I will start saying I'm a fan of Philip K. Dick, but that doesn't mean I want his stories translated word by word on the screen, or that I think his work was flawless. It is always difficult to adapt something to a different medium, so I will forget this is based on a book, and go and review the first episode of a new dystopian series. I will also try to forget real history and take this series as a sci-fi thriller blend, which is what it is.
With that said, I found this first episode good, not great, but good, solid and a good way to start the story. It lays out pretty well the point of the story: what if the US had lost in the Second World War and the country was divided in two between Japanese and Germans. It also presents the mystery in a simple but clear way: We have an organization that seems to be working against the two big powers, and that wants to protect some films that show how the world could have been if the allies had won. Right now we don't know if these films mean something else, if there is some other mystery or why is their existence so dangerous. But the episode does a good job on selling the idea that we have to care about those films.
The atmosphere is great, not perfect, but really good. It has a very gray palette which gives a deep sense of foreboding, very depressing, and makes everything look dirty. Seeing the US with German and Japanese symbols, words, etc from the era makes for a very strange feeling too. But the level of detail seems quite good.
The actors are also good, even if the two lead characters come out as a little bit bland in this first hour of the series. But we don't know much about them, apart that he seems to be a young guy wanting to find something to fight for, and that she doesn't want to live in fear, that she wants to know more, learn more, stop being scared. We get to know more about her motivations and personality in this first episode than his. I am pretty sure their personalities and motivations will be well developed in future episodes.
A good start for a new sci-fi series, with an original enough idea.
With that said, I found this first episode good, not great, but good, solid and a good way to start the story. It lays out pretty well the point of the story: what if the US had lost in the Second World War and the country was divided in two between Japanese and Germans. It also presents the mystery in a simple but clear way: We have an organization that seems to be working against the two big powers, and that wants to protect some films that show how the world could have been if the allies had won. Right now we don't know if these films mean something else, if there is some other mystery or why is their existence so dangerous. But the episode does a good job on selling the idea that we have to care about those films.
The atmosphere is great, not perfect, but really good. It has a very gray palette which gives a deep sense of foreboding, very depressing, and makes everything look dirty. Seeing the US with German and Japanese symbols, words, etc from the era makes for a very strange feeling too. But the level of detail seems quite good.
The actors are also good, even if the two lead characters come out as a little bit bland in this first hour of the series. But we don't know much about them, apart that he seems to be a young guy wanting to find something to fight for, and that she doesn't want to live in fear, that she wants to know more, learn more, stop being scared. We get to know more about her motivations and personality in this first episode than his. I am pretty sure their personalities and motivations will be well developed in future episodes.
A good start for a new sci-fi series, with an original enough idea.