Parents' Guide to

Hard Sun

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Great sci-fi premise, bloody violence in overstuffed drama.

TV Hulu Drama 2018
Hard Sun Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

A looming apocalyptic disaster is at the center of the action on HARD SUN -- and detectives Charlie Hicks (Jim Sturgess) and Elaine Renko (Agyness Deyn) had the sheer bad luck to stumble upon both proof that humanity has just a few years left, and the British government conspiracy attempting to hush that information up. Now Hicks and Renko have to live with their state secrets as they attempt to shield the people they love most from harm (for as long as they can, anyway), while protecting the rest of London from the bad actors who cross their path. Renko and Hicks make a terrible team. But they're going to have to find a way to work together if they want to even make it to the end of the world.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

There's an intriguing sci-fi premise at the center of this overstuffed drama -- a drawn-out doomsday scenario -- but competing stories pull the focus and aren't nearly as interesting. In just six episodes, major plot points include: a big bad government conspiracy attempting to cover up the impending destruction of humanity, a serial killer who believes he has a message from God, a damaged cop with a schizophrenic son who tried to stab and burn his mother to death, and a detective who may or may not be responsible for the untimely death of his partner (whose wife he's been having an affair with). It all comes off as hectic, confusing -- not to mention rather grim, which you'd probably expect from a drama based on David Bowie's dark album "Five Years," but it's just not a lot of fun to watch.

Some viewers may additionally be disturbed by the violence, which frequently targets women. Before the show's first scene has elapsed, characters have been stabbed in the gut, gotten a fork stuck in their cheek, and hit each other with heavy pots and pans, and then gasoline is poured over a woman, including in her face and eyes, before a match is dropped. On a later episode, a woman is attacked by a hammer-wielding maniac in bed; later, the camera pans up her naked, bloodied body, a rivulet of blood dried on one wrist, in a way that's as exploitative as the seamiest TV police procedural. Hard Sun has a killer premise but doesn't stick the landing -- there are better British imports to spend your time on.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the violence in Hard Sun. How is the violence depicted on this British show different from that in U.S. shows? What would the show be like with less graphic violence? Would it still work?

  • Why are apocalyptic scenarios, in which the earth or the people on it are in danger of extinction, such a popular topic for sci-fi movies? What fears do they express? What dramatic possibilities do they enable? How does it give characters a chance to be heroic, or evil?

  • Many TV shows are set within a law enforcement unit -- why? Why is a focus on crime more compelling or dramatic than a show set within another environment? Why are detectives so frequently at the center of the action in these types of shows? How is Hard Sun like other crime shows you have watched? In what ways is it different?

TV Details

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