Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Luminaries’ On Starz, Where Two Star-Crossed Lovers In 1860s New Zealand Go Down Dark Paths

The definition of an “astral twin” is a person who was born on the same day, the same time and the same place as you were. If you find your astral twin, the legend is that the two of you share destinies. A new British-New Zealand series examines what happens when two such people meet and fall for each other, but then go their separate ways, due to the actions of less-than-virtuous individuals.

THE LUMINARIES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Dark skies and stormy seas. “New Zealand. 1866.”

The Gist: In the dead of night, two men happen upon a woman, who his delirious as she lurches through the forest, as she is about to enter a cabin. She passes out; the owner of the cabin is just regaining consciousness. The two men find a body inside.

Nine months earlier, in 1865, Anna Wetherell (Eve Hewson) is on the last day of her voyage from London to New Zealand. She’s out on deck early that morning, when she meets a man named Emery Staines (Himesh Patel). The two talk and hit it off, feeling unnaturally drawn to each other. When he asks if they can meet that night, she asks where he’s staying. He takes the page out of his notebook and gives it to her. One problem: She can’t read.

Both are there to take advantage of the gold rush that has fascinated the country, hoping to strike it rich. In an unusual move, Anna has come there by herself, on her own volition. As soon as she gets off the ship, she gets robbed. As she runs after the purse snatcher, she encounters Lydia Wells (Eva Green), a fortune teller and owner of the port city’s local brothel. She tricks Anna into going to the hotel next to her brothel to meet Emery, and when she finds herself there, being told to leave “unless she’s got something to sell,” she turns to Lydia for help.

Flashing forward again, the unconscious Anna is picked up by Alistair Lauderback (Benedict Hardie) and brought into town. Since there’s no hospital, she’s sent to jail, because she’s a whore and because she’s likely high on opium. She’s accused of murdering Crosbie Wells (Ewen Leslie), Lydia’s husband and supposedly the body inside the cabin belonging to Te Rau Tauwhare (Richard Te Are). Anne manages to make bail, and tells the magistrate that her dress is lined with gold nuggets, but she doesn’t know how they got there. Also, she still isn’t sure if the person in the body bag is actually Wells.

Back in the past, as Emery gets stood up by Anne, he meets up with a prospector named Francis Carver (Marton Csokas) who contracts with fellow prospectors, supplying their needs while taking half their gain. Emery refuses, but then he sees Carver beat up a fellow prospector named Sook Yongsheng (Yoson An) and he starts to think otherwise.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The setting of The Luminaries is unique — Gold Rush-era New Zealand — so comparisons to other costume dramas are tough.

Our Take: The Luminaries, adapted by Eleanor Catton based on her award-winning novel, is supposed to show how Anna and Emery aren’t just star-crossed lovers, they’re “astral twins”, born at the same moment on the same day in close proximity to each other. This, according to Lydia, means that “they would share a destiny.” However, all we know, and all Anna knows, is that she and Emery have the same birthday. So at what point will we find out that they do actually share a destiny?

This is one of the frustrations we have with The Luminaries. Its back and forth timeline, between Anna and Emery’s arrival in New Zealand to where the fates have landed them nine months later, breaks story momentum. At first, we didn’t even realize that the timeline was moving back and forth like that. Even though Anna’s situation seems to be far different in 1866 than it was in 1865, the time jump isn’t enough to make things separate in the viewer’s mind. By the time we figure out what timeline we’re on and who is what, we’re on to the next scene.

Catton and the show’s producers are essentially squeezing down the story, involving no less than 12 men along with Anna and Emery (all associated with zodiac signs), down to how the destinies of these two people so quickly were led astray. But in trying to make this sprawling narrative TV-friendly, a narrative momentum has been lost, with too many characters and too many timelines and situations going on at the same time. The three leads, Patel, Hewson and Green, all do good jobs with their roles, but the show just feels like it’s going to wander in the wilderness like the delirious Anna before it figures out where to go.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: On her successful first night at Lydia’s brothel, Crosbie comes bursting in, covered in gold dust, holding a bag full of nuggets.

Sleeper Star: The quiet dignity of Richard Te Are as Tauwhere makes for one of the best performances of the first episode.

Most Pilot-y Line: Anna figures out that Lydia held on to her purse in order to draw her to her brothel, finding the purse in Lydia’s coat, but decides to stay with Lydia, anyway. You’d think she’d get pissed and leave with her cash.

Our Call: SKIP IT. While the costumes, scenery and acting in The Luminaries are all good reasons to watch, the story is just so frustrating that we can’t imagine following it while we wait for Anna and Emery to fulfill their destinies.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream The Luminaries On Starz