Altered Carbon

Altered Carbon (2018) 

Season 1 – 65% – I try to like the main protagonist, to respect James Purefoy in raw form, or see Vernon as a funny partner and not as annoyingly stubborn and one-dimensional filler. And it works for me until the eighth episode, which represents everything I dislike about the series and when I mentally give up on the investigation, the storytelling, or the flashbacks, and simply enjoy the one hundred percent visual experience (including the unrivalled queen Martha Higareda), possibly the most elaborately crafted visual aspect I have ever seen in the genre. As a result, I struggle with the overly familiar plot twists and, above all, with the unbearable pose of openness to everything "forbidden": blood, nudity, sex, violence, torture, screams – almost everything is so blatantly obvious that I don't have the space to believe in the final emotions evoked by the creators, even though they are squeezed out quite relentlessly, for longer than a few seconds. Naturalness got lost somewhere in the flashbacks. There was potential, but the resulting taste turns bitter all too quickly. Season 2 – 30% – If the continuation managed to accomplish anything, it was to revive memories of the first adventure. The new season takes what was talked about the most and amplifies it twofold. As a result, I am subjected to an excessive amount of torturous scenes, with a convoluted plot that attempts to be explained by the confused Poe, and the action focuses on blood, as always. Unfortunately, none of this is what initially attracted me to Altered Carbon. What I liked is either missing now (Martha Higareda), evolving in a way that does not interest me (Takeshi himself is merely a supporting figure in an uninteresting and unbelievable love story), or almost ridiculed (the construction of the entire world relies on cliché side characters and bizarre plot jumps). The reason why my rating is so low, however, is the visual aspect. It is almost tragic that a series that used to astonish viewers with every other shot voluntarily confines itself to dark halls, warehouses, and caves. In combination with the complete waste of the traditionally irresistible chameleon Simone Missick and the charming Anthony Mackie, I can only shake my head at what exactly the main creator expected hungry audiences to say about this after two years. (27/03/2018)