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Devs - new scifi miniseries by Alex Garland premieres today on Hulu
- Thread starter EviLore
- Start date
gunslikewhoa
Member
Episode 7 was the most interesting one for me thus far. The imagery of of pre-agrarian humans was cool
I still have issues with much of the writing, feels too contrived. I'm not finding's character motivations all that compelling.
I suspect there's a sort of meta narrative in play here, but it's essentially a really bad case of "because the screenwriter says so."
The dialogue between characters continues to feels unnatural and mechanical, like they're all there to deliver exposition or read off quantum theory to the audience.
Not unlike the worst aspects of Hideo Kojima's writing lol
This show has a lot of interesting thematic ideas going for it, as far editing and cinematography are concerned,
but those particular issues makes it difficult to allow myself to get truly lost in the world and the stories of these characters.
I still have issues with much of the writing, feels too contrived. I'm not finding's character motivations all that compelling.
I suspect there's a sort of meta narrative in play here, but it's essentially a really bad case of "because the screenwriter says so."
The dialogue between characters continues to feels unnatural and mechanical, like they're all there to deliver exposition or read off quantum theory to the audience.
Not unlike the worst aspects of Hideo Kojima's writing lol
This show has a lot of interesting thematic ideas going for it, as far editing and cinematography are concerned,
but those particular issues makes it difficult to allow myself to get truly lost in the world and the stories of these characters.
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Revolutionary
Gold Member
Solid ending, but I think this story would have been better as a movie.
GobbledeeGoo
Member
I binged this in about a week. Absolutely loved it. Conceptually brilliant, visually stunning, atmospherically amazing. Alex Garland is something else absolutely. I dialog was so damn good. Chilling at times. delivered amazingly by the entire cast. Fuck I cannot stop gushing.
GobbledeeGoo
Member
That's sort of the whole thing; the characters, dialog and situations are a vehicle for concepts like determinism, free will, infinite world's theory with religious undertones. It's brilliantly told, you just need to look at it through a different lense. I don't know if you're going to finish it but I think it wraps everything up well.
Cleared_Hot
Member
Pshhh i loved Annihilation too. Sad Dredd didnt become a series. That movie was fucking badass in 3D. One of the few filmed in 3D properly so it looked fantastic.
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No I understand what they're going for. I just don't think it very good dialogue, because it's also trying to be a drama at the same time.
I can appreciate heady themes and ideas, but having characters vomit exposition at the audience has never made for compelling storytelling. I hate it in passive mediums, just as much as I hate it in video games.
GobbledeeGoo
Member
I suppose it's not for you then. It reminds me of Refn in it's uniqueness. I could how it might be off putting to some.
I'm actually a big fan of Nicolas Winding Refn's work. I find his characters more compelling than how characters are written in Devs.
The difference for me is even with Refn's unusual approach to dialogue, the performances and motivations are interesting. His characters still seem like real people in a strange heightened reality, instead of just being there to serve the plot.
As I said, there are elements I do enjoy about Devs, but I think the characters are the weakest element.
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Cleared_Hot
Member
go in with nothing to expect except good old fashioned scifi. Also, no interruptions, lights off, and some popcorn.
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GobbledeeGoo
Member
I wouldn't disagree with them being the weakest part. I just don't think heavy backstories are pertinent to what the show is attempting to conceptualize. It's slightly avant-garde and that's why I mentioned Refn. Usually polarizing, either you love it or hate it. Don't see many people on the fence with this show. I actually think Refn is fantastic but sort of fell off the deep end. I assume you've seen Neon Demon and Too Old to Die Young? Visually stunning, great atmosphere, cool characters but I'd argue against the characters feeling like real people in the slightest. Especially the weird incestual plot turn in TOTDY. Anything pre those, I'd agree. Bronson is fantastic, Drive is fantastic and I HIGHLY recommend the Pusher series if you haven't seen it. It's more based in reality, like Refn lite.
Hero of Spielberg
Member
Awesome series. Really enjoyed it. I disliked Lilly’s character as others have. Just found the way she spoke really annoying. Other than that, thought it was a really cool concept and loved Nick Offerman in it too.
Hotty Botty
Member
Yeah. The actress that played her was very robotic. I don’t imagine she will have a long career. Nick Offerman on the other hand put on a clinic.
Kadayi
Banned
I liked it overall. I don't think it was aiming for realism versus being a concept piece, but as a sort of extended black mirror episode, I thought it worked really well and tapped into some intriguing ideas. I think the standout moment that really hit me was in Episode 7 where Stewart scared the bejesus out of his fellow Dev team members just projecting them in the room one second ahead, which was a nice little call back to the scene in episode 1 where Sergei was projecting the future movements of the microbe. The idea that within the simulation there are an infinite number of other Devs departments all doing exactly the same thing akin to the mirrored lift effect was great, as was it was a nice contrast to the whole multi-verse idea we'd been going down for some time. Especially as it eluded to the very notion that perhaps what we were seeing wasn't necessarily the upper tier of reality, versus merely one Matryoshka doll acting out its part in the whole chain of this particular strand of reality.
I did find it kind of fascinating that just as Lily breaks from the simulation., Stewart is also there to essentially course correct it, which does suggest that much like Forest and Katie he too had been dipping into the future. Though it begs the question as to whether he knew about what had happened to my boy Lyndon in the process (should have gotten Katie into the lift as well).
Good stuff. Hope that we see more from Garland in a similar vein going forward.
I did find it kind of fascinating that just as Lily breaks from the simulation., Stewart is also there to essentially course correct it, which does suggest that much like Forest and Katie he too had been dipping into the future. Though it begs the question as to whether he knew about what had happened to my boy Lyndon in the process (should have gotten Katie into the lift as well).
Good stuff. Hope that we see more from Garland in a similar vein going forward.
Kadayi
Banned
It looked great. But I'm not sure I'd have wanted to work in it (that constant light shifting would have gotten distracting trying to code). I think Alex Garland probably got a hard-on watching Blade Runner 2049 and was channelling some of that Roger Deakins Lighting in the Wallace building: -
Still, my main nags about the building were how are they emptying the toilets/resupplying the water? As well as the abject lack of a service road and or straight walkway. I just didn't buy ppl shlepping through the halo woods every day and night to and from the building potentially tripping over tree branches. I guess perhaps that from a location perspective they were constrained in how much they could build at a guess.
GobbledeeGoo
Member
Huh? The whole angle of her going back to
I liked it overall. I don't think it was aiming for realism versus being a concept piece, but as a sort of extended black mirror episode, I thought it worked really well and tapped into some intriguing ideas. I think the standout moment that really hit me was in Episode 7 where Stewart scared the bejesus out of his fellow Dev team members just projecting them in the room one second ahead, which was a nice little call back to the scene in episode 1 where Sergei was projecting the future movements of the microbe. The idea that within the simulation there are an infinite number of other Devs departments all doing exactly the same thing akin to the mirrored lift effect was great, as was it was a nice contrast to the whole multi-verse idea we'd been going down for some time. Especially as it eluded to the very notion that perhaps what we were seeing wasn't necessarily the upper tier of reality, versus merely one Matryoshka doll acting out its part in the whole chain of this particular strand of reality.
I did find it kind of fascinating that just as Lily breaks from the simulation., Stewart is also there to essentially course correct it, which does suggest that much like Forest and Katie he too had been dipping into the future. Though it begs the question as to whether he knew about what had happened to my boy Lyndon in the process (should have gotten Katie into the lift as well).
Good stuff. Hope that we see more from Garland in a similar vein going forward.
It looked great. But I'm not sure I'd have wanted to work in it (that constant light shifting would have gotten distracting trying to code). I think Alex Garland probably got a hard-on watching Blade Runner 2049 and was channelling some of that Roger Deakins Lighting in the Wallace building: -
Still, my main nags about the building were how are they emptying the toilets/resupplying the water? As well as the abject lack of a service road and or straight walkway. I just didn't buy ppl shlepping through the halo woods every day and night to and from the building potentially tripping over tree branches. I guess perhaps that from a location perspective they were constrained in how much they could build at a guess.
There is a path in the woods to the building; it's not just something uncultivated. They have the halos around the trees, too. People knew that DEVS existed, just not what DEVS did. Forest mentions to Sergei in the first episode that people clean up after themselves, so I assume no one other than the DEVS team enters the building (ignoring the senator).
Kadayi
Banned
So they're shlepping the toilet waste back with them? I can imagine Lyndon given Stewart the stinkeye after that grouchy old fucker drops a behemoth in the basin when he knows it's Lyndon's turn on the rota.
GobbledeeGoo
Member
So they're shlepping the toilet waste back with them? I can imagine Lyndon given Stewart the stinkeye after that grouchy old fucker drops a behemoth in the basin when he knows it's Lyndon's turn on the rota.
You got me. Kind of a have to apply a little suspension of disbelief?
Kadayi
Banned
I know. It's just the inner architect in me taking issue with the whole matter of servicing. I mean it's a cool concept: Contained Block floating in a vacuum. It just doesn't hold up to scrutiny when you start thinking about the how. Westworld had some similar issues tbh, with a lot of little secret labs squirrelled away in the ass-end of nowhere in the park, which were convenient from a plot perspective, but made zero sense from a logistical one of people getting too and from coupled with supplies. A little more thought and these sort of niggles could be ironed out with a lot of these things.
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Pretty good convo. They didn’t pick up on Lily being short for Lilith though, in the original sin section.
Kadayi
Banned
Good spot. I actually quite enjoy the Gamespot Universe series recaps. They generally do a good job and spend a bit of time collating all the talk on reddit etc
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mango drank
Member
Imagine my surprise when I found out I'd already seen her in a couple of things where she wasn't awful, and completely forgot about it:
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
HOOOOLY SHIT! I loved this show. I can't even find points to criticize it because I just thoroughly enjoyed it.
I never watch shows twice, but this deserves a rewatch a few years down the road.
I think Garland just gets tech and the personalities involved. In episode 7, when Forest is unable to tell who Stewart is quoting, I immediately smiled as I have seen the "ignorance" of the brightest minds over and over again first hand.
I never watch shows twice, but this deserves a rewatch a few years down the road.
I think Garland just gets tech and the personalities involved. In episode 7, when Forest is unable to tell who Stewart is quoting, I immediately smiled as I have seen the "ignorance" of the brightest minds over and over again first hand.
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Bonfires Down
Member
I'm a big Garland fan. Ex Machina, Sunshine, 28 Days Later, The Beach. All awesome. Though admittedly I didn't "get" Annihilation
But Devs? Sorry, I think this would have worked better as a movie. There's a lot of fluff here that could have been removed. Some of the dialogues and especially monologues are cringe. The russian thing as a whole just seems misplaced. Oh well, I did watch the whole thing but mostly because it's Garland. There are some interesting philosophical ideas and those should have been the focus. At least the cinematography is excellent.
But Devs? Sorry, I think this would have worked better as a movie. There's a lot of fluff here that could have been removed. Some of the dialogues and especially monologues are cringe. The russian thing as a whole just seems misplaced. Oh well, I did watch the whole thing but mostly because it's Garland. There are some interesting philosophical ideas and those should have been the focus. At least the cinematography is excellent.
