Altered Carbon

Araxen said:

You though his sister was hot naked? Her and Miriam nude scenes could have been done without. They both look like anorexia whores.. Ortega was well worth the show.

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hey i like all non fat chicks, my dick doesn't judge a chick on their titty size or skin color just like i hope women don't judge dudes on their dick size

although Mark Antony was packing

Started off well for me, as I love cyberpunk, and the initial setup of the world and murder mystery had me quite interested, but by the end I just felt disappointed. Most of the characters(especially the two leads) felt flat to me and was hard to get invested in them. Bancroft, AI Poe and Leung(Ghostwalker) were probably the ones I found most interesting and would have liked to seen/learned more about. As has already been mentioned, the entire plot line with the sister was just awful. She never comes across as anything more than a complete sociopath, so it feels foolish anytime they try to setup moral tension about how Kovacs might respond. It just made every interaction they had jarringly bad, and I'd end up shaking my head.

I loved the new Blade Runner, so I had high hopes for this, but it never clicked for me. Here's hoping the Cyberpunk 2077 game brings some success to the genre because I don't think this show is gonna do it any favors.

Reileen is replacing Kawahara from the book, the whole point is that she (and Bancroft and others like them) are sociopaths. They're detached from humanity in a huge way. That's not to say it was a good storyline. I liked the book better when there was no doubt, Kovacs was on board to fully destroy Kawahara and fuck up meth domination in a big way.

Kovacs actually had a sister I think, mentioned off hand in the third book to explain his attachment to a teenage girl who is helping him out. But that relationship wasn't there, another theme in the book is how resleeving changes relationships and family structure etc. Especially with his Envoy shit, he was so distanced from them that there was nothing there anymore except some base urges, like protecting women (especially young women) etc.

Show wasn't bad, could have been better. The scenery was good, but the plot suffered. A lot of missed opportunities. Like, why introduce the Patchwork Man and then... not do the fucking Patchwork Man thing? Why introduce Reileen and have her basically just be Kawahara? Why retool the Envoys to... whatever they were, it isn't really clear. Flaws aside, it was entertaining.

That's my biggest problem really; everything they changed/added from the book story is just flat out worse? I don't get why they did any of it. Kawahara being his sister just fucks up all the motivations there and replaces it with some muddled familial morality crap that just doesn't work.

Adding the Lizzie chick and her family was just pure shit every time they were all on screen. Her training in the hyperbolic time chamber to become a killbot pissed me off so fucking bad. If that were a thing that worked in that world, literally every meth/corp/government etc would be packed to the gills with ultra synth-sleeved assassins at all times because you can just cheat time forever in VR. It also completely contradicts the entire business model of Reileens interrogation houses if VR time dilation exists.

Only watched the first two episodes but god damn the acting is so wooden. Does it ever improve?

Yea her story just takes a big steaming shit all over the internal consistency of the world, which is why I have such a hard time understanding why it exists? It adds nothing of any value, and just undermines everything else by its very nature.

If you dislike this show then you agree with this reviewer chick
'Altered Carbon' Takes Place in the Future. But It’s Far From Progressive

Bitch ass Bitch said:

But despite its futuristic setting, the show’s treatment of race, gender and class feels downright retrograde.

Rather than explore the ethical implications of this technology, Altered Carbon focuses on a mystery.

For viewers, the mystery may instead be why Takeshi’s sleeve takes the form of Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman (House of Cards) playing an Asian man living in a white guy’s body. That’s how it’s written in the book, but onscreen it’s especially problematic. The creators would have done well to instead cast an Asian actor as the reborn Takeshi, avoiding the same whitewashing controversy that plagued last year’s Ghost in the Shell. In that adaptation, Scarlett Johansson played an Asian woman’s consciousness inside a white android.

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So if you recast and whitewash like GITS its problematic, but if you stick to the source material its also problematic. White men can't jump or win!

It being shoe horned in definitely explains why the Lizzie/family storyline came across so badly, definitely the story element I liked the least behind the sister angle. That screen time woulda been put to better use in doing more world building, sorta reminded me of Bright in that regard, I wanted to know a lot more about the setting. Like how exactly was social order maintained with such crazy levels of inequality, why were the AIs apparently independent and so weak, etc.

Watched the first episode, thought it was interesting. However, am I the only one who cannot stand the main actor? I hated that asshole in House of Cards. I don't know why, just something about him.

yeah the main guy is pretty terrible, it woulda been funny if they reversed it and had him be OG white and use the asian actor (wei shin from sleeping dogs) as the majority actor / detective sleeve, probably would have upped the critical reception too

its kind of a bummer they haven't yet announced a season 2 pickup, netflix usually announcess that stuff right after it drops but its been almost a week now and no word. I'm 90% sure it'll get picked up since it seems to have a lot of people watching and this kind of show is super expensive in the first season but a lot cheaper in the second as you get to reuse sets and stuff. With the way the show is setup they could do a full recast for season 2 no problem, which begs the question why did they go with that lead in the first place.

The guy that would have NAILED that character is Thomas Jane from the Expanse, he was perfect for the detective-tired-of-everything look in The Expanse but I'm sure he didn't want to do back to back sci fi shows and he was filming Predator

I would unsub from Netflix if they kept him in the same sleeve every season.

And Tom Jane would be great, but he's too old for this story.

Takeshi and Ortega didn't bother me at all. The acting there seemed fine. It was everyone else around them. Even James Purefoy didn't have very much to work with. The dialogue was so wooden it would have been at home in Phantom Menace.

Kinnaman is not returning for season 2, if it happens - which makes sense, book 2 takes place like 30 years I think after book 1 on another planet. I have a feeling though Netflix may pass sadly
'Altered Carbon': How Joel Kinnaman's Exit Could Impact Season 2