(SPOILER! Review)Let's Talk About Altered Carbon

Hey there, long time no see. It's been like what forever since my last Spoiler review. So I was finished with watching Altered Carbon 4 days ago and I thought to myself "I want to talk about the nitty grittys with my fellow Steem members" , so here we are. Let's have a spoiler discussion in:
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The show is more dystopic than your average Sci-Fi TV show

Right within the first episode, you gaze your eyes on a world that has seemed to have further advanced far more than what Philip K Dick imagined in his work. Most of the scenes in this bustling city shows inspirations from both Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner, especially since its based on a non-graphical novel. It's bleak af: unregulated prostitution, territorial gang wars, poor sanitation, lack of daylight below the surface, atheists and humanity's lack of empathy. Amidst the worst of living under the guises of oligarchs, corrupted law enforcement and terrible conspiracies. In fact, our hero; Takashi Kovacs was born in a world that has already begun seeding the future of their demises. Thanks to the creation of stacks.

It's funny but kind of makes sense why there aren't Cyborgs around in this world, but then again there's synth sleeves. Sleeves are like avatars, you can switch one body to another with only a stack serving as you; your conscience, memories and skills developed. If that dies, then you die, game over....unless you pay big money to have your stack in cloud backup servers. Cloud computing ftw lol. That's another part of the problem in this world, there's no economic equilibrium for many of the population since most of the laws favor the oligarchs hence the hate and disdain towards them. Oh and speaking of prostitution, I couldn't tolerate watching so many nudes of both men and women. I mean Westworld was one thing, they decided to outbest that show in terms of exposure. Congratulations, you did great. The gore am ok with, I like my show with a little ultra-violence here and there.

Also, if you're having problems following up all the terminology. I would suggest visiting the link below.

https://screenrant.com/altered-carbon-terminology-guide-glossary/

Every Meths here have a god complex

The world was doing fine being in a predisposition of being messy, complicated and violent, Meths unfortunately dialed that number really high. Starting with Lauren Bancroft, he's made enemies with lot of people because of hidden development projects and slandering people following religion that prohibits being brought back to life in another body. But you could see through his philanthropic work, amass fortune and position in power that he's the same archetype that feeds on people's pleas from conflicts he created or just benefit from. Even if Bancroft believes he is doing work for the greater good, the silver lining within the show is well drawn out. But unfortunately for him, he is not impervious to blackmails and was forced to subdue new government bill 653 which brings the dead back to testify against a crime even if they're Neo-C. They even control their children's lives which leads them to deviate a lot from their parents or worse steal their spotlight right under them.

This in a weird way mirrors our world, based on how much influence the oligarchs have and how much they can tarnish people's lives just for their agendas without anyone willingly knowing. Using money to pay corrupt government as a gateway to transit their unfair and somewhat illegal operations.

Best Edgar Allan Poe impersonation

This was the best part of the show and it was tragic to see him die in the end, unless of course he also has a backup somewhere. The anthropomorphic A.I brings a bit of whimsy and hopeful demeanor to a more gritty, hard R themed show. I mean everytime he shows up, he cracks all sorts of jokes including well dignified responses that just lights up the room.

In fact, his personality is a counter to the human character's lack of humanity within the show. He helps Lizzie, Vernon's daughter find the willpower to mentally overcome her death and loop she's stuck in from her damaged cortical stack. He even insist on helping Takashi with his investigations, a little too clingy for human contact. I mean that's understandable considering he hasn't had a customer in like ages. God, this is funny but its reminding quite a bit of other Sci-Fi shows that has group of people who didn't know each other, form their own team with companionship and following same endeavors. Poe is a great standout, one am hoping comes back in the next season because you can't just erase this much potential for the show's entire lifespan.

^Also let's not forget this guy, the actor who played 3 different people in one attire, including Ortega's grandmother/ I mean the performance from this was phenomenal, I call that he gets at least an Emmy nominee or Golden Globe.

Everyone deceives each other, even Takashi's sister; Reileen

You've figured what power does to people, but how much is one willing to destroy with that kind of power for the people they love? that question not only received a grueling answer but a demonstration from Takashi's sister of what she is capable of. Raised by the Yakuza, Takashi fully underestimated what his little sister was capable of. Manipulating other Meths, bribing law enforcement, catering to the highest order by providing worst of their vanities and hiring skilled fanatics as assassins all the while raising her empire during the last 200 years while Tak was locked away. Yep typical bad guy, who saw that coming?

One of the best part of the show was the ending, where her brother had no choice but to kill her just so she could stop him from being close to people including Quellcrist. Then raises another plot twist in which she states that Quellcrist has a backup stack, she was alive this whole time. Unfortunately Tak decided to take the long route in order to search for her, making the penultimate choice of finally ending his sister while holding her cold hands in a bitter sorrow scene while his friends were forced to departure while he stayed behind. But then again, this is Altered Carbon. Plot twists is the name of the game, I mean I'd be dumb enough not to consider about Tak making a backup of his in another cloud system and let's also talk about his other clone sleeve screwing with Bancroft's wife.

Deception plays a big key element in a world where the law doesn't properly beholds itself to the extend of power beyond anyone. Ortega's commanding officer of the police force intimidated by Reileen's influences botched a lot of investigations that were bringing ties to her operations, including the downfall of Elias Ryker (Takashi's sleeve). So pretty much of these connections came together, solving not only Bancroft's supposed murder but Vernon's daughters sleeve being destroyed killing her unborn child.

More or less Cyberpunk, but mostly Sci-Fi

This is the part of the show that I love, I have a thing for Cyberpunk genre and am glad to see this show even though it's mostly Sci-Fi, incorporating Cyberpunk theme into it. Kind of reminds me of Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner in form. Even if Joel Kinnamon comes back or not (I actually liked his performance as the current sleeve for Takashi), am totally looking forward to watching how far it'll progress. If am being honest however, third and fourth episode slowed the shows pacing a tad bit too much and the music score got tedious till the last episode. I hope the latter issue gets primarily sorted out, I like my shows with good music too.

I hope you enjoyed this show, Netflix really is reaching for the stars for high amount of new TV content coming out each year. Unlike some people think, this show does deserve more praise than criticism although toning down the nudity a bit might help next time. I get it, Westworld did it so why not Netflix, then again times like this show with explicit content won't be highly accepted.