'Away': Will Ram's feelings for Emma be reciprocated during their long stay on Mars in Netflix's space drama?
Spoilers for 'Away'
It's not easy falling for your spaceship's commander-in-chief, millions of miles away from home, that too when the person is a happily married mother of a teenage girl. Such is the dilemma of in-house doctor Ram Arya on Netflix's new space drama 'Away'. Played by Gangs of London's resident Indian bad boy Ray Panthaki, Ram develops feelings out of deep respect and admiration for his seasoned commander and co-pilot Emma Green (Hillary Swank.) And while he believes Emma's rattled response to him professing his love for her is out of some remote feelings she might harbor for him too, thee's not much he can do about it. It is, however, the ending of the 10-part series that gives hope for the two's chance at building something beyond professional or even platonic. Stranded in Mars for their mission, Ram and Emma might spark something as her marriage to Matt (Josh Charles) crumbles back home.
While Swank and Charles' chemistry as Emma and Matt is off the charts and it would suck to see them break up, Ram is quite the unproblematic king when it comes to handling rejection and for that reason purely, we are rooting for his and Emma's relationship to actually head somewhere. The most salient aspect of Ram's feelings for Emma happens to be the fact that he developed romantic sentiments only after they spent a considerable amount of time locked up together in that shuttle.
As Ram is recovering from a severe bout of mono, he confesses to Emma that he wishes to be there for someone in the same capacity his brother Rohit was there for him in his childhood. And the way Emma is there for her crew during a crisis. Later, Ram even apologizes for being medicated enough to have let that slip, but it's evident his feelings for Emma are beyond mere romance. As they spend more time together, she becomes everything for him that the loner Casanova had been missing — a compassionate friend, a kind commander, a fellow brother, and even family. True he still insists on saying his feelings for Emma out loud as the two are about to make a dangerous spacewalk to retain water supply in the shuttle, but never does he pressure Emma to see things from his point of view, or even reciprocate his feelings out of pity.
Seeing as they are going to be left together in the red planet for three solid years, it gives ample scope for that relationship to grow, or even for Emma to see Ram as more than just a crew member. Back home, her step-in replacement and former colleague Melissa has definitely developed feelings for Matt and come clean about them too. It is also interesting how in certain moments of frustration, Matt resents Emma being the one that made it to Mars as the second best after him. Matt's health conditions resort him to a wheelchair and it's not an easy change to acclimate to, but while he does it with grace, one can't be too certain that his and Emma's marriage will survive the distance or time apart, especially with a replacement for her waiting back home. For all we know, Matt might be the one to call it off and thus Emma could pursue something meaningful, guilt-free, with Ram.
All 10 episodes of 'Away' premiered on September 4 and are available for streaming only on Netflix.
