Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Hard Sun’ On Hulu, A Drama About Two Cops Who Know The Apocalypse Is Coming

Fans of Idris Elba, as well as fans of quality British dramas, have Neil Cross to thank for putting the two two together in the Emmy-nominated series Luther. Now Cross is back with a series that combines compelling cops and, oh, just the extinction of the entire human race. Will it sink under the weight of its topic?

HARD SUN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: We see a shot of the sun, with its usual violent action on its surface, then we pan back and see that the picture is on a TV screen with data flowing and “TOP SECRET” across the top. We’re in a conference room, and a woman is looking at the information. We see a close-up of the woman, and a tear comes to her eye.

The Gist: We also flash to a flat in London, where another woman has to fend off a home invader. She must be either military or police, because she’s an expert at defending herself, then the attacker stabs her. She looks up, sees her attacker and knows who it is; she calls for him as he douses the flat in gasoline and sets it on fire. The woman barely manages to escape with her life.

That woman, as it turns out, is DI Elaine Renko (Agyness Deyn) of the Metropolitan Police. We find that out after a few scenes where we establish the life of her soon-to-be partner, DCI Charlie Hicks (Jim Sturgess); he has breakfast with his daughter and pregnant wife before coming to work. We also know that Hicks has been through a trauma; he recently lost his old partner under suspicious circumstances and has been working alone since then.

They get called on a case; a dark-web-cruising hacker who deals in conspiracies is found impaled on a tree after a fifteen-story fall from his flat. At first it’s considered a suicide, but she knows that people like this hacker, who may have had autism spectrum disorder, don’t necessarily get suicidal. She also knows that he wouldn’t have left his computer on without a password. No, this wasn’t suicide at all.

Meanwhile, there’s a scene where Renko talks into a voice recorder as he looks at pictures of Hicks and other detectives. This is after they’ve talked about their respective traumas to each other. She definitely doesn’t believe a word Hicks says. Could she have been sent to investigate him? It doesn’t help Hicks’ case when we see him talking to the woman he’s having an affair with. Finally, we see Renko visit her attacker in a psychiatric hospital — it’s her 20-year-old son Daniel (Jojo Macari), who is autistic. She had him when she was a teenager, and we’re not sure at this point under what circumstances, though Hicks has his ideas.

After the hacker falls out of the window, we see a man leave the building, then grab the bloody thumb drive from the dead man’s wrist. Through contacts, the detectives find him, and tail him to a garage where he meets, as Hicks calls him, a one percenter. The information on the thumb drive is that high-profile. After a chase where MI5 agents kill both men who have seen the info on the drive, the cops take a look at what’s on that drive — information that basically says that the human race will be extinct in five years due to changes with the sun.

Hicks gets a call from the same woman from the first scene (Nikki Amuka-Bird); they have his family and won’t harm them if he gives back the thumb drive. He wants to hand it to them, but Renko thinks otherwise; they’ll kill everyone who knows, and she beats the snot out of Hicks to make sure he doesn’t hand it over.

Our Take: Hard Sun is a joint production between Hulu and the BBC, and its pedigree is impeccable; the writer and executive producer is Neil Cross, who is probably best known in the U.S. for Luther. One of the things that stands out about the Idris Elba-starrer is that Cross is adept at telling case-of-the-week stories while propelling a meaty continuing arc. And his new show has that potential, as well.

Sure, there’s a conspiracy floating around, about who has the info about the Hard Sun phenomenon and why they’re trying to keep the news from the public. And there’s also the notion that people will be living with the knowledge that it’ll all be over in a few years, even though everything seems fine now. How do they change their lives, and how do they deal with their loved ones, knowing that the apocalypse is coming?

The first episode does a great job of establishing Renko’s character; she’s not your standard female TV cop, wearing pantssuits and chasing bad guys while her hair and makeup seems to never get mussed. Renko has a crew cut, wears hoodies most of the time, and is tough as nails. The scene with her son in the psychiatric hospital was the most compelling one in the premiere episode, because it shows that, despite his vicious attack on her, she’s not about to give up on him. She’s also a pretty moral cop, something we get a hint of in her dealings with Hicks.

Right now, Hicks feels more like a standard corrupt TV cop: loving family, but has a woman on the side who she supports with money he’s “nicked” from busts. He’s definitely suspicious of Renko, as he asks his boss how she got assigned as his partner. But his contrast with Renko is what will drive the series. Our guess is that we’ll see more case-of-the-episode stories, some relating to the Hard Sun conspiracy, others not. But it will be interesting to watch these two diametrically-opposed cops work together.

Sex and Skin: Not much besides Hicks making out with his mistress.

Parting Shot: As the song “Five Years” by David Bowie plays, we see a bloodied Hicks flash to visions of his family and mistress, and the mystery woman staring into middle distance, contemplating what’s to come. Renko is in a taxi, and we see her get out in front of the building of a large media company, with the idea that if she goes public with the information, the MI5 won’t kill anyone. Then we flash to the sun again, this time with a countdown clock that currently is at 4 years, 49 weeks, and so on, all the way down to the seconds.

Sleeper Star: As always, we’re intrigued by smart kid characters, so we hope to see more of Tamara Smart as Hicks’ daughter Bailey.

Most Pilot-y Line: In the hacker’s apartment, one of the cops from Hicks’ unit who is seeing Renko for the first time says, “Hear the new girl!” when she tells him that the hacker’s computer being open to anyone seems a bit suspicious. That feels like a too easy trope of the lazy, sexist cop. She replies, “Excuse me, am I not allowed to play in your sand pit?” which establishes that she won’t take any idiot cop’s shit.

Our Call: Stream It. Cross is a reliable storyteller, and while Sturgess is serviceable as Hicks, Deyn is a fascinating watch as Renko. Plus, the apocalyptic backstory is going to be a fascinating one to see played out.

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, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Watch Hard Sun on Hulu