Devs (FX on Hulu)

[Starbreaker]

There's a new limited series on Hulu. Written and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation). Nick Offerman and Allison Pill are the two most recognizable stars.

A computer engineer investigates a quantum computing company called Amaya, and I really don't don't want to give away anything other than that. Even some of the most basic descriptions give away the plot of the first episode. It's being released weekly, but the first two episodes are out now. I highly recommend it.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yup, I've been eagerly anticipating this show since it was first announced...and I loved every minute of the first two episodes.

Initially, I thought the code that Sergei read revealed that

Spoiler

their existence was a simulation

considering his vomiting reaction. But instead, now it looks like it's

Spoiler

"simply" viewing the past.

As for Sergei's reaction, I now suspect

Spoiler

it's because, tying in with his demonstration of predicting a simple organism's movements, that the code Devs is working on demonstrates the end of the world...in the near future.

 

[Gaith]

Given that the reviews of the show A) give me no sense whatsoever of a story and B) bore me to tears, I'm pretty sure I'll be skipping this one.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Your loss.

 

[Starbreaker]

Ok? You can judge for yourself if you get a chance.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I was genuinely worried that they were seriously going to play the "it's all in her head or...is it and she's being gaslighted" angle. Thankfully, that fear didn't last long with Jen accessing Kenton's computer, thus showing it was simply a ruse.

The opening raised a whole bunch of questions: I can understand on a theoretically level how Devs could visually see into the past (albeit in a highly corrupt form without color), seemingly through the motion of particles that compose the subjects they're viewing. However, how can Devs also have access to audio? Granted sound is fundamentally the vibrations of particles, but for some reason it doesn't feel intuitively "right." I can't really put my finger on why that particular aspect doesn't fit for me. That said, I appreciate the show recognizing that whatever languages that Devs hear are foreign ones (even if they're earlier forms of English), although they're just as corrupted as the visual elements.

I'm also curious how Devs are able to access such specific moments in time and space. It seems more likely they would encounter random moments that have little to no historical relevance and yet the "stream" (for a lack of a better word) jumps from the building of the Pyramids to the crucifixion of Jesus to a war campaign (maybe Roman?) to Napoleon (I think) to Joan of Arc...and then it hits a specific childhood moment of Amaya. Furthermore, while it's clear those moments contain Jesus and Joan of Arc based on context clues, how can they be so sure it's actually Amaya and not another child blowing bubbles...or that it's specifically Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller fucking?

I'm sure there are feasible answers to those questions but I wonder if the show will bother answering any of them.

 

[Q2UnME]

Figured I’d give this a try last night and watched the first 4 episodes. This show has DNA from a lot of other genre shows, heavy on the Lost mythos with a smattering of Homeland and a sprinkle of some others. The pacing of this is my biggest problem, it’s glacial with an added kick of snails. Characters are another issue, everyone is pretty one dimensional and I’m having a hard time engaging with anyone. Cinematography is good, VFX is pretty much seamless.

 

[gblews]

Just watched this show on Hulu. I liked it. I found Sonoya Mizuno to be quiet relatable. Nick Offerman, not so much. That emotionless monotone with every word seeming to carry the weight of the world kinds wore on me. But I loved the story. I liked Allison Pill as well. Her character had considerably more life than Offerman’s did.

Devs reminded me of an old Arthur C. Clark novel I read about the invention of a machine that did what their machine did. Devs though, was much smaller scale, since it appeared to be about industrial espionage. The pacing was somewhat slow, as others have pointed out, but that didn’t affect how much I liked the show.

It also raised some questions about fate and free will. They kept talking like there was question about whether they had free will. But in my view, they had free will, they had just “already exercised” that “will.” Lily definitively proved it though, when she used her free will in real time

There were a few things I didn’t quite get, like what motivated Kenton to do some of the things he did, but I chalked it up to being in service of the plot and moved on. Had to ask my daughter about Lyndon. She said the actor playing Lyndon was female but Lyndon identified as male in the show.

So glad there was no reset in the end or “it was all in (someone’s) head.” I did like the ending, but boy, did Jaime get shafted. Liked the character and was rooting for him.

I recommend as long as you don”t mind a deliberate pace.

 

[RAMA]

Easily one of the best of a long line of new streaming genre content during peak TV .

Did you know 532 TV shows came out in 2019?? Over 3 times as many as the 90s for one year. There's a lot of content out there, and this is one of the most unique ever. It is effortless in that uniqueness, it doesn't have to try hard like some of the borderline fantasy genres shows.

This has a rock hard basis in the most cutting edge of sciences...quantum computing and wraps it in a story of loss. Central to the story is the principle of determinism, and questions if everything is cause and effect, can our latest tools actually allow us to somewhat predict the future? This has to be one of the biggest questions ever asked in an Earth-based, contemporary sci-fi show. Its really heady stuff...and ambitious!

Most people wouldn't watch anyone ask such a question though unless they cared about the drama. Here the show is a bit more uneven, I wanted to find out the answers to the character dilemmas, though possibly the shows' only real weakness is the lead actress/protagonist Sonoya Mizuno. She's somewhat emotionless and hard to get a handle on. More successful is Forest, who seems both ruthless and desperate at times. Alison Pill turns in another varied performance as the designer, Katie.

The ending is also unexpected but still satisfying, I'm happy to say it doesn't rely on the usual tropes.

I'll probably be posting a list of the best series at the end of the year and this is definitely going to be on it.

RAMA

 

[Kraig]

I've watched the first two episodes. I'm hooked.

 

[gblews]

though possibly the shows' only real weakness is the lead actress/protagonist Sonoya Mizuno. She's somewhat emotionless and hard to get a handle on. More successful is Forest, who seems both ruthless and desperate at times.

I thought both the characters were pretty emotionless and actually kind of stiff. It was about my only complaint about the show. But I really think the two were being directed that way. Lord knows both Forest and Lily had good reason for their emotions to be all over the place.