The Peripheral

[Drunk Monk]

The Peripheral: based on a William Gibson novel and the makers of Westworld. Could be a giant mess.

Could be that you’re too judgey Mr. Judgey McJudgeFace.

Or maybe it will turn out to be a big mess but I watched e1 and was engaged. You get the plot from the trailer. Chloe is a top level gamer living in the blue ridge mountains in the near future. She gets to beta a new gaming system that transports her to London in the near future from her near future. But things get too real. 

It had nice pacing and fun special effects. I like Chloe even though I’ve only seen a fraction of her work. There’s some decent action and it’s all very cyberpunk as we’d expect from Gibson. So far, it’s built a stylish world, reminiscent of Westworld, or at least the small amount I’ve watched of it. There was some cringey eye stuff that reminded me of Cronenberg. 

I’m in for some more. But I’m not going to recommend it yet just in case of the off chance that Mr. McJudgeFace is right. It could happen. I could also win the lottery. We shall see.

[Greg]

Don't get me wrong. I'm going to watch it. I just can't watch until a certain someone returns from her adventures out in the Covid Realm. I think John Nolan does good work.

[Drunk Monk]

E2: This ep opens with a surprise firefight that was set up with the final act of the previous ep, but it takes a wicked fun turn. 

Then what’s actually happening is given an explanation, well, at least enough to construct the show’s logic. It has a Matrix meets Avatar in Westworld vibe. Very cyberpunk. 

A lot hinges on Chloe’s performance who does a lot of her acting by flaring her nostrils, but she’s got such a cute pointy nose that we’ll allow it. Several of the supporting characters are beginning to flesh out like her brother and her one arm friend. 

The special effects and overall style of the two futures is cool, the rundown rural ghetto feel of the blue ridge mountains versus the majestic vision of London are working for me. 

I’m gonna say the first two eps are worthy of a D00M recommendation with the caveat that Greg still might be right inevitably with his ‘mess’ prediction but I’m liking it so far. Eps are a little more than an hour each so far and that flies by for me. 

Anyone here ever read the Gibson novel that this is based upon?

Yeah, I’m in. Wonder what day it is when the new ep is released.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I read the sequel (didn’t know it was a sequel, but I won it at a Borderlands Books raffle). The sequel was pretty lightweight, but took place in a very familiar Mission District in my lovely city, I was OK with it. Definitely made the first book sound interesting.

[Drunk Monk]

We’re nowhere near SF now. It’s all way future London and the Blue Ridge mountains in the near future. There’s a lot going on in the show. The juxtaposition of the two settings makes for great contrast and the tangled story arcs are woven to tie it all together. Honestly, I’m a tad confused about the exact details with some of the arcs, but they’re revealing themselves just enough to stay credible. I’m rather enjoying it. Chloe and whoever is playing her brother are killing it. Great characters, as is the one armed dude. And a new villainess has emerged - she kills with bees. Overall, what’s striking me the most is the world building and overall design. It’s feeling like a smarter sci-fi, although I might just be getting bamboozled by the technobabble. It’s reminding me of The Expanse in terms of pacing and feel - especially the opening credits - even though they are very different shows, there’s a parallel vibe in how they are approaching their storytelling.

Hope someone else dials into this soon because I’m like talking to myself about it. One of my dog park friends is into it - same person who was into Extraordinary Attorney Woo. I guess we share tastes although you wouldn’t guess that to look at us.

[Greg]

Steady, son, I'm waiting on the return of The Queen before I dive in.

[Drunk Monk]

Yeah but you’ll hate it

You hate everything

[Greg]

And? I still have to watch things to hate them.

[Drunk Monk]

Thanks to D00M, you can just hate on the poster.

You should watch Blade of the 47 Ronin.

[Greg]

I'm staying out of cranefly's lane.

[Drunk Monk]

I don’t think any of us could even get into cf’s lane, no matter how hard we might try

That being said, I would delight in reading you review of Bot47R. It’s not that long, just a little over an hour…

[Greg]

Why do you hate me?

[Drunk Monk]

Because you never liked me...

[Greg]

There's that.

[Drunk Monk]