Colony (TV series)

Colony
Genre	Drama Science fiction
Created by	Carlton Cuse Ryan J. Condal
Starring	Josh Holloway Sarah Wayne Callies Peter Jacobson Amanda Righetti Tory Kittles Alex Neustaedter Isabella Crovetti-Cramp
Composer(s)	Clinton Shorter
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Josh Holloway Nelson McCormick Juan José Campanella Ryan J. Condal Carlton Cuse
Editor(s)	Rick Shane Russell Denove Sarah Boyd Christopher Nelson
Location(s)	Los Angeles, California
Cinematography	Checco Varese Jeffery Jur
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	Carlton Cuse Productions Universal Cable Productions Legendary Television
Release
Original network	USA Network
Picture format	NTSC (480i) HDTV 1080i
Original release	January 14, 2016 – present
External links
Website
Promotional website

Colony is an American science fiction drama television series created by Carlton Cuse and Ryan J. Condal, starring Josh Holloway and Sarah Wayne Callies.^[1] A ten-episode first season premiered with an online preview release of the first episode on USA Network's website on December 15, 2015, following the launch of a game-like website^[2] to promote the show. The series had its broadcast premiere on USA Network on January 14, 2016.^[3] Taglines for the series used in promotional materials include "Behind the Wall" and "Life Under Occupation".^[2][4] On February 4, 2016, Colony was renewed for a second season by USA Network^[5] to return in 2017.^[6]

Plot

In a dystopian, near-future Los Angeles, a couple, Katie (Callies) and Will (Holloway) Bowman, live with two of their three children, under a regime of military occupation by an organization known as the Colony Transitional Authority. They are part of a larger invading force, of extraterrestrial origin, who are referred to as the Hosts, and as the Raps, apparently a reference to raptors (the logo of their human forces features a stylized bird of prey). It is said of them that "no one ever sees them". The Hosts have built an enormous wall, around 20–30 stories tall and many meters thick, that surrounds the central part of Los Angeles, and similar walls around other major cities (now called Blocs), while various buildings still display severe damage from the armed conflict during the invasion, known as the Arrival. The geographical extent of the alien invasion is unclear, but it is presumably worldwide. The occupying forces shown to the viewers are all human, speak American English, and consist of black-and-red-uniformed militarized police with automatic firearms and armoured personnel carriers. They are nicknamed the Redhats, and more properly called, along with a privileged class of elites, the Proxies, also denigrated as the Collaborators, suggesting that they were all drawn by the Hosts from the local population. It is unclear how the Redhats were initially organized or equipped. They may be staffed by members of what was Homeland Security, and are still often referred to as such. The Redhats do recruit from the local population, though such recruits are sometimes shown to be thuggish or wannabe-types. These forces maintain control by separation of loved ones, shoot-on-sight curfews, forced disappearances, random checkpoints and frequent electronic identity checks, limitation of motor vehicle usage to official transport by special permit only (most citizens must walk or ride bicycles), pervasive visual propaganda, slave labor in a facility called the Factory for any transgressors (and their families) who are not executed, and electronic surveillance with Host-provided drone aircraft that launch from the wall. Some medical problems, such as diabetes, have been "deemed unworthy for treatment" by the Hosts, to cull the population with a crude form of eugenics. There is an active resistance movement referred to as both the Resistance and the Insurgency (without universal support among the population, even among non-Collaborators), alongside a black market, though both are subject to ruthless suppression. A resistance cell based in Los Angeles includes at least one former U.S. military/intelligence operative named Broussard. Most basic resources are rationed by the Transitional Authority, while limited trade is conducted between citizens, bartering home-produced, used, and sometimes stolen items. The apparent leader of the resistance is known by the codename "Geronimo", after the Apache leader.

The series begins less than a year after the beginning of the Occupation. The Bowmans seek their middle child (younger son), Charlie, who was separated from them during the Arrival, while they try to survive with meager resources in a changed world that is constantly dangerous despite its urban veneer of order. Will is forced to work for the Redhats to hunt down the Resistance, or his family will be sent to the Factory. Katie, who is (unbeknownst to Will) a member of the Resistance, now has an inside source in Will.

Cast and characters

Main

• Josh Holloway as Will Bowman:^[1][7] working at the beginning of the series under the alias Billy "Sully" Sullivan as a truck driver and mechanic; former U.S. Army Ranger and FBI Special Agent. In order to protect his family from being sent to the Factory, and to find his missing son Charlie, Will starts working for the Redhats hunting down Resistance members.
• Sarah Wayne Callies as Katie Bowman:^[1] Will's wife and secret Resistance operative.
• Peter Jacobson as Alan Snyder:^[8] former Stanford University provost turned Proxy Governor of the Los Angeles Bloc and unrepentant Collaborator.
• Amanda Righetti as Madeline "Maddie" Kenner:^[9] Katie's younger sister.
• Tory Kittles as Eric Broussard:^[10] Former U.S. Marine Corps Force Recon/CIA assassin/Private military contractor. Now a resistance operative who works as a Redhat, and Katie's main Resistance contact.
• Alex Neustaedter as Bram Bowman:^[8] Will and Katie's teenage son.
• Isabella Crovetti-Cramp as Grace Kathryn^[11] "Gracie" Bowman: Will and Katie's young daughter.

Recurring

• Kim Rhodes as Rachel, a doctor and Resistance cell member.
• Paul Guilfoyle as Alexander^[12] Quayle:^[13] former CIA Berlin station chief^[12] and Defense Intelligence Agency officer turned Los Angeles Resistance leader.
• Carl Weathers as Beau:^[13][14] a former SFPD officer^[15] turned Homeland Security officer, and Will Bowman's partner.
• Ally Walker as Helena Goldwin:^[16] (four episodes).
• Kathy Baker as Phyllis,^[13] Will's boss at Homeland Security whom he suspects (and she implies) is a former CIA agent.
• Kathleen Rose Perkins^[13] as Jennifer McMahon, former online dating service database administrator^[17] turned Homeland Security agent, below Phyllis and above Will and Beau
• Gonzalo Menendez as Captain Lagarza:^[8] Redhat officer
• Thora Birch as Morgan,^[18][19] software engineer and Los Angeles Resistance member.
• Erin Way as Lindsey, the government-provided tutor for Gracie Bowman.
• Kathryn Morris as Charlotte Burgess:^[20] a cultural director in the Green Zone who becomes Maddie's boss.
• Adrian Pasdar as Nolan Burgess:^[20] Charlotte's husband and an important player in the politics of the occupational government.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Pilot"	Juan José Campanella	Story by: Carlton Cuse & Ryan J. Condal Teleplay by: Ryan J. Condal	January 14, 2016[lower-alpha 1]	1.36[22]
Will Bowman goes looking for his missing son and attempts to smuggle himself to Santa Monica (another walled "Colony Bloc") inside a tractor-trailer truck with the help of a shady character called Spider (Charles Baker). At a Rap checkpoint at the Los Angeles Bloc wall, the Resistance detonates a truck bomb in a nearby vehicle. Surviving the blast (as perhaps Spider did not), Will is arrested from the wreckage and kept in a holding pen with various prisoners, including the Collaborator-hating David (Jason Butler Harner). Meanwhile, Katie seeks insulin (now a rare commodity) for her sister Maddie's son, Hudson, from a black-market home chemist and escapes a deal gone bad by pulling a pistol, possession of which is punishable by death. Further risking execution, she violates curfew to contact Will's co-worker Carlos (Jacob Vargas), tries the hospital where the truck-bombing victims are being treated (from where she steals insulin), and finally learns from Resistance contact Broussard that Will has been captured. Proxy Capt. Lagarza has identified Will and taken him to L.A. Governor Snyder, who, above a sumptuous Collaborator cocktail party observing the launch of a Host spacecraft, makes Will an offer he may not be able to refuse and with which Katie may not go along. Snyder shows up at the Bowman residence with armed men to coerce cooperation, but Will demands help in finding their missing son. Katie meets with the leaders of the L.A. resistance.
2	"A Brave New World"	Juan José Campanella	Wes Tooke	January 21, 2016	1.26[23]
Will begins his work as an unwilling Transitional Authority agent, working under L.A. Homeland Security's callous bureaucrat Phyllis, whom he pegs as a former CIA officer. He and his assigned partner, Beau, look for Andy (Craig Henningsen), the man who planted the truck bomb that went off the week before, and arrest him outside the apartment of his girlfriend, Teresa (Andrea Sixtos). Katie is given permission to reopen her bar, the Yonk, and Broussard meets her there, seeking information on Will's investigations. In the meantime, Carlos has been arrested and his co-worker killed for their roles in helping Will in his earlier attempt to leave the city. Katie and Will help Carlos's wife, Lucia (Doris Morgado), and son find shelter and new identities. Maddie, working in catering services for the Collaborators, meets an old acquaintance, George (Brian J. White), who is now doing well as a Collaborator. He invites her to his home for a fling, but afterward only wants to see her again "discreetly" because she does not live in the Collaborators' "Green Zone;" feeling used, she refuses this arrangement and leaves. Katie feeds intelligence about Will's anti-insurrectionist work to Quayle and Broussard. Quayle says that Geronimo and the Resistance are close to a breakthrough that could damage the Hosts' position and help bring about the end of the Occupation, but he also warns that the arrest and interrogation of more members of the rogue cell who pulled off the truck bombing could dash these hopes because they know too much. He enlists Katie to redouble her efforts to use Will to get information. Will is unable to save Carlos from the Factory and is ashamed of his collaboration, even if it is protecting his own family. Katie overhears where Will is headed to apprehend the rest of the bombing cell and informs Broussard. Carlos and other Factory-bound prisoners are put through a decontamination regimen and their fate is uncertain. Will and Beau arrive at the cell's hideout only to find them executed by the Resistance, who have left "Geronimo" graffiti. Will concludes there is a security leak within Homeland Security. Katie is as yet unaware that her double-agent work has gotten people killed.
3	"98 Seconds"	Juan José Campanella	Daniel C. Connolly	January 28, 2016	1.21[24]
A Resistance mobile radio operator (Felix Solis), listened to secretly by many of the people under the Transitional Authority occupation, tells the story of the injustice that led to the Santa Monica gate truck-bombing, aimed at a military convoy, and urges people to join the Resistance: "I am Geronimo, you are Geronimo, we are Geronimo." Red Hats scramble to triangulate his position and converge on it, but find that he is long gone. Katie joins more resistance members to hijack a supply truck in a stopwatch-timed maneuver. A civilian distraction gets a Resistance member, Justin Kim (Jay Lee), shot and Katie renders first aid. After the Red Hats are killed, including those already subdued, Broussard – to Katie's horror – kills the wounded Justin because there's no time to move him. The Resistance learns – at the cost of 18 civilian truck-looter lives – that Host drones respond to the gunfire in 98 seconds. Katie hides her post-combat panic attack, and questions it would arouse, by sexually distracting Will and blaming her anxiety on their missing son. At school, Bram meets after class with a teacher (Adam Busch) with whom he has been collaborating to record the "Geronimo" broadcasts and study the Hosts' spacecraft launches. Will and Beau investigate the hijack scene and figure out that Justin was a Resistance member, not a looter. Will and Jennifer search Justin's home and find a Resistance cipher, but the discovery gets the entire Kim family sent to the Factory. At home, the Bowmans have a new government-provided tutor, Lindsey, for Gracie. Will has more doubts about his collaboration. Later, Katie expresses similar doubts to a Resistance contact. Fellow student Pia (Libe Barer) leads Bram to a secret way under the Wall. Will and Beau discover the L.A. Resistance's underground armory and shooting range, costing the operation half of its weapons. Life gets more perilous for the Bowmans: If the intelligence that Katie can glean from Will doesn't outweigh the damage Will's investigations are doing, they will eliminate him. Snyder makes a pompous appearance at the Yonk. Will learns that the Raps keep detailed information on all citizens in a database that Homeland nicknames "the Rolodex," but that most of the data is from before the Arrival. He tells Katie he plans to use it to help find their missing son Charlie, and hints at a further anti-Host plan. Katie uses knowledge of this database as a bargaining chip with Broussard to protect Will. Pia tells Bram that, outside the walled Blocs, structures and supplies remain, but everyone is simply gone.
4	"Blind Spot"	Nelson McCormick	Dre Alvarez & Anna Fishko	February 4, 2016	1.15[25]
5	"Geronimo"	Scott Peters	Carlton Cuse	February 11, 2016	1.07[26]
6	"Yoknapatawpha"	Nelson McCormick	Ryan J. Condal	February 18, 2016	0.95[27]
7	"Broussard"	Roxann Dawson	Sal Calleros	February 25, 2016	1.00[28]
8	"In from the Cold"	Tim Southam	Wes Tooke	March 3, 2016	0.97[29]
9	"Zero Day"	Roxann Dawson	Ryan J. Condal	March 10, 2016	1.09[30]
10	"Gateway"	Nelson McCormick	Carlton Cuse & Ryan J. Condal & Wes Tooke	March 17, 2016	1.19[31]

Specials

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"Behind the Wall"	Tim Gray	Ted Averi and Tim Gray	December 21, 2015	0.86[32]

Notes

1. The Pilot episode was released online on December 15, 2015.^[21]

Reception

The show has received generally positive reviews. On Metacritic it holds a score of 69/100, based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."^[33] On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a score of 78%, based on 23 reviews with an average rating of 6.8/10. The critics' consensus reads: "Colony offers an engaging enough narrative, a few scares, and an overall good time, even if none of it is particularly original."^[34]

Stephen King praised the series saying: "In a year of remarkable TV, Colony is really something special: smart, suspenseful, subversive... thought-provoking."^[35]

References

1. Abrams, Natalie (February 3, 2015). "USA orders Carlton Cuse drama Colony to Series". Entertainment Weekly (Time Inc.). Retrieved February 3, 2015.
2. "Welcome to the Colony". USA Network. NBCUniversal. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
3. Friedlander, Whitney (August 12, 2015). "USA Sets Premiere Dates for 'Colony,' Donny Deutsch Comedy". Variety (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved August 12, 2015.
4. "Colony". USA Network. NBCUniversal. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
5. "'Colony' Renewed For Season 2 By USA". Deadline. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
6. http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/colony/253885/colony-creator-carlton-cuse-hints-at-new-themes-for-season-2
7. Goldberg, Lesley (February 3, 2015). "USA Network's 'Colony', Starring Josh Holloway, Ordered to Series". The Hollywood Reporter (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved March 6, 2015.
8. Andreeva, Nellie (October 24, 2014). "Peter Jacobson, Alex Neustaedter & Gonzalo Menendez Join USA Pilot 'Colony'". Deadline.com. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
9. Andreeva, Nellie (October 22, 2014). "Amanda Righetti Joins Carlton Cuse's USA Pilot 'Colony'". Deadline.com. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
10. The Deadline Team (October 30, 2014). "Tory Kittles Moves To 'The Colony'; Kevin Rahm In 'Bates Motel'". Deadline.com. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
11. Bowman, Katie (10 March 2016). "Zero Day". Colony. Episode 9. 33 minutes in. What are you reading? Grace Kathryn. Let me see. (spelling Kathryn per closed captions)
12. episode "In From The Cold"
13. D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 10, 2015). "'Colony' At Comic-Con: Carlton Cuse Reveals String Of Guest Stars". Deadline.com (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved December 26, 2015.
14. "'Colony's' Carlton Cuse on 'Lost' Easter Eggs, WWII Inspiration and What's Next". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
15. episode "98 Seconds
16. "'Colony': Ally Walker to Recur Season One". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
17. episode "Broussard"
18. Andreeva, Nellie (September 18, 2015). "Thora Birch Joins USA’s Alien Drama Series Colony". Deadline.com. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
19. Friedlander, Whitney (September 18, 2014). "Thora Birch Joins Colony from Carlton Cuse, Starring Josh Holloway". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
20. "USA’s ‘Colony’ Casts Adrian Pasdar and Kathryn Morris for Recurring Roles (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
21. Friedlander, Whitney (December 21, 2015). "USA's Colony, Fox's Second Chance Receive Early Premieres Online". Variety (Penske Media Corporation). Retrieved December 22, 2015.
22. Porter, Rick (January 15, 2016). "Thursday cable ratings: Republican debate numbers fall, plus 'Lip Sync Battle,' 'WWE Smackdown'". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
23. Welch, Alex (January 22, 2016). "Thursday cable ratings: 'Lip Sync Battle' falls, 'WWE Smackdown' rises". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
24. Welch, Alex (January 29, 2016). "Thursday cable ratings: Republican presidential debate wins the night, 'WWE Smackdown'’ remains strong". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
25. Welch, Alex (February 5, 2016). "Thursday cable ratings: 'WWE Smackdown' falls, 'Lip Sync Battle' holds". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved February 7, 2016.
26. Metcalf, Mitch (February 12, 2016). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Thursday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 2.11.2016". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
27. Metcalf, Mitch (February 19, 2016). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Thursday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 2.18.2016". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
28. Metcalf, Mitch (February 26, 2016). "UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Thursday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 2.25.2016". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
29. Metcalf, Mitch (March 4, 2016). "UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Thursday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 3.3.2016". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
30. Metcalf, Mitch (March 11, 2016). "UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Thursday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 3.10.2016". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
31. Metcalf, Mitch (March 18, 2016). "UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Thursday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 3.17.2016". Showbuzzdaily. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
32. Porter, Rick (December 22, 2015). "Monday cable ratings: 'Monday Night Football' dips but remains on top". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
33. Colony at Metacritic
34. Colony at Rotten Tomatoes
35. "Stephen King on Twitter: In a year of remarkable TV, COLONY is really something special: smart, suspenseful, subversive...thought-provoking." Retrieved on March 10, 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Colony at the Internet Movie Database