Devs

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http://bloody-disgusting.com/tv/3484...sci-fi-series/

"Ex Machina director Alex Garland returns to the sci-fi space with second feature Annihilation this weekend, and he’s already in development on his next project.

Garland, no doubt a sci-fi visionary, recently revealed that he’s developing an 8-part science fiction series for FX, which we now know will be titled “Devs.

Speaking with Collider ahead of Annihilation‘s release, Garland tells us more.

“[It’s titled] Devs, as in Developers,” Garland told the site. “It’s about a particular aspect of technology at the moment which is to do with very, very big data and very powerful processing power, and what can happen when you put the two things together. It’s set in San Francisco… a sort of tech story.”

All eight episodes have been written, and Garland hopes to direct them all."



Anybody watching this? I've watched episode one and it didn't hook me, but it's definitely got me curious.*

I loved Annihilation, but I thought Ex Machina was very average. This looks more like the latter for Garland, so I may wait for feedback before investing more time in this.



I'm waiting for all the episodes to air so I can binge it. Needless to say I'm looking forward to it.



I'm interested, but I'm getting a really heavy "this is gonna be more like an interesting atmosphere than a satisfying narrative" vibe. I hope I'm wrong.



I'm interested, but I'm getting a really heavy "this is gonna be more like an interesting atmosphere than a satisfying narrative" vibe. I hope I'm wrong.
Exactly how I'm feeling as well. The concluding payoff feels like it will not be worth it, unless someone tells me otherwise.



Well, watched the first episode, managed to guess a lot of the reveals before they happened. but I'm intrigued. Still not sure how much it'll pay off, but at least for now I'm into it.



Finished the second episode....still on the fence, but curiosity will continue to get the best of me for now.



Finished this last night. I was half-right: it doesn't quite nail the landing in the ways I think it could have, or which I hoped it would...but there was a lot of really great stuff there. A couple of very satisfying revelations and some super cool ideas. I like the meta twist Garland put in there, too, which I won't elaborate on publicly.

I read a fan theory that would've been potentially much cooler, too, but so it goes.

This one's definitely worth the time, some imperfections notwithstanding.



Wrapped the series up and I agree, Yoda. The atmosphere and aspirations were remarkable, and watching the multiverse theory extrapolations were awesome. I thought the ending felt a little misfitting, per the norm for Garland.



I watched maybe 15 minutes of it, weird seeing UCSC so prominent.



Didn't grab ya', eh? That's surprising. Lots of complaints about this show I'd nod along with even if I really liked it overall, but that's not one I'd have guessed.



Just wasn't a good time for me to be getting into a series. I still plan to continue. I thought the program(?) the young team was making was very Garland in the best way.



WARNING: spoilers below

Just because I feel like putting this somewhere, of all the ways to split from the deterministic path, why throw the gun away and still get on the elevator with Forest? Why not just completely deviate and leave by yourself, or just wait out the night there with everybody?

I'm curious what alternate ending you read about online that somebody pitched Yoda



Having started the series, at the conclusion of the second episode, it's got my interest and attention.

I see that creator Alex Garland has brought with him the boyish Sonoya Mizuno from his earlier Ex Machina and Annihilation for the part of Lily Chan, so they must work well together. Nick Offerman doesn't seem quite right to me as "Forest", but it may just be his silly long hair. His eyes are his best feature, and the hair jars the effect. Good to see the veteran Zach Grenier in a nice role.

The story could go in an immense number of ways, so it'll be interesting to see where it ends up. A second season will depend upon it.. 'Preciate y'all not spoiling the ending.



I'm curious what alternate ending you read about online that somebody pitched Yoda.
WARNING: "Devs" spoilers below
It was a theory I heard after the third episode, when they project backwards in time and recreate historical figures. Someone noticed that the most prominent ones (Jesus, Joan of Arc, etc) basically talked to God or claimed to, so the theory was that they're actually hearing the people working on Devs, who are transmitting backwards in time, creating the history they're simultaneously modeling. It also works really well with the reason he made the machine, because even his wife and daughter's death was because she was hearing him over the phone while driving. So in that sense his creation of the machine, to try to understand and redeem the tragedy, was also what caused it. He builds the machine to find out if he's actually responsible, and it turns out building it is what makes him responsible.

Obviously after a couple more episodes it became obvious this wasn't what was happening, but I thought it was a neat idea, and one that potentially solves some of the deterministic questions, since it's suddenly a self-fulfilling loop.

Of course, it opens other questions, and then quickly did things with the tech that did not fit this. But then, a lot of those questions are inherent to telling any kind of story like this.



Finished up Devs last night. Overall it was a very absorbing series, albeit a little monotonous with the lateral vacuum lock transport gondola, and perhaps too much repetition of the wall and interior shots.

For me the nadir was the 5th episode, but it quickly picked up, and had some nice twists near the end. And the end itself was gratifying. Many SciFi films end up in the air or in a confused fashion.

I liked all the special effects, especially the duplicate people which represented multiverses. And the cinematographer framed some beautiful uniques pictures of the San Francisco city scape, along with the G.G. Bridge. Very nice.

It'll be interesting to see if Alex Garland will do another SciFi series. The guy comes up with some good ideas.