Not Stranger Things, Not Dark: This Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Series Deserves More Attention
by Bill Bria · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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When it comes to popularity and cultural movements, television has always been a bit of a fickle beast. For every show that manages to take over the zeitgeist, there are dozens of others that are just as great, potentially even better, and yet, they barely make a blip. In most cases, this is due to the show's circumstances: Either it aired on a minor network or streaming service, or it had a cast of mostly unknowns, and so on. Indeed, one issue that impacted the series "Devs" is that it was released in March and April of 2020, right when the Covid-19 pandemic was in full bloom. Naturally, folks had a lot going on during that period. However, the viewership numbers for "Devs" were consistently good, and the show, which aired on FX on Hulu (where it still resides), was one of the services' most-watched series at the time.
Perhaps it's not so much that "Devs" wasn't watched, but more that it faded into memory too quickly. After all, other heady, galaxy-brained sci-fi shows like Netflix's "Stranger Things" and "Dark" have enjoyed continual popularity thanks in large part to their multiple seasons. "Devs," by contrast, is an eight-episode miniseries that functions more like an eight-hour movie. The entire thing is written and directed by Alex Garland, putting it on par with other magnum opus auteurist series like David Lynch's "Twin Peaks: The Return" and Mike Flanagan's "Midnight Mass." Garland, then famous as both a screenwriter and filmmaker, has been working steadily since the series, making movies like "Civil War" and "Warfare" while penning the "28 Years Later" films, so it's surprising his name hasn't drawn people back to "Devs." If you haven't seen it, then here's why the show deserves more attention.
Devs is Alex Garland's ode to conspiracy thrillers
Like those aforementioned shows by David Lynch and Mike Flanagan, "Devs" is essentially one long feature broken down into segments rather than episodic stories that tie together. As such, it contains the pros and cons of that type of long-form storytelling. Alex Garland does hold back some rather big plot reveals for the second half of the series, meaning the show is slow going in its early hours. When all is said and done, however, it's a remarkably singular and consistent vision.
Set in the Big Tech hub of San Francisco, "Devs" follows software engineer Lily Chan (Sonoya Mizuno), an employee of Amaya. The fictional quantum computing company was named for the daughter of its founder and CEO, Forest (Nick Offerman), who died along with her mother in a car accident. Since then, Forest has become more distant, ominous, and obsessive, especially regarding Amaya's secret new system known as Devs.
After Lily's boyfriend Sergei (Karl Glusman) mysteriously disappears when he's outed as a Russian spy, she takes it upon herself to look into just what Amaya is up to with Devs and finds more than she'd bargained for. As this description implies, "Devs" is Garland's tribute to conspiracy thrillers by way of the tech industry. There are flashes of classic 1970s thrillers like "Three Days of the Condor" in the series, but the influence of more modern techno-thrillers can be seen, too, such as "The Thirteenth Floor" and "Déjà Vu." The show also marks Garland's return to similar thematic material as his 2015 feature debut, "Ex Machina," and continues that film's conversation about the tech industry's penchant for hubristic scientist-like overreach. At its core, though, "Devs" is a solid thriller and one of TV's best in recent years.
Devs has a compelling sci-fi hook that has become even more relevant
In contrast to shows like "Stranger Things" or "Dark," "Devs" doesn't necessarily focus on its characters. Alex Garland is someone who's clearly more interested in big ideas and haunting visual elements than interpersonal relationships. Fortunately, the series boasts a stacked cast to help with this, from Garland repertory company members Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, and Cailee Spaeny to folks like Alison Pill and Stephen McKinley Henderson. For those who wish to delve deeper into it, "Devs" is even more of a brilliant sci-fi show than a thriller series, exploring a compelling science-fiction hook that, once revealed, recontextualizes the whole thing. I won't fully spoil it here, but suffice it to say, the ultimate premise of "Devs" neatly fits into Garland's favorite trope: exploring the ramifications and repercussions of a brave new world.
The way "Devs" explores and deploys its concept is so effective that it's influenced other movies and shows since its debut. Echoes of "Devs" can be seen in the latter seasons of HBO's "Westworld," as well as this year's beguiling indie genre film, "Chronovisor." Yet, that's only scratching the surface of its relevance, especially when one considers where the tech industry has gone in the six years since the series aired. In a similar fashion to how Forest's tech obsession ended up threatening not just his employees but also the world, the rise of AI, its proliferation in so many facets of our daily lives, and the threat it poses feels like a future that "Devs" predicted. As the series posits, maybe other such accurate predictions are already out there, waiting for us to pay attention before it's too late. I myself predict that, after reading this, you'll give "Devs" a shot.