I saw "from the creators of Westworld" in the ad and so I've chosen to stay away from this, but I may give this a chance just because I need a sci-fi fix. I've always liked Chloe but everything I've seen her play in over the last 5ish years has been horrible save for her 5 minute role in Suspiria.

It's good. There's a lot going on and they don't take you by the hand. I couldn't dare explain what's happening but I get it when it's presented. The last episode was quite good. Two of the soldiers have a battle like Game of Death. And an unstoppable killer old guy that should have his own show. You do get a bit of whiplash going back an forth from rural America to future London.

I like it too, but the main problem is that sometimes you have no idea whats going on, and that's even when you're following it closely. In particular there are crucial scenes involving Ash (Katie Leung) and the Irish guy, and you can barely make out what they're saying with their accents. Even with subtitles.

Also the main black English guy is an absolutely awful actor! He's so wooden.

Otherwise visually it's pretty stunning and the flip between the 2 settings is definitely what keeps it interesting.

I decided to watch the show about 2 weeks ago and forgot to come back to comment so I may get a few details wrong.

There's some interesting stuff going on in the show, but overall it's not good. As cpheonix mentioned, the accents are just awful. I found out the one Asian woman's Irish accent is her real accent so I guess I can't complain too much, but my god it was so thick you could bottle it. Not to mention the southern accents of Chloe's character and her brother.

Also, the main villain lady with the bald head was overacting her ass off. I've seen her in other things so I know she's not a bad actress, but her odd smiling and wide-eyed stares made her look like a very bad Joker knockoff. What is going on and why it's going on is not well defined and even when they talk about it it doesn't seem to make much sense. Chloe gets some data downloaded to her brain that was meant for her brother and bald head lady wants to kill her...

But nothing that happens in the past affects bald head lady's future. They even make a point of this with black british guy's boss saying he had his 2030's family killed for... reasons I don't understand. If none of the changes made in the past affects the future or "the jackpot" I don't see what the point of any of this is.

Then Chloe gets her brother's army buddy to kill her so that she can download her brain to a different timeline or something, and she does this with a pocket watch and a table top monitor inside a tomb that must not be that important because it's guarded by like 4 dudes who can't beat up a 5'4 woman. Granted she's a robot but I'm pretty sure they were robots too (and if not they should have been).

This seemed to have most of the same problems as Westworld: cool idea, cool visuals, interesting future tech, but the characters aren't great and the story is all over the place and too convoluted. It does a lot of "hiding" what's really going on to create mystery and intrigue and instead made me lose interest. If I wasn't able to watch it all at once I would have given up on it and just read the cliff notes.

@cswood said:

I decided to watch the show about 2 weeks ago and forgot to come back to comment so I may get a few details wrong.

There's some interesting stuff going on in the show, but overall it's not good. As cpheonix mentioned, the accents are just awful. I found out the one Asian woman's Irish accent is her real accent so I guess I can't complain too much, but my god it was so thick you could bottle it. Not to mention the southern accents of Chloe's character and her brother.

Also, the main villain lady with the bald head was overacting her ass off. I've seen her in other things so I know she's not a bad actress, but her odd smiling and wide-eyed stares made her look like a very bad Joker knockoff. What is going on and why it's going on is not well defined and even when they talk about it it doesn't seem to make much sense. Chloe gets some data downloaded to her brain that was meant for her brother and bald head lady wants to kill her...

But nothing that happens in the past affects bald head lady's future. They even make a point of this with black british guy's boss saying he had his 2030's family killed for... reasons I don't understand. If none of the changes made in the past affects the future or "the jackpot" I don't see what the point of any of this is.

Then Chloe gets her brother's army buddy to kill her so that she can download her brain to a different timeline or something, and she does this with a pocket watch and a table top monitor inside a tomb that must not be that important because it's guarded by like 4 dudes who can't beat up a 5'4 woman. Granted she's a robot but I'm pretty sure they were robots too (and if not they should have been).

This seemed to have most of the same problems as Westworld: cool idea, cool visuals, interesting future tech, but the characters aren't great and the story is all over the place and too convoluted. It does a lot of "hiding" what's really going on to create mystery and intrigue and instead made me lose interest. If I wasn't able to watch it all at once I would have given up on it and just read the cliff notes.

Katie Liu Leung is Scottish not Irish.

@bratface said:

Katie Liu Leung is Scottish not Irish.

I should have remembered the difference because I kept thinking she sounded like Scottie from Star Trek.

@cswood said:

@bratface said:

Katie Liu Leung is Scottish not Irish.

I should have remembered the difference because I kept thinking she sounded like Scottie from Star Trek.

Well, if she sounded like Scottie, then the confusion is understandable. James Doohan is Irish-Canadian and when he did his Scottish accent for his character on Star Trek, you could sometimes discern a wee bit of his Irish ancestry in it.

@cswood said:

@bratface said:

Katie Liu Leung is Scottish not Irish.

I should have remembered the difference because I kept thinking she sounded like Scottie from Star Trek.

Also, to me, Scottish is harder to understand than Irish (at times).

@NeoLosman said:

Best sci-fi western noir out there

Now that WestWorld has gotten the chop, what others are left? Serious question, Steve. You speak as if this is genre which is just as abundant as cop shows are

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Range

@bratface said:

@NeoLosman said:

Best sci-fi western noir out there

Now that WestWorld has gotten the chop, what others are left? Serious question, Steve. You speak as if this is genre which is just as abundant as cop shows are

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Range

I think Outer Range is just a one season. But it's pretty decent. BTW, who said sci fi westerns are abundant as cop shows? Lol! For everyone that complains that the books is better than the show, I picked up the book and it's an impossible read. Clear as mud. I did find some help watching a few explainers on Youtube. The show did good for Amazon (" Given that The Peripheral overtook The Rings of Power as Prime Video's top new streaming original, the prospect of Amazon green-lighting a second season appears strong.") but I'm hopeful for a s2.

@felixxx999 said:

@bratface said:

@NeoLosman said:

Best sci-fi western noir out there

Now that WestWorld has gotten the chop, what others are left? Serious question, Steve. You speak as if this is genre which is just as abundant as cop shows are

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Range

I think Outer Range is just a one season. But it's pretty decent. BTW, who said sci fi westerns are abundant as cop shows? Lol! For everyone that complains that the books is better than the show, I picked up the book and it's an impossible read. Clear as mud. I did find some help watching a few explainers on Youtube. The show did good for Amazon (" Given that The Peripheral overtook The Rings of Power as Prime Video's top new streaming original, the prospect of Amazon green-lighting a second season appears strong.") but I'm hopeful for a s2.

In October 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, with Charles Murray taking over Watkins' position as showrunner.

Nice! Thanks. Didn't know that.

@felixxx999 said:

Nice! Thanks. Didn't know that.

You are welcome. I have never seen it, I just read about it on its wiki page.

@bratface said:

@felixxx999 said:

Nice! Thanks. Didn't know that.

You are welcome. I have never seen it, I just read about it on its wiki page.

It's more of a family drama with some messed up time travel elements. A slow burn for sure but strong.

@felixxx999 said:

@bratface said:

@felixxx999 said:

Nice! Thanks. Didn't know that.

You are welcome. I have never seen it, I just read about it on its wiki page.

It's more of a family drama with some messed up time travel elements. A slow burn for sure but strong.

Not a big fan of anything with a western motif. The only TV show or movie that were even slightly western are: Firefly & Tombstone.