Brief Summary:
Set in a cyberpunk, gritty world where human conscious is stored on a tiny little device called a “stack”, humans beat real death by transferring bodies, which are called “sleeves”. Takeshi Kovacs is a badass dude that goes from being an abused child to elite soldier to rebel with a cause to a survivor criminal. 250 years after being “on ice”, Kovacs is given a new sleeve and told he’d get a full pardon by solving a murder of a 300 year old rich guy.
What works:
As a geek who loves cyberpunk and noir-style mysteries, this series (or at least S1) is right up my alley. It scratches a particular itch and was easily a bingeable endeavor. There is a tooooooon of worldbuilding that goes on in this first season, but, even though it gets slightly muddied sometimes, the show does a damn good job of slow building, it allows us to learn all these crazy concepts as we follow along Kovacs (played in the present by a stoic, brooding Joel Kinnaman) as he goes about his investigation. I’ve seen far too many SF shows where they just cram every bit of worldbuilding into the first episode just to get it out of the way, Altered Carbon doesn’t do that. We see bits and pieces, then over the course of the season, it all unfolds and makes sense (ish).
This is a cyberpunk world and I truly enjoyed the scenes inside the computer so to speak. We see virtual reality torture scenes, VR link ups to past events, computer AI taking human form, stuff like that. Personally, I enjoyed it, brought something a bit different to your average SF show. And Netflix didn’t spare any expense, the show looks amazing and the CGI/camera work/sets all looked the real deal. But I especially liked the scenes within the computer.
One thing that I really enjoyed (sans spoilers) is the way family is presented here. Time can be the great arbiter of how you view family. We get to see three sets of family intrigue (well there is another family involved, but a bit more minor overall) in this show and each set is unique, though all put forth the question of “does family mean everything?” That’s a hard question, our instinct always tells us an emphatic YES!, but let’s look at how Altered Carbon goes about it:
Brother/Sister badass combo Takeshi and Reileen. They are the series linchpin and, again, sans spoilers, plays at the very heart of this season’s plot. Outcome may surprise you. The way Altered Carbon shows this relationship through flashbacks from them as children to the present is inspiring, if I’m honest. Flashbacks can be done realllllllly badly on screen/film, but this show does a great job of it, they aren’t overly long and meandering, they are slowly added to build the tension and plot, there is great chemistry between actors (especially OG Kovacs in his rebel days). And then when in the present, the twists and turns (while slightly messy at times), plays out wonderfully as the dynamism of the actors are fully on point.
Police detective/Neo-Catholic family Ortega. Basically the concept of resleeving people to understand what happened in the case of a crime vs believers that there should only be “one” life, one body in the eyes of God. It’s interesting as even within this family, there are disagreements on this, case in point a very humorous scene where Detective Ortega resleeves her grandmother in the body of a Neo-Nazi and brings her home for the annual Dias las Muertas celebration.
Rich old family. The Mcguffin if you will. Together for hundreds of years, lots of family discord. Children using their mother’s clone sleeve to bang the help, son impersonating his father to broker a business deal. Though a close-knit family, time has sown seeds of hatred between them, proving that even the closest to you can grate your gears over the centuries.
Now for a change of reviewing pace, the best part of Altered Carbon is the AI hotel proprietor Poe. Not only is he funny as hell, he also plays a bit at the heart of the show: what is it to be human. Stuck for decades without a guest in his hotel (named The Raven as the AI is all about Edgar Allan Poe), his candor toward Kovacs not only provides the series some humor, but also bridges the hatred gap in Kovacs. I just loved Poe!
What doesn’t work:
One of the major points raised by critics is that the murder mystery sort of lags in the middle of the season and I can agree to that. I don’t think it’s a disaster as some have pointed out, but, with a world so complex, things can get lost in the shuffle. I do wish there was a bit more intrigue in those middle episodes that was built up in the early ones.
The glaring issue: sexual violence and nudity. Apparently the book is even more graphic, hence why it took 15 years to get made. Now, I enjoy boobs, bum, and the occasional floppy schlong as much as anyone, but I do think season 1 did go a bit overboard with it ala Game of Thrones. I get it, the murder mystery revolves around a sex worker, so yes, there is going to be sexual violence. I have no issue with that if it is presented well, story-speaking and brings a poignant message about it. I’m not sure we get that here fully. Now, there is a scene that I think is very artistically done with a nude fight scene, it fits the story narrative, isn’t provocative for the sake of showing boobs, it all makes sense. Job well done. But then there is just too much throughout the season that is just gratuitous for me, the male gaze in full effect.
Minor (and does become a major issue for me in season 2) is the rebel leader storyline. I don’t know, I just couldn’t get behind some aspects of her character, and I wasn’t overly impressed.
Rating:
4.5 out of 5. I absolutely loved season 1 of Altered Carbon! I love noir-style shows, especially with very unique SF elements. Sure there are a few hiccups, but overall, this show starts off with a bang and doesn’t let up.
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