Back to Life Review: Season 1 Episode 1

Showtime’s English import Back to Life tries a little too hard and borrows a little too much from its cinematic influences — but it is still an intriguing little dramedy, a quirky character study wrapped in reflections on family and personal resurrection.

Back to Life Season 1 Episode 1, is an origin story built of many familiar elements; Miri Matteson (Daisy Haggard, also co-creator of the series) returns home after nearly two decades in prison and slowly begins to reintegrate herself within her family and community.

There’s an awkward neighbor, observations on a long-standing marriage, and a lot of close-ups of Miri’s face as she struggles to inhabit a reality that’s markedly different than what she thought would be waiting for her after prison.

It is simplistic and very predictable, but delivered in a quiet, reflective fashion that works to its favor: as a half-hour series, there isn’t much time to languish on awkward moments, or a need to regurgitate exposition about Miri’s past to the audience.

This allows room for Back to Life to be slightly more observational than most pilots of its ilk; and though it often tries a little too hard to make itself funny and interesting, the passive approach works in letting the audience fill in the gaps of Miri’s character, to strong effect.

Daisy Haggard’s performance is really the draw here; off-kilter asides like Miri’s disinterested caseworker and her mother’s secret infidelity (a bit that comes with a very unnecessary twist) certainly gives the series some personality, but limits its ability to grow — and aren’t all that engaging to begin with, particularly the twist involving her mother and former high school crush.

The real promise, is in observing Miri inhabit the surreal reality of returning to society; these moments and observations deservedly hold the most weight, and not just as she contends with her perception as a cold-blooded murderer around her hometown (and sometimes, even in her own home).

At one point, her therapist points out she’s not just getting back on the bike of society; when she went to prison, she was still learning the tricycle of life. 18 years later, and she doesn’t get a second chance to learn with training wheels.

She’s flying with no safety net, and can’t apply the facts, beliefs, and hopes she had during her 18 years away to her present reality – that dichotomy holds the magic to Miri’s character, and Back to Life as a whole.

If this sounds a lot like Rectify, it should: Back to Life borrows a lot of its tone and aesthetic from Ray McKinnon’s underrated television masterpiece, a series about forgiveness, faith, and compassion unlike anything else on modern television.

Back to Life is a little bit lighter and quicker-paced than Sundance’s heralded drama, but the foundation of a series about second chances and self-definition is baked into the premise of Back to Life. In its best moments — when Miri is cutting her hair or having a job interview — Back to Life shows off the promise of that idea, teasing a nimble series capable of effortlessly moving between gut-busting and heart-wrenching.

There’s still some serious calibration Back to Life needs to do if it wants to live up to that promise, though: there’s something discreetly sanitizing about this first episode, due to its short attention span.

There are almost too many bits, side characters, and allusions to give what’s actually occurring on screen room to breathe and develop; it doesn’t suffocate the central premise but distracts from it enough to make the first episode more curiously flat than meaningfully layered.

We’ll see where Back to Life heads in its next five episodes; the more it relies on its instincts with character and theme, the more emotionally rewarding a series it can be. If it wants to lean on its ironic, less weighty elements, it can still be a fun series — but it will feel like a distinct missed opportunity to deliver something special, if that’s the path it eventually takes. 

Knowing the creative talent behind the series — Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon are co-creators, with executive producer duties going to Fleabag producers Sarah Hammond and Henry & Jack Williams — only makes the prospect more exciting; if Back to Life can quickly find its stride, it could quietly become one of the more engaging, poignant series of the year. 

What did you think of this episode of Back to Life? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Back to Life airs Sundays at 10/9c on Showtime.

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