Watched this with the wife. The first season was an absolute masterpiece. Set design, story, suspense, acting, cinematography, and a favorite thing I look forward to in dystopian/post-apocalyptic sci-fi shows: retro computers and user interfaces 🥰 It makes me very happy to imagine Humanity finally being rid of ads, trackers, unempathetic user-hostile design, and shitty product managers, even if there’s very little else left.
I couldn’t imagine how they built that exquisitely complex and claustrophobic set. Luckily enough, Adam Savage had the same question and met the people who made it. Even if you’re not into this sort of thing, the video is worth a watch to appreciate just how insanely creative people can be.
The soundtrack… oh my the soundtrack. Just so beautiful and befitting. By Atli Övarsson, who joins his Icelandic brethren in creating ‘that’ sound. Think Ludwig Göransson for The Mandalorian, Jóhann Jóhannsson for Sicario, Hildur Guðnadóttir for Chernobyl1. Don’t work for Pitchfork and will resist a description (which would’ve included words like “congruent”) but it’s one of those things where I now stand a pretty chance of guessing if the composer were Icelandic.
All that being said, the second season was okay and we decided we don’t really care about the unanswered questions and the cliffhanger and won’t be finishing the two others they have planned.
Steve Zahn is an excellent actor.
Haven’t heard The Joker but am assured it’s excellent.↩︎