I’d read the books a while back, and generally enjoyed this. Much like Funk I’ve been re-reading the books since watching the series and I think the series hold up pretty well.

Regurgitating my lost post: I’m half way through and still enjoying it but it’s far from perfect. It’s visually lovely, very well shot. It’s obviously referencing fim noir quite heavily and the aesthetic is appropriate for that. It’s not particularly original but then not much is, and it has to be plausible.

I think Joel Kinnaman is doing a fine job, he’s a solid actor and I think as the series progresses he’s getting into the character. A lot of the criticisms I see directed at him are imo more a result of clunky dialogue and/or him not having much to do apart from sneer and smoke fags. A role like Poe/The Hotel is a gift for an actor becuase they’re playing a charicature – they can ham it up as much as they want and who’s to say where the limit is for an insane humanoid ai that’s supposed to be a long dead writer?

Downsides, James Purefoy is pretty bad in it. I think he’s capable of much more but again this could be down to lack of clear direction. I think the plot is too convoluted and somewhat muddled. It’s not clear what an Envoy is or what the extent of their abilities is, and combined with his bio engineered and upgraded sleeve Kovak might as well be superhuman. It’s not clear how much of his skill or toughness is down to his mind or the body he’s in and he’s all but superhuman until the plot requires him to be slow or weak.

I have a problem with the timescale too – it seems like a plausible 50 – 100 years in the future not 350, and it seems very odd that Kovak has intimate knowledge of current technology when he’s been asleep for 100+ years. Also smoking cigarettes is laughable, we already have a futuristic supersedence for that and they are obviously smoking as a nod to noir – it’s incongruous to say the least.

It’s still watchable, and good pulpy fun in places. I’m wavering somewhere between a 6 or 7 out of 10 depending on how it goes.

It’s still watchable, and good pulpy fun in places. I’m wavering somewhere between a 6 or 7 out of 10 depending on how it goes.

Aye,it was fine for a snowy afternoon yesterday,so I finished it.

I would give it a 7-8 as it reminded me of some Ian Bank’s story lines.

Found the first few episodes difficult to follow, stuck with it because of the visuals.  By 5 things started to fall in to place, the flashbacks helped, the mumbling didn’t.  Boob count seemed to become exponential.

Certainly worth seeing through.  Only bit that still confuses is why Kovac kept talking about being someone’s mother?

Only bit that still confuses is why Kovac kept talking about being someone’s mother?

He’s just lying to gain the trust of the prostitute he was questioning.  He was claiming to be the dead girl’s mother who’s renting that sleeve or whatever. It did seemed rushed because he didn’t need to do any research or establish any facts about the girl’s mother to support his ruse, or let the audience know. Or perhaps he did and I missed it.

Boob count seemed to become exponential.

So by the next series it’ll just be constant boob? I get your point though, I am undecided about the sex and violence because well, I like sex and violence. I think almost any amount of either is acceptable in an adult drama so long as it’s contextually relevant / not gratuitous and I think one or two shots in Altered Carbon seemed to be added purely for the sake of it.

Just finished it today and quite enjoyed it. Only thing which struck me was that for a virtually unkillable Envoy, he seemed to loose a lot of fights and need rescuing a lot.

Not impressed… might have been better had I read the books first.

Nights Dawn trilogy would work. Practically a 3 season screenplay already.

The Reality Dysfunction is a 3 season screenplay (at least) by itself… to do it any justice.

Started watching this on the train this morning. First scene isn’t ideal when you’re on a packed train…

I was watching Episode three on a flight…. I know what you mean 😀

I quite enjoyed the Altered Carbon series so read the books afterwards – and they’re pretty good.

Is the Nights Dawn trilogy any good? I recently read a couple of the Mandel books and was instantly transported, not into the future but back to the 80’s

I read the Nights Dawn trilogy in the early to mid noughties I think. Enjoyed all three books enough to want more. Given they total over 3600 pages that either says something about the books or me. Went on to read the Void trilogy. Maybe have a quick scan of the wikipedia page for it and forget any spoilers it contains.