Jason Momoa is one of the most adaptable actors in Hollywood. With his imposing size and long hair, he can easily pull off action characters like he did in Aquaman, Dune, and Fast X. With his comedic chops, funnier roles, such as A Minecraft Movie, come easily to him, too. Momoa has also found success in television, most notably in Game of Thrones. But for his most underappreciated series, look no further than Apple TV's See. While it lasted only three seasons, it continued to show just how great Momoa is.
Season 1 of See debuted on Apple TV+ in November 2019, created by Steven Knight, the mastermind behind Peaky Blinders. Although See didn't find the same amount of attention as that series, it doesn't make it any less bingeworthy. See has a compelling way due to its premise. The post-apocalyptic series is set in a futuristic world where a virus has killed most humans. For those who live, they discover that their children are born blind. The new world has learned to keep going with people who have adapted around the senses of touch, smell, and hearing.
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things.
The wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you.
You'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way.
At the center of the action is Jason Momoa's Baba Voss, the badass warrior who heads the Alkenny Tribe. When it's discovered that his adopted children are born with the long-lost gift of sight, See becomes all about Voss' journey to protect them and the rest of his people from the Witchfinders, the antagonists who hunt down those who can see.
See is, ironically, a sight for the eyes, a visual spectacle that comes off more like a big-budget Hollywood film than a series airing on a streamer. Beautiful cinematography and phenomenal fight scenes highlight See, but something was missing from the series early on. Enter Dave Bautista in Season 2 as the ideal villain to oppose Momoa's Baba Voss. Bautista plays Baba's brother, Edo Voss, a man who is no hero. Baba's younger sibling is the Trivantian army's Commander General, and deeper family drama has Edo seeking revenge against his own blood.
Momoa was one of the first actors to be cast in the DC Universe.
As thrilling as they are, See is much more than fight scenes between Momoa and Bautista. The series depends heavily on its supporting cast. Hera Hilmar plays Maghra, the wife of Baba Voss. She has a deep love for her husband, but emotion has not made her weak. Maghra is a born leader loyal to her family. She brings out the best in Momoa, whose acting abilities shine, as Baba Voss transcends the tropes of a muscle-bound hero in an action-heavy series. It's Baba's children who give him a reason to fight. See isn't interested in making brother and sister Kofun (Archie Madewke) and Haniwa (Nesta Cooper) too similar. They are their own people, well-layered with strengths and weaknesses, not simple tropes for someone else's journey.
Bautista doesn't do all the heavy lifting as See's antagonist. In fact, he's not the main one. Maghra is the exact opposite of her sister, the evil Queen Sibeth Kane (Sylvia Hoeks). She is easy to hate, and Hoek's talents make her someone to fear even more than Bautista's character. Standing by her side is the man tasked with so much death, Tamacti Jun (Christian Camargo). However, what could have been a basic character arguably becomes the most fascinating of the series in an arc filled with twists.
Season 1 of See is a series finding its way. It's a premise with too much going on and not enough emphasis on character. Stay with it though, because in Season 2, See breaks out in more ways than one. The Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer nearly doubled, with the number of critics enjoying it moving up from 44% to a staggering 83%. The second season kept the high-octane fight scenes and gore intact, while also remembering to build up its characters and give audiences a reason to care beyond the action.
Critics weren't the only ones who noticed the significant change to See. Viewers did as well. See's first season, in November 2019, helped get Apple TV off the ground a year before Ted Lasso came on the scene. When the second season debuted in September 2021, it set a then-viewership record for the streamer, with viewership up 30% from what it had been in 2019. While the show is not what Jason Momoa is most known for, See proves how multifaceted the actor is. He puts his all into it, creating an equal parts compelling physical and emotional performance. See is a complex world built on an original premise, with magnificent, feature film-worthy camerawork, and characters you'll grow to love and hate. If you skipped it the first time around, check out what you've been missing.
