THE PERIPHERAL - our stub contemplates the Jonathan Nolan/Lisa Joy show based on the book by William Gibson

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This show is dumb as fuck

calstars, Sunday, 13 November 2022 00:11 (one year ago) link

yeah it started out on a good note but this last episode is just dumb as shit, why are they wasting half the episode on this obnoxious hit man bullshit it's trash

Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Sunday, 13 November 2022 05:15 (one year ago) link

This sounds intriguing but I can’t trust it with my time after Westworld

Chuck_Tatum, Sunday, 13 November 2022 10:53 (one year ago) link

It's simultaneously more approachable than Westworld or Expanse, whilst having even more unnecessarily convoluted lore behind it than those productions.

Feels more warmly human, I guess. Of these shows I think I like Peripheral better, if only because it has some likable people in it. I guess I am a softy.

One can root for Flynne, Wilf, or Burton in a way you never quite could for Dolores, Bernard, or Maeve.

Probably the show will find a way to kick me in the emotional nads, now that I have said that. It's 2022; I should know by now that we don't get heartwarming entertainment anymore.

iliac crestfallen (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 13 November 2022 11:29 (one year ago) link

Expanse had nothing but likable people!

dan selzer, Sunday, 13 November 2022 14:27 (one year ago) link

Purple bass face

calstars, Sunday, 13 November 2022 14:32 (one year ago) link

So many of the changes from the novel—Cherise, Wilf as a fixer, Pickett as a Stephen King baddie rather than a Justified one—seem primarily to re-center this as an action thriller. But it’s not as though Gibson’s work is lacking in action! It just tends to be more low-key, dismissed in a few sentences. I began the novel after the second episode and it’s really made me think less of the show, though I still do like elements. I feel as though I know exactly where this is going, though: peripheral gun-fu fights that culminate in Flynne et al preventing the nuke/jackpot in their stub in traditional action movie style.

blatherskite, Sunday, 13 November 2022 19:19 (one year ago) link

Expanse had nothing but likable people!

― dan selzer, Sunday, November 13, 2022 8:27 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Marco had a certain charisma but was definitely not likable imo

mh, Monday, 14 November 2022 22:34 (one year ago) link

oh yeah, I meant the good guys.

dan selzer, Monday, 14 November 2022 22:48 (one year ago) link

All these future weirdos are great, although they kind of make me hate Wilf because his whole job seems to be hanging around looking emo while everyone else does crazy future shit. It was kind of hilarious how he just kind of hung back and watched while Flynne was having a massive matrix kung fu session with the two chop shop people.

Muad'Doob (Moodles), Saturday, 19 November 2022 18:53 (one year ago) link

I would have liked the future butchers run simulations of the fight which only they can see and then give up immediately based on the projected outcome while Flynn is cycling in a mortal kombat stance waiting for something to happen while saying, "whut's goin oannn y'alll? awr y'aalll gunna fahhyiiit ur whuuuut?"

Philip Nunez, Saturday, 19 November 2022 19:57 (one year ago) link

I think Wilf hung back because if he gets stabbed he actually dies, Flynne just gets whomped back into the present and they have to make a new future peripheral for her

Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Saturday, 19 November 2022 20:04 (one year ago) link

I mean, it makes sense, but it's also just unusual how passive his character is throughout most of the show, I sense there's going to be a big reveal about him and some secret powers.

Muad'Doob (Moodles), Saturday, 19 November 2022 20:21 (one year ago) link

Dude is passive, yes, but he remains an emotional center. I like his soulful puppy-dog eyes and the way his shirt and tie are the same fabric.

There are a lot of unpleasant things about the show but Wilf is not one of them.

I do not want to see him do a heel turn.

ooh I wanna take ya to Topeka (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 19 November 2022 20:37 (one year ago) link

All these future weirdos are great, although they kind of make me hate Wilf because his whole job seems to be hanging around looking emo while everyone else does crazy future shit. It was kind of hilarious how he just kind of hung back and watched while Flynne was having a massive matrix kung fu session with the two chop shop people.

― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Saturday, November 19, 2022 12:53 PM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Read the books. In Pheripheral he is this, in Agency you can feel him starting to evolve. We’ll see about book 3

(I haven’t seen any of this show and am not sure I need to)

The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Sunday, 20 November 2022 02:04 (one year ago) link

this is about the show where Wilf is kind of an Alelita simp and is now a Flynne simp lol

mh, Sunday, 20 November 2022 02:10 (one year ago) link

I binged the first four episodes and kinda had a handle on what was happening in this show. But then I left two weeks go by before I watched eps 5 & 6 and apparently I retained nothing from the initiate binge because I have no idea what is happening in this show.

sctttnnnt (pgwp), Sunday, 20 November 2022 14:54 (one year ago) link

I feel what makes this show bad but digestibly bad vs the book which is presumably good (I couldn't make it past a few chapters) but indigestibly good is the complicated plot and boring protagonists are only there as a backdrop for other characters to do some increasingly hammy mustache-twirling. This last episode really amped it up in that department!

Philip Nunez, Sunday, 20 November 2022 15:52 (one year ago) link

The florid dialoue between Lowbeer and her assistant and then Lowbeer and Zublov, was a wee bit overdone, like some kind of hammy verbal ballet. I'm enjoying this show all that said, if a little confused at times by the plot (I like they dont handhold the audience though I guess?).

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 22 November 2022 09:50 (one year ago) link

And that whole "eat my damn roast beef it is delicious and you will like it" was stupid.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Tuesday, 22 November 2022 09:52 (one year ago) link

the roast beef is people

(I was thinking this but I do not believe it was actually people)

mh, Tuesday, 22 November 2022 16:15 (one year ago) link

It was hot, the night we burned roast beef till it was the color of television…

Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 22 November 2022 18:49 (one year ago) link

i also left it too long to watch the last ep or two and can't remember what a koid or neoprim or whatever else named people are

kinder, Wednesday, 23 November 2022 21:17 (one year ago) link

Polts and kleps and sims, oh my!

ooh I wanna take ya to Topeka (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 23 November 2022 22:04 (one year ago) link

If I was watching correctly they barely explained neoprims and koids not at all.

TWELVE Michelob stars?!? (seandalai), Thursday, 24 November 2022 01:22 (one year ago) link

Not yet, no. Probably this week.

but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 24 November 2022 01:42 (one year ago) link

Neoprims seems to be like... luddites? Am I right?

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Thursday, 24 November 2022 01:52 (one year ago) link

The book is slow to kick off because Gibson does that for like 150 pages, introduces terms and names and gives you no explanation at all for any of them

Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Friday, 25 November 2022 05:27 (one year ago) link

I’m going to drop this show. Another gratuitous action sequence, more time spent on dull characters like Tommy and the assassin. Despite being the protagonist, Flynne doesn’t get to do much. And so many plot conveniences: why didn’t their monitoring drones catch the assassin waiting out? Why have a single dude escort the mom after last week’s attack? A rural clinic in drug country without security? Hell, a drug lord didn’t have at least one goon in the house with the prisoner and his wife?

I recall reading press before the show that Gibson had a lot of support for the adaptation, loved it, etc., but you gotta figure that’s just "getting behind the product”; I can’t imagine him watching this and thinking, “Yes, this gets to the essence of my novel." I guess even Stephen King has to wait a few years before saying, "this sucked" re: adaptations.

blatherskite, Friday, 25 November 2022 20:15 (one year ago) link

The beat-em-up sim was utterly pointless but idk otherwise it was the same show it's been: inscrutable characters who know more than we do, blank slates who know less than we do, a ~~mystery~~, big statues.

TWELVE Michelob stars?!? (seandalai), Saturday, 26 November 2022 00:24 (one year ago) link

I can’t even believe people made it to ep whatever— after the first three, we stopped watching. Utterly stupid, and we like stupid tv shows in this house.

Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Saturday, 26 November 2022 13:28 (one year ago) link

Yeah I think I made it to ep 3

Tracer Hand, Saturday, 26 November 2022 13:29 (one year ago) link

I'm definitely not loving it. It is making me want to re-read the book, though, from a "I remember liking this...maybe I should re-check my conclusions" perspective.

but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 26 November 2022 14:33 (one year ago) link

would be up for a list of stupid tv recommendations from tables (or anyone else)

TWELVE Michelob stars?!? (seandalai), Saturday, 26 November 2022 16:21 (one year ago) link

would be up for a list of stupid tv recommendations from tables (or anyone else)

Ever watched Banshee? It's streaming through HBO Max now. (CW: a whole fuckin' lot of blood. Also some incest.)

but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 26 November 2022 16:28 (one year ago) link

another HBO Max show we love that is very stupid is Wellington Paranormal, which is about two idiot cops investigating paranormal events in New Zealand. horrible dad jokes and that kind of thing.

as i’ve gotten older, i’ve discovered that the 25 minute sitcom is one if my preferred viewing lengths/ experiences. funny enough, one of my other favorites is the long, drawn-out, molasses pacing of many art films. feathers or stones, i guess.

Goose Bigelow, Fowl Gigolo (the table is the table), Saturday, 26 November 2022 17:06 (one year ago) link

wellington paranormal is the best!

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 26 November 2022 17:42 (one year ago) link

ty will check out

TWELVE Michelob stars?!? (seandalai), Sunday, 27 November 2022 01:34 (one year ago) link

Having watched the season finale I am going to wall off this stub and go back to the one in which only the book exists.

but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 2 December 2022 15:22 (one year ago) link

I kinda checked out of this series, it threw loads of interesting ideas at me at the start and I feel it petered out a bit, too much of the 'kill all the level bosses' type stuff. Worth reading the book tho??

kinder, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 11:04 (one year ago) link

Evidently had already been lost/not paying attention, but totally didn't realise that last week's was the final episode?! Quite enjoyed the first four or five, but then it just squandered any promise or momentum it had.

Piedie Gimbel, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 16:16 (one year ago) link

Worth reading the book tho??

The book has a beginning, middle, and an end, which already puts it well ahead of the series. Plus, if you've watched some, you won't be as confused by Gibson's drop-you-in-cold style.

but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 16:27 (one year ago) link

I finished the book last week and quite enjoyed it, though the climax is a bit lackluster (won't spoil why). I found the writing took a moment to get used to, as well: Gibson changed his to terse, subject-dropping sentences ala James Ellroy. For example, rather than writing "Flynne woke up, walked over to the computer and turned it on," it's now "Flynne woke up. Walked to the computer, turned it on". (I haven't read the Blue Ant trilogy, so maybe that change predates The Peripheral.)

blatherskite, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 17:07 (one year ago) link

He’s always had a taste for the hard-boiled

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 17:33 (one year ago) link

i notice there's a TV company called Blue Ant now, caught their logo on the end of something

koogs, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 20:32 (one year ago) link

One more episode so I’ll finish it but this hasn’t seemed bad-bad to me, just aggressively mediocre.

Thought the Blue Ant books had many more interesting ideas of the near-future than these two, and probably better for TV… but they wouldn’t require a massive CGI budget so less likely to get a green light.

papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 20:51 (one year ago) link

I enjoyed this? I thought visually the wordbuilding looked awesome. Wasnt massively invested in Flynne's family and they were way too sketchy explaining their backstory for too long, but yeah it was fine to me. Not a huge amount ended up happening but re the book's "beginning, middle and end" - cmon this is a 1st season. Why does everyone expect everything to happen all at once these days.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 21:47 (one year ago) link

There are some dumb holes - the haptics are so strong Flynn's brother almost killed a guy because of a slight against someone else 15 years ago, they're constantly aware of each other... but when one dies violently they don't know unless they check (also yeah, one guard when they know someone wants them dead enough to send a super assassin).

papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 22:06 (one year ago) link

maybe the haptics need an upgrade after 15 years

The Beatles were the first to popularize wokeism (President Keyes), Thursday, 8 December 2022 15:09 (one year ago) link

Watched all of it over the past week here. Now I haven't read the book yet (don't give me grief, I can't get to everything), but while parts of it were annoying/frustrating, I kinda appreciated it as an ominous mood piece at its best (the credits music helped in that regard). The fact that the local US crime lord guy was like an elevated Ben Gazzara from Road House did amuse me a bit, but also meant I couldn't entirely take that whole arc seriously; I kept waiting for him to throw a full pool party. I guess I'm also aware of enough general tropes and used to imaginative fiction in general that whatever I didn't quite catch or understand as it went I handwaved.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 12 December 2022 00:22 (one year ago) link

There's only been one more (Agency) in the series, it's not touched at all in the show (and wouldn't make much sense as season 2 with the way they handled things).

papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, 1 February 2023 22:55 (one year ago) link

If nothing else, this show is kind of great for its costuming -- future fashion that actually looks like fashion.

Shartreuse (Leee), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 19:16 (one year ago) link

Glad they renewed. Enjoyed season 1 and plenty more to explore.

that's not my post, Friday, 10 February 2023 03:06 (one year ago) link

six months pass...

In retrospect, perhaps it's for the best.

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 18 August 2023 21:33 (one year ago) link

now if they would just cancel the jackpot as well...

that's not my post, Friday, 18 August 2023 21:58 (one year ago) link


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