The TV show 12 Monkeys, an adaptation of the 1995 movie of the same name, which aired on SyFy from 2015 to 2018, is not just one of the best sci-shows ever made, it’s proof that it’s possible to expand on sci-fi ideas in a TV medium. More importantly, it’s a shining example of the fact that sci-fi shows can tell interesting, emotional, compelling human stories.
12 Monkeys’ biggest triumph might just be in storytelling. It’s not the only thing the show does right, of course, but over four outstanding seasons, the show manages to build on every storyline to tell a cohesive story with a clear, defined ending. There are no plot holes in 12 Monkeys, no loose threads. Everything is leading to the perfect ending, the only one the show could have. And yet, surprisingly, there’s nothing predictable about the journey the show takes us on.
This is the first and most obvious difference between the show and the movie that inspired it. 12 Monkeys the movie introduces an interesting concept, but it always feels a bit nihilistic, and the ending is somewhat predictable, especially considering the tone of the movie. The storytelling is stellar, and the movie all builds up satisfactorily, but it’s never leading to a good place. The movie knows it, the characters know it, and more importantly, the viewers know it. It’s all about the destination, not the journey.
The show, on the other hand, plays with that feeling of despair a lot, and moves at a breakneck pace that makes fans feel like things are both going to be solved next episode, and not solved ever, but it never leaves them feeling hopeless. If anything, the show always makes fans both hope and expect a happy ending or at least a resolution that makes sense, that does credit to the characters, and the fact that it delivers just that is one of the reasons why it should be lauded over other time-travel shows. Fans don’t invest in TV wanting heartbreak. Sometimes, the stories people invest in don’t have a happy ending, of course, but the least people deserve is a coherent ending. In entertainment, happiness isn’t a prerequisite, common sense is.
If that were the only thing 12 Monkeys the show did right, it would still be plenty. Particularly when compared to other brilliant shows like Dark, the Netflix drama that also plays a bit with nihilism and inevitability as it explores the same time travel themes 12 Monkeys does. In terms of storytelling, they’re both brilliant. But Dark is not the type of show to re-watch – unless it is to understand it – and it’s not the type that lingers in the mind after it ends. 12 Monkeys on the other hand is harder to shake.
The reason for this is that 12 Monkeys manages to excel at things that sci-fi sometimes fails at, like characterization. 12 Monkeys is a sci-fi show first, but it isn’t the kind to forget about not just giving depth to the characters, but the relationships. It’s also incredibly adept at going against stereotype, particularly when it comes to its female characters. From Cassie to Jennifer, Jones to Hannah, without forgetting Olivia or even Emma, the female characters in 12 Monkeys are never just one thing, and they are never only what their character archetypes dictate. No, they’re allowed to be both right and wrong, happy and sad, lost and filled with purpose.
Add to that the fact that the show features a central romance that is both the axis at the center of everything and not the most important thing in the show. 12 Monkeys is a show about time travel, yes, but it’s also a show about found family, about friendship, and about the choices people make for the ones they love. Those choices don’t necessarily have to be the best ones, but they are still at the center of the story the show is trying to tell. And yes, there’s time travel, and specific rules, and twists that are hard to see coming – some of the best-plotted twists on TV – but the show is never about just that. Sci-fi is the storytelling medium, not the show’s one and only reason to exist.
Sci-fi is a complicated genre to get right. It either really works, or it really doesn’t. 12 Monkeys the TV show is the perfect example of sci-fi that works, both in the way it sets up the science fiction elements and in the way it makes characters and relationships feel integral to the story it’s telling. At the core of every good story is emotions, the ones that characters feel and the ones they manage to evoke in us, and 12 Monkeys perfectly understands that telling sci-fi stories doesn’t need to be divorced from the idea of telling compelling, emotional human stories. That’s what makes it not just one of the best sci-fi shows out there, but one of the best TV shows, period.