Recommended Sci Fi TV: Devs (2020)

Recommended Sci Fi TV: Science fiction and fantasy shows from the past decade or so that you may have missed and that we believe are worth checking out.

About:

A woman’s boyfriend dies mysteriously after he becomes involved with a top-secret project at the company for which both work. She has suspicions that the company is involved and begins to investigate, eventually discovering the dark and ominous truth about the project.

Aired: Hulu, 2020, 1 Season Totaling 8 Episodes

Starring: Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, Jin Ha, Zach Grenier, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson

Created By: Alex Garland

Bottom Line:  Devs is a slow burn of a sci fi series that delves into some interesting metaphysical questions and that ultimately delivers a satisfying genre tale bolstered by strong performances from its cast.

Why It’s Worth Watching:

This eight-part mini-series comes from Alex Garland who wrote the screenplays for 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Dredd, and who wrote and directed Ex Machina and Annihilation. Of his prior projects, Devs is probably closest to Ex Machina, though it takes a different approach with its look at technology and its consequences. The series can be slow at times, but it is rarely boring, and it explores some interesting metaphysical concepts as well as the idea of fate vs. free will. It gets rather heady at times, and some of the technical explanations sound like gobblygook to me, but the philosophical questions raised make it worth the watch.  There are some notable sci fi elements that the show covers, and I could discuss those in further detail, but that acts as a major spoiler, so I am keeping this review intentionally vague.

I can say that Devs has a strong and diverse cast, and they are definitely up to the task of carrying the story.  Particularly the always enjoyable Nick Offerman, who plays a different type of character than you might expect, but pulls it off perfectly. This is not a light, breezy series–but I also would not call it dark sci fi–and it is ultimately rewarding for those who wish to invest their brain matter. The story wraps up rather nicely by the eighth episode, but it also leaves open the possibility for a continuation. I would definitely tune in for that.

Cancelled Too Soon?

Devs was designed as a mini-series, though as mentioned above, it did seem to leave open the possibility of continuing the story.  It arrived on Hulu in 2020 under the FX on Hulu banner, and it was apparently one of the most-watched originals on the service at that time according to Wikipedia.  Alex Garland has indicated that he considers it a closed-end story, and he is busy with other projects, so don’t expect a second season from this one any time soon, if at all.

Where Can You Watch It?

The entire series is still streaming on Hulu.  You can also buy it VOD from sellers like Amazon.com.

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