AgE2theBONE said:TCTTS said:
I have absolutely no idea what the hell I just watched.
I'm usually really good at understanding, in real time, the more complex sci-fi concepts, time travel in movies, etc. But I'm afraid this is what happens when a complex, multi-timeline, Nolan-esque plot is produced by a Nolan, but lesser writers are left trying execute it. Hell, the Nolans & Joy can barely pull it off themselves sometimes.
Whatever happened this episode, I'm sure I could read about it and I'm sure it was cool, but good gosh, for the dozenth time, learn how to properly provide some context, and how to properly set up payoffs. It also helps to have characters we actually care about, who can keep our attention, earn our empathy, and make us *want* to discover what's going on, but sadly, none of those things ever really happened for me this season.
Couldn't disagree more on all counts. For me, the characters were extremely well done and the plot, while requiring some thought, provided plenty of exposition for the viewer to make sense of what was happening.
I haven't read the novel but definitely plan to now.
This is my exact problem. It was ALL exposition.
Off the top of my head, think of some of the best sci-fi - Star Wars, The Matrix, Dune, etc - and how wardrobe and set design alone are used to instantly differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys, various factions, etc, without any dialogue/exposition whatsoever. That's partly what I'm talking about when I talk about context clues. In The Peripheral, however, EVERYONE in 2099 dressed, talked, and acted the EXACT same. The "Klepts" are meant to be the elite class, yet the "Neoprims," every character at the Research Institute, along with the Metropolitan Police, dressed just as nice, sounded just as snooty, and seemed just as if not even more rich and powerful than the supposed "elite" class. So why not at least make an effort to visually and audibly differentiate between these factions as much as possible, in ways that instantly tell and continue to remind us more about who they are and what they stand for, rather than attempting to do so via endless expositional conversations over tea?
Without rewatching each and every expositional scene two or three times, with subtitles, I never really grasped how each faction related to the other, and who was after what, partly because they all felt, looked, and acted no different than the other. It took my brain, like, four or five episodes to even remember which ones were the "Klepts" and which ones were the "Neoprims," and which was above which on the food chain, etc. If the filmmakers had made even the slightest effort to visually and audibly differentiate between the two, I would have understood it all instantly. For instance, think of the very first *frame* in A New Hope, where a giant, sinister, looming Star Destroyer is chasing down a little ol' Rebel ship, and that's the kind of instant shorthand I'm talking about. Granted, I get that the factions in The Peripheral are more complicated than "evil Empire" and "noble Rebels," but it just felt like all the filmmakers cared about was everyone looking "cool," while continually sounding as vague and pretentious as humanly possible.
I have plenty of other issues, but that one probably sums it all up best. And look, I liked a lot of the show, and I'll probably give season two a shot if there is one, but man, this story has so much potential, and it all could have been so much more effective and compelling with better writers at the helm.
