Score: 10 out of 10The synopsis of the show is:
Set in a future where consciousness is digitized and stored, a prisoner returns to life in a new body and must solve a mind-bending murder to win his freedom.
10 episodes of visually amazing storytelling at its best!
A Few of the Characters:
Takeshi Lev Kovacs (nicknamed Tak) is a native of Harlan's World and a former member of the Colonial Tactical Assault Corps. Kovacs is of Japanese and Hungarian descent. (Though "Kovač" /as spelled in Serbo-Croatian and transl. as 'a smith'/ is a widespread Slavic family-name brought there mostly from Slovaks, and also Serbs, Croats and other Slavs during Austro-Hungarian Empire. And Slavic-Japanese genetic-combination, as Takeshi correctly states: "In the case of my parents: The match made in hell"). Growing up with his sister, Reileen, they suffered an abusive childhood. Their father killed their mother and hid the body. One day his father threatened Rei, causing Kovacs to shoot and kill him.
Taken into custody by the Colonial Tactical Assault Corps, Kovacs was given the option to enlist. He agreed as long as they promised to look after Reileen. Kovacs' original sleeve was kept in storage on Harlan's World while he was needlecast off-world to begin his training.
After several years, a mission to Harlan's World brought Kovacs back into his original sleeve. During a mission against the Yakuza, he encountered his sister who was working as an enforcer for them. Kovacs immediately turned on CTAC when they tried to kill Reileen, while she turned on her Yakuza masters. Both fugitives, they fled into the wilds of Harlan's World where they encountered Quellcrist Falconer and joined her Envoys.
Following the defeat of the Uprising, Kovacs returned to criminal life and became a mercenary, and was eventually imprisoned, his Cortical Stack stored without a body for decades at a time as punishment before being paroled or hired out to work high-risk situations. His consciousness was eventually imprinted back into a new sleeve in 2384.
Kristin Ortega (Martha Higareda)Officer Kristin Ortega is a high-ranking Bay City Police Department officer. An Earth native, she was born as a Neo-Catholic, which, by default, required that her cortical stack be programmed to never be resleeved. In time, however, Ortega decided against the incapacity to escape bodily death and renounced her religious claims. She was originally tasked with solving Laurens Bancroft's murder, but she ruled it as a suicide over the evidence.
Reileen Kawahara (Dichen Lachman)Reileen was born on Harlan's World and is of mixed Japanese and Eastern European decent. She has one older brother, Takeshi Kovacs. During their childhood, Rei and her brother grew very close living under their abusive father, often exploring the planet's wilderness together and telling scary stories like the Patchwork Man. Eventually, following the death of their mother, Takeshi was forced to kill their father after he threatened to harm Rei. Taken into custody, Takeshi joined the Colonial Tactical Assault Corps in the belief that his sister would be taken care of. Instead, Reileen was sold to the Yakuza and became one of their enforcers. During a CTAC raid, Reileen met Takeshi for the first time in ten years. During the reunion, CTAC officers tried to kill Rei, prompting Takeshi to turn on them to protect his sister. Reileen did the same for Takeshi, turning on her Yakuza masters.
Now fugitives from both factions, Rei and Takeshi fled to the wilds of Harlan's World, falling in with Quellcrist Falconer and her Envoys. While Takeshi became dedicated to the cause, Reileen was less enthusiastic. Out of jealousy for Quell, Rei ultimately betrayed the rebels to the Protectorate and turned on Quell herself during the escape, destroying their shuttle with an orbital laser strike. Though presumed dead, Rei had actually managed to survive the explosion, using her new wealth to become one of the most powerful meths by 2384.
Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy)
Poe (Chris Conner)
Owing to statements made to Kovac upon his entry to The Raven Hotel (as well as statements made to others), Poe has been in the hotel business for a considerable length of time (well over fifty years). He also seems to have a gambling problem, as when he meet with other AI's via hologram, they were in the middle of a poker game and they made mention of his outstanding debts from a previous game.Throughout the Series
Throughout the series, Poe has shown an interest in humans, stating to other AI's that he finds them fascinating. He shows knowledge of archaic human slang and views on private detectives, as in episode three he uses the phrase "gumshoes" to describe them and is aware of how their assistants dress. This knowledge makes him more human then machine and takes great pride in being the proprietor of The Raven Hotel where studying of humanity has become his greatest aspiration.
The show is based of the novel of the same name by Richard K. Morgan
Review of the book by Publishers Weekly:
This fast-paced, densely textured, impressive first novel is an intriguing hybrid of William Gibson's Neuromancer and Norman Spinrad's Deus X. In the 25th century, it's difficult to die a final death. Humans are issued a cortical stack, implanted into their bodies, into which consciousness is "digitized" and from which-unless the stack is hopelessly damaged-their consciousness can be downloaded ("resleeved") with its memory intact, into a new body. While the Vatican is trying to make resleeving (at least of Catholics) illegal, centuries-old aristocrat Laurens Bancroft brings Takeshi Kovacs (an Envoy, a specially trained soldier used to being resleeved and trained to soak up clues from new environments) to Earth, where Kovacs is resleeved into a cop's body to investigate Bancroft's first mysterious, stack-damaging death. To solve the case, Kovacs must destroy his former Envoy enemies; outwit Bancroft's seductive, wily wife; dabble in United Nations politics; trust an AI that projects itself in the form of Jimi Hendrix; and deal with his growing physical and emotional attachment to Kristin Ortega, the police lieutenant who used to love the body he's been given. Kovacs rockets from the seediest hellholes on Earth, through virtual reality torture, into several gory firefights, and on to some exotic sexual escapades. Morgan's 25th-century Earth is convincing, while the questions he poses about how much Self is tied to body chemistry and how the rich believe themselves above the law are especially timely.REVIEW:
The show was paced very well and the mystery and sub plots weaved through it carries the viewer through encouraging the binge watching that Netflix is known for.
The show also target the moral question of what would happen if you could basically live forever by jumping into new 'sleeves'. Additionally the concept that the rich get more power and become more depraved as they gain more wealth, influence and power. The gap between the haves and the have-nots have grown by such a massive amount that the ultra elite are considered untouchable and gods.
Sexy, smart and seriously bad-ass visuals, acting, plot points and execution makes this show a must watch. I'm watching it a THIRD time now since I knew I was going to write this piece and wanted to make sure the content was fresh in my mind.
If you liked Blade Runner, The Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic, Dredd, Ghost in the Shell and Total Recall, you'll feel at home here. One thing I noticed about Altered Carbon was the vast optimism in the future blended with a healthy does of distopian blight.
The technology utilized in the show was realistic and practical. Nothing felt out of place.
The writing and acting was great. There were memorable quotes which stood out and really showed the ideology of the show.
The ending creates a clean ending but also offers a path for future releases and with the concept of Sleeving the actors can change and unlike other shows the viewers will understand and roll with it.
I hope they still find a way to cast Joel Kinnaman because he played a great Kovacs but with the ending and the way it was rolling it's doubtful.
But one thing we know for sure, is that Kovacs hunt for his love Quellcrist Falconer will not end... So there's that to look forward to.
If you haven't watched this amazing show and you have Netflix, what the fuck are you still doing here reading? Go watch it already. You'll thank me later. :)
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