Charlie Jade was produced between Canada and South Africa and shot in Cape Town, and you can feel it. It is not the polished North American science fiction you are used to: dust, heat and three parallel worlds, each one with its own version of the same city.
The script comes from Robert J. Sawyer, the author of more than twenty novels and a Hugo and Nebula winner. That shows in the ambition: the series asks you to keep track of worlds that look almost identical and are not.
What makes it different
The tone. There is no chosen one, no prophecy and no one explaining the rules to the audience. Charlie Jade is a detective who falls into something much bigger than him and reacts like a person would: badly, late and out of pride. It ran for one season in 2005 and almost nobody watched it. That is exactly why it is worth finding.
Three worlds, one city, no map
Charlie Jade plays with the idea that our world is one of three, and that the difference between them is small enough to be terrifying: the same streets, the same people, a worse outcome. You are not told which one is ours, and that is the point.
It is slow in the best sense. If you like series that respect your patience, this one will pay you back.
Keep reading: the best sci-fi TV shows.
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