Prime Video may not be up to Netflix or Disney + in terms of number of users (and whose exact number we will never know, because Amazon reports the number of subscribers to the Prime service, not the number of users of the platform), but it is indisputable who is trying. And it is not only obvious from the pan of millions of dollars that has been left in a production, ‘The Rings of Power’, which may not have materialized one hundred percent as would be desirable, but which has undoubtedly put the platform in the map.
But to everything is added a good number of series varied and of remarkable quality: some more modest, others more ambitious, but most of them remarkable for one reason or another. His new season of ‘Stories to keep you awake’ arrives with some expectation, his superhero series ‘The Boys’ and ‘Invincible’ are reformulating superhero topics with much more success than any other platform, and although less known, there is a lot of good and remarkable in series like ‘Night Sky’ or ‘Upload’, among others.
Now he’s trying it with ””The Peripheral’, a new series that, from the start, comes with a few very interesting proper names on board. Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy (‘Westworld’, ‘Person of Interest’) are the executive producers, while Vincenzo Natali (‘Cube’, ‘Cypher’) directs several of the episodes, including the two that are already available on the platform. As you can see, among his creative team there are names linked to the best audiovisual science fiction, so once again Amazon is playing its cards right.
But the most attractive name for the fan with callus to the genre is William Gibson, who signed the novel on which the series is inspired in 2014 and which was published in Spanish under the same title. He is the creator of the concept of cyberspace and the literary genre of cyberpunk in his novel ‘Neuromancer’among other indisputable milestones, and his stamp is recognizable in this series, which delves into virtual worlds and digital identities.
futures of the present
The series introduces us to a pair of brothers (she played by an, as usual, sensational Chloë Grace Moretz) who, in order to pay for the treatment of their sick mother in the very near future, agree to participate in a virtual reality experiment. What they believe to be a sophisticated heist video game turns out to be a passport to the future, to the year 2070, where in his body they will have to carry out a series of missions and meet all kinds of characters.
It is a fascinating approach and one that the series solves very well with brief and very successful special effects and an exquisite setting that is not at all exhibitionist. A true immersion in a future without flying cars or neon buildings but that fits perfectly with the literary William Gibson (you just have to see how the characters dress) and with his obsessions about the volatility of the body due to technology and the political impact exerted by whoever owns it.
The action unfolds by dosing the information with droppers and with long conversations: viewers who expect futuristic action and special effects spectacle may be disappointed by a series that opts more for reflection on technology, its consequences and the renewed value of time in what contexts. Literary Science Fiction in a Series for streaming: Very good, Amazon.
‘The Periphera’l can get stuck in its very nature: its extremely slow development and the calm with which he shows the situations to the viewer differs from the usual trend in genre seriesor, always looking for the next cliffhanger and the resulting twist. But the purpose of ‘The Peripheral’ could be said to be different (as the other Nolan and Joy productions were different), although its own serial structure can play against it. It will be interesting to see how the guy holds up to this philosophy over a whole season.
