From the magazine James Delingpole

Better than Hollywood: Netflix’s The Eternaut reviewed

An Argentine dystopian sci-fi series that eschews special effects and gore and relentless action for absorbing characters and plot

James Delingpole James Delingpole
The Eternaut engages in refreshing oikophilia: Cesar Troncoso as Favalli and Ricardo Darin as Juan Salvo. IMAGE: MARCOS LUDEVID / NETFLIX ©2025
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 17 May 2025
issue 17 May 2025

‘Next time you do a review, you’ve got to find something you like. You’ve been far too negative,’ said the Fawn. ‘Well, it’s hardly my fault if everything on TV is crap at the moment. I can’t just call up good stuff to order,’ I said. ‘Try,’ said the Fawn.

Luckily – and unwontedly – Netflix has come to my rescue with a dystopian sci-fi series called The Eternaut. Though I’m not totally convinced by the name – a conflation of ‘eternity’ and ‘astronaut’ – it’s a very enjoyable watch, which confirms, yet again, Delingpole’s Iron Law of Television: always go for the shows with subtitles.

This one is from Argentina, based on a graphic novel written by Hector German Oesterheld with artwork by Francisco Solano-Lopez. It opens in Buenos Aires on the eve of a juicy disaster: a polar reversal causes a storm of deadly snow, one flake of which is enough to kill you instantly if it touches your skin.

Naturally, Buenos Aires being an outdoorsy kind of place abundant with street vendors, kids playing football and drivers with their elbows resting on open windows, the death toll is epic. The only way you’re going to survive is a) if you’re fortunate enough to be indoors when the apocalypse strikes and b) if you don’t make the mistake of poking your head outside to see what on earth is going on.

Our heroes are a bunch of old friends in their sixties who happen to have gathered for an evening session of the popular Hispanic card game Truco. This is one of the many things I like about this series.

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