It’s strange to watch a series like ‘The Peripheral’ considering that adapting William Gibson is dealing with one of the most influential authors of science fiction. So much so that concepts created by him four decades ago have been explored and exploited in iconic films and series, from ‘The Matrix’ to ‘Westworld’.
Choosing these two works is not random. The selection of the latter is, in fact, obvious: the prime video series features Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy as main drivers and producers. Something that shows in the designs, in the conception of this world (post-apocalyptic London could be a park) and even in the tone.
Thus, between monologues, androids and the elimination of the line between what is a human and a robot, the story of Flynne (Chloë Grace Moretz) could work as a season 5 (which, by the way, nothing is known) of the HBO fiction. In addition, Nolan and Joy’s fiction is now at the point of quality.
Halfway between one and the other
Which wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t. because Scott B. Smith’s script picks up the series’ flaws and couples them with a dilution of Gibson’s work. That is to say, although the series (of which I have been able to see five episodes) is entertaining, it stays at that point where it is neither one nor the other.
Smith’s changes from the novel are intended to make it easier to bring to the screen. This includes, for example, a more active role for Flynne and her family: if in the novel she is practically a spectator, a voyeur fascinated by what she sees, here she has a heroine role and interacts more (perhaps too much) with Wilf (Gary Carr), which is also different from the one in the book.
speaking of characters, where this series shines the most is in its cast. Not only Chloë Grace Moretz, but generally the rest of the actors do a magnificent job. including louis herthum like some kind of local kingpin and Jack Reynor as Flynne’s brother.
It also highlights, in a positive way, this world-building both on a visual design level and in the general sense. In this aspect it is noted that the producer is already a veteran in these parts of the genre. The series is also not shy in the visual field with remarkable special effects that manage to distract from a conventional direction.
An imbalance that plays against
But perhaps what most accuses ‘The Peripheral’ it is from an imbalance between the plot of 2032 and that of 2090. Unlike that empty London in the future in which several post-apocalyptic events have been chained, it is much more fascinating that portrait of everything is in shit in one of those places in rural America hit by the opioid crisis and in which one spends a million for a pill obtained on the black market.
Regardless of how we consider the decisions made in its passage from paper to screen (with all adaptation we assume tolls), the problem is that the final result, what we see when we press play, is disappointing in the absence of a challenge to the viewer more experienced both in the genre and, in addition, in the fascinating themes that it unleashes.
And it is that, ultimately, ‘The Peripheral’ is quite effective but, at the same time, more superficial (although it hides a certain depth) and generic of what one can expect in a work of this profile.