Gibson Explorer

I've long wanted to read something by author William Gibson, but the closest I'd ever come was listening to the audiobook presentation of his unproduced screenplay for Alien III. I still haven't crossed "reading Gibson" off the list, but along has come another way of getting one of his stories into my brain: the Amazon Prime television series, The Peripheral.

In the near future, Flynne Fisher is trying to scrounge cash to pay for her mother's medicine, and agrees to help her war veteran brother Burton by taking his place in a study for a new, highly realistic VR technology. But what they think is a game soon proves to be very real and deadly, and part of the shadowy agenda of factions from an even farther and dystopian future.

While I did not know the source material of this story -- this certainly is a compelling adaptation by series creator Scott B. Smith. The eight episodes of season one start out in compelling puzzle box fashion, with plenty of mysterious doors and every question answered sparking two new questions. (You might expect no less from a series executive produced by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the team who created Westworld.) But unlike many puzzle box shows, this doesn't feel like mysteries all the way down. There are truths here, and they are revealed -- and every time, the story manages to stay just as engaging.

The cast is excellent. Chloë Grace Moretz stars as Flynne, and perfectly navigates the wonder and emotion the story calls for in equal measure. (She also reminds you that, "oh yeah, she's been doing fight choreography since she was a child," making the action-adventure elements of the hit just as hard.) She could carry the entire show on her own, but doesn't have to; there are many talented performers here that you've probably seen somewhere else, depending on what you've watched. Gary Carr, Jack Reynor, Eli Goree, Melinda Page Hamilton, and Katie Leung have all been making the rounds for years. Meanwhile, the "I know you!" that hit me hardest was T'Nia Miller, who was memorable in The Haunting of Bly Manor and is excellent here as a menacing villain.

The whole season is full of exciting plot twists, high stakes, ratcheting tension, and scary adversaries. But I will say that the final episode of the season did seem just a bit off to me -- less clear and more convoluted than what had come before, and comparatively rushed for its run time. I suspect this is mostly to do with trying to leave things in a cliffhangery spot for a potential season 2... and I don't quite know how that intersects with the original source material. (The Peripheral is the first book of a trilogy in which the William Gibson hasn't yet published the final volume. And I have no idea if season one of the show represents book one, or some smaller section of it.)

Among the shows I've been watching lately, The Peripheral was the one I felt most excited about when sitting down for a new episode. So even though the season finale maybe stumbled a bit, and even though I'm nervous that Amazon Prime hasn't announced a renewal yet, I have to give the show an enthusiastic recommendation. I'd grade season one an A-, and I certainly hope we'll get more.