bow Lion (Yadira Guevara-Prip) is lithe, graceful, and still really deadly.

I've watched just five of the eight-episode season, so I can't comment on whether the series will build up to a successful resolution or not. However, I can say that I've really enjoyed the action and pacing so far. See isn't just about running away from persecution and superstition. We see the two children grow into adolescence, with all the questioning and uncertainty that comes with that. Kofun (Archie Madekwe) and Haniwa (Nesta Cooper) grew up having to hide their sight from their village, and now they've opened a chest of books, filled with carefully curated tomes of knowledge, from their absent but also sighted father Jerlamarel (Joshua Henry).

Kofun thinks that they should use this knowledge, and their power of sight, to rebuild a better world. And while Haniwa clearly knows this as well, she's also keenly aware of the power her sight gives her over others, which is troubling at times. Uncle Ben's words are very apt here. With great power comes great responsibility, and the twins tussle with their mother over whether to follow Jerlamarel's instructions and go to him or stay hidden and avoid rocking the boat.

You feel a frisson of excitement as the twins talk about changing the world with their father, but what's odd is that it doesn't always seem like a good thing. Those who can see have access to the knowledge left behind by our civilisation in books, but we implicitly know that a lot of this knowledge has the potential to be dangerous and destructive. They want to usher in a new Age of Enlightenment of sorts, but there's always the sense that their knowledge has stripped them of a certain blissful ignorance, innocence even, that their fellow man possesses.

See doesn't neglect relationships and the bonds forged between its characters either. As the children's adoptive father, Baba Voss openly admits that he's afraid of challenging Haniwa and giving her more reason to go to her real father. I expect this will become a source of tension for the show moving forward, and See will need to show that it's adept at handling finer details like this on top of the overarching plot.

There's also a twist somewhere late in the series that I saw coming from a mile away, but it sure kicks the series into high gear. See is many things, but it's definitely not boring. Whether or not it ends on a successful note will depend on how it handles this twist and the twins' struggles to reconcile their desire for change with their loyalty to their adopted tribe. 

The verdict

See is a strong addition to the Apple TV+ catalog. With slick choreography and a compelling premise, it makes for an engaging and fascinating watch. Sure, it requires a certain suspension of disbelief at times, but I'll pick better entertainment over rigid realism any time. Jason Momoa is also an absolute standout here – he's a perfect fit for the role, bashing and gutting his foes in some sort of furry cape with great panache.

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