Extrapolations: Season 1
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Every single episode was thrilling, thought provoking and original, but holistically it was missing something. I can’t tell if it was the lack of a central plot, a bit of technical direction, a key protagonist, but might be related to a missing connection between the key characters.
Overall, I’d recommend it as a 2nd tier for those who enjoy sci-fi, but not a must watch. I can see it being frustrating for anyone who is a strong climate change advocates or denier, but perfect for those who are more centrist. It’ll also be frustrating to watch for people who “hate billionaires”, but I personally liked the impact that capital reinvestment brought to the world even though it came with lots of hurdles. If the last sentence intrigues you, then you’ll probably enjoy the show.
Episode 1: The pilot was one of the weakest episodes. It really extrapolated the doom & gloom scenario of climate change and left a negative vibe that persisted for the rest of the show.
Episode 2: I loved the entire idea of communicating with animals.
Episode 3: The conflict between a father who bends the rules for the good of
his family, and a young daughter who does the righteous thing for the good of
the planet. This is a moral dilemma with no right answer, but every individual
will lean more one way or another more. My favorite part of the episode was when
the Rabbi at the very end said (something along the lines of): Because he is god, and we are humans so he always works in mysterious ways that we’ll never understand.
Episode 4: This was a really cool episode just because it was one where I first learned about Climate GeoEngineering. Regardless of how much it was extrapolated, it really made you consider what’s possible. The child-parent conflict & relationship here is hard to describe, but one that you really have to watch to understand.
Episode 5: I loved how different the tone of this episode was. The first half felt like an Aleksei German film, and the second half was just real, raw and inspiration.
Episode 6: This was my favorite episode. It was the saddest, most emotional, most touching, and very real because it was the first time in the show that the characters had a real physical connection. Everything from forgetting about his mother, to remembering about the importance of living in the moment, being able to move on but also reflect on the past. This episode had real passion.
Episode 7: This episode felt a bit out of place, but just felt like a moment out of Black Mirror. It didn’t tie into the rest of the show, but showed the parallels that are happening and how everything was affecting the day-to-day of all individuals. It was also really awesome to see Tobey Maguire in this role.
Episode 8: It was a great finale that combined an original sci-fi approach
to hosting a trial with reality. It reflected on tradeoffs both the poor and
rich make. It had a happy ending but showed that there are consequences and
no free lunch. It was a strong cast overall. It didn’t blow your mind, but wrapped
everything up as well as one could. The moment that stood out most to me was
when the CEO of Alpha said: everything in life is a transaction.