The Rig
The Rig follows the crew of the Kinloch Bravo oil rig, stationed in the North Sea, as they prepare to return to the mainland. However, before they can make the journey back, mysterious fog rolls in, cutting off communication with the outside world and bringing with it several supernatural phenomena. When something starts taking the lives of the crew, tensions begin to rise, and it’s up to them to discover the origin and intent of the unusual forces at play before it kills them all, or the frustrated and scared workers tear themselves apart.
An oil rig is a setting ripe with symbolic and thematic potential for a good writer to drill down into, and The Rig’s script makes the most of its setting in this regard, using the titular rig as a means to explore many different narrative threads and examine the socio-political mechanisms that drive the energy industry.
Topics like the environmental concerns of fossil fuels and the commodification of human life under capitalism feature prominently in the show’s first season, working into the narrative seamlessly and playing heavily into the horror of the piece. Age is another talking point that gets dissected along many axes, with the writing drawing parallels between the extinction events that create fossils and times changing in ways that leave older members of the workforce (self-described “fossils”) behind.
While The Rig is ostensibly a horror thriller, with its cinematography borrowing a lot from horror films and making the most of an oil rig’s ominous potential, it isn’t particularly scary in the conventional sense, downplaying the narrative presence of its supernatural elements in favour of focusing on the very human horrors of corporate greed. This unusual approach to supernatural scares is helped greatly by a strong ensemble cast, who all put in potent performances to sell the messy character drama and represent the struggles that people face against an all-too-familiar monster: capitalism itself.
Overall, The Rig’s first season is a solid start for the series, telling a multi-faceted and intelligent story in consistently thrilling and compelling ways. It doesn’t stick the landing perfectly every time, and its lack of real scares might put off audience members looking for more of a The Thing-esque creature feature, but anyone willing to engage with the show’s unique storytelling is in for a good time.
Umar Ali
The Rig is released on Amazon Prime Video on 6th January 2023.
Watch the trailer for The Rig here:
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