Are you streaming ( or binge watching ) any series on Netflix, or any other service? Tell us about it.

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DEVS (2020)

Seldom have I been so impressed by a TV series. It’s quality, depth and mood place it in the company of the very best of the 21st Century.

Everyone involved was cooking on all four burners in this production: writer/director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation); cinematographer Rob Hardy (Mission: Impossible - Fallout); editor Jake Roberts (Hell or High Water); and composers, chiefly Ben Salisbury in collaboration with Geoff Barrow, and The Insects). There was near perfect casting, with Nick Offerman, Sononya Mizuno, Zach Grenier, Jin Ha, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Alison Pill in the main roles.

Lily Chan (Mizuno) is a software engineer at Amaya, a quantum computing company --presumably in Silicon Valley-- whose CEO is named Forrest (Offerman). Lily’s brilliant Russian boyfriend and co-worker, Sergei, is invited to work in the most secret arm of the super high tech company. But Sergei soon disappears under very suspicious circumstances, which later is shown by the company to be a suicide. Lily can’t accept that explanation of Sergei’s death, so she embarks on a quest to discover the truth, and ultimately to learn the real design and scope of Amaya’s undertaking.

From the moment we are shown a long view of an enormous, several hundred feet tall life-like statue of a little girl in a playtime dress towering over Amaya’s headquarters nestled among a forest of fir trees, the combination of the tech setting and its incongruity entices us. Underpinned by intangible dreamy music, we quickly become drawn in by the story and the suspense of what will develop.

And it is the music score that is the third leg of this exceptional series. The foundation music composed for the production perfectly expresses the frequent dreamy aspect of the story, and also there are incidental covers from releases by such as Crosby, Stills & Nash, the band You, and several others. As an example, here is a clip featuring the incongruous combination of violence and serenity. The scene shows Kenton (Grenier) in a slow motion fight with Anton (a Russian operative), interspersed with brief inserts of Lily. The gorgeous ethereal music accompaniment is the song “Congregation” by the band Low. The juxtaposition is both brilliant and haunting:


Apart from being a SciFi thriller, themes about the philosophic nature of free will, the multiverse, and the metaphysical concept of determinism also play important parts in the story.

Alex Garland is known for his unique and ground setting SciFi movies, such as 28 Days Later, Civil War, Ex Machina, and Annhilation, but this is his only TV series to date. I don’t know if he has another DEVS in him, but I suspect that he does, and I would be the first in line to watch it.

Doc’s rating: 10/10
 
ChiroDoc said:
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DEVS (2020)

Seldom have I been so impressed by a TV series. It’s quality, depth and mood place it in the company of the very best of the 21st Century.

Everyone involved was cooking on all four burners in this production: writer/director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation); cinematographer Rob Hardy (Mission: Impossible - Fallout); editor Jake Roberts (Hell or High Water); and composers, chiefly Ben Salisbury in collaboration with Geoff Barrow, and The Insects). There was near perfect casting, with Nick Offerman, Sononya Mizuno, Zach Grenier, Jin Ha, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Alison Pill in the main roles.

Lily Chan (Mizuno) is a software engineer at Amaya, a quantum computing company --presumably in Silicon Valley-- whose CEO is named Forrest (Offerman). Lily’s brilliant Russian boyfriend and co-worker, Sergei, is invited to work in the most secret arm of the super high tech company. But Sergei soon disappears under very suspicious circumstances, which later is shown by the company to be a suicide. Lily can’t accept that explanation of Sergei’s death, so she embarks on a quest to discover the truth, and ultimately to learn the real design and scope of Amaya’s undertaking.

From the moment we are shown a long view of an enormous, several hundred feet tall life-like statue of a little girl in a playtime dress towering over Amaya’s headquarters nestled among a forest of fir trees, the combination of the tech setting and its incongruity entices us. Underpinned by intangible dreamy music, we quickly become drawn in by the story and the suspense of what will develop.

And it is the music score that is the third leg of this exceptional series. The foundation music composed for the production perfectly expresses the frequent dreamy aspect of the story, and also there are incidental covers from releases by such as Crosby, Stills & Nash, the band You, and several others. As an example, here is a clip featuring the incongruous combination of violence and serenity. The scene shows Kenton (Grenier) in a slow motion fight with Anton (a Russian operative), interspersed with brief inserts of Lily. The gorgeous ethereal music accompaniment is the song “Congregation” by the band Low. The juxtaposition is both brilliant and haunting:


Apart from being a SciFi thriller, themes about the philosophic nature of free will, the multiverse, and the metaphysical concept of determinism also play important parts in the story.

Alex Garland is known for his unique and ground setting SciFi movies, such as 28 Days Later, Civil War, Ex Machina, and Annhilation, but this is his only TV series to date. I don’t know if he has another DEVS in him, but I suspect that he does, and I would be the first in line to watch it.

Doc’s rating: 10/10
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Wow..that's quite a rating. And you watched it on what network (or platform)?
 

I finally started watching Person Of Interest and am somewhat binge watching it. It grabbed me from the first episode and is holding my interest. Each case is unique and besides constant surveillance and beating the bad guys (literally), ultimately "saving" the persons of interest, each case calls for different methods. Some of the endings involve unexpected twists. Although I really like the character of "Reese", a low key, soft spoken, kick ass kind of guy, I found out some things about Jim Caviezel, the actor's ideology that turned me off. So the show must be good because I decided to continue watching it.

It aired on CBS (2011-2016) but Paramount+ doesn't carry it, so I'm stuck with ads on Amazon Prime. I found it interesting that Wiki's synopsis lists it as a science fiction crime drama. That technical capability is not science fiction anymore. Also, I'm looking forward to seeing Carrie Preston (currently playing Elsbeth), the show's star Michael Emerson's real life wife, in the series.

 
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OneEyedDiva said:
Wow..that's quite a rating. And you watched it on what network (or platform)?
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It's streaming on several platforms, maybe for a price. But you can watch the series for free here: Devs (Alex Garland FX-2020) S01E06

There are various videos of each episode (of 8) under the title listing. The link is for ep. 6, but you can find ep. 1 to start. I think most are in English, but some examples have foreign subtitles. You can sample each to find the ones you like.

I watch most of these things using torrents. You'll have to look that up...;)
 
Watching "The Oldenheim Twelve" on Amazon... filmed in Netherlands with English subtitles. Good acting, compelling conflict... but *what* is it about Northern European series that the lighting is always so murky, and all the colors are muted/drab? Even the peoples' clothes are uniformly gray/subdued blue/beige. Eeek, I want to watch a Bollywood film next that's a riot of color!
 
We just started watching a Danish show on Netflix that is dubbed in English. It is called Secrets We Keep. It concerns an uber-wealthy community with Filipina au pairs. One of the au pairs calls 911 from her employers' house, but the call hangs up and the next day she is discovered to be missing.

The wealth and entitlement of the residents against the backdrop of the poverty of those they employ is astounding.

 
Ruthanne said:
I am binge watching Baby Reindeer this morning. It's a British limited series on Netflix. I think it's good but some may want to be cautious about it if you are sensitive to some things now, like abuse. It's about a comedian who befriends a woman and it gets quite complicated.

Update: I finished watching it and still thought it was worth watching.

Note: I have updated the thread title at someone's suggestion.
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We enjoyed Dark Winds and Life After Death.
 
Starting to rewatch “A Touch of Frost” with David Jason.. love his quick- witted comebacks and snarky observations. Hrs kind of like a male Vera, only with a better sense of humor 😄
 

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