As if they got a warning from the future, “Westworld” executive producers Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan had already launched their new show – Amazon Prime’s “The Peripheral” – when HBO announced their previous show’s cancellation.
While it’s a shame that “Westworld” is done before its narrative conclusion (but never say never – “canceled” doesn’t mean what it used to), “The Peripheral” should appeal to the same folks. Based on a 2014 novel by cyberpunk legend William Gibson and created for TV by Scott B. Smith (novelist and screenwriter of “A Simple Plan” and “The Ruins”), this is heady futuristic stuff.
It’s warmer than “Westworld,” whose main characters are robots (sympathetic robots, but still). But it’s colder than “The Nevers,” the under-buzzed historical fiction/SF blend that will return to HBO Max in December.
“The Peripheral” (2022)
Fridays, Amazon Prime
(Five episodes have aired so far.)
Creator: Scott B. Smith, based on the novel by William Gibson
Stars: Chloe Grace Moretz, Gary Carr, Jack Reynor
Futures near and far
Through five episodes (new ones drop on Fridays), “The Peripheral” has smoothly balanced character and world-building – in two different points in the future. This is where it truly becomes a visionary show – and not just peripherally.
In 2029-32 in the mountain region of North Carolina, adult siblings Flynne (Chloe Grace Moretz, who believe it or not is now 25) and Burton (Jack Reynor) are virtual-reality game testers. It’s a cool job, but not a cushy one.
They are poor; he lives in a trailer on the family property; she takes care of their ailing mother for whom they can barely afford medicine. Still, they can afford drones, which continually monitor their land. “The Peripheral” is on point in imagining a continuation of tech getting better as people get poorer.
In the 2099-2100 future – to which Flynne leaps (to borrow a term from “Quantum Leap”) into a robot body that looks exactly like herself – the population has decreased drastically due to The Jackpot, a quick trio of midcentury calamities (power grid failure, pandemic and social upheavals).
The sparsely populated future is nice for saving money on extras, because – as with “Westworld” – the budget goes toward scouting gorgeous locations and embellishing them with CGI. Future London features skyscrapers that double as monuments of Greek mythology figures. Given that Flynn works in a 3D printing shop back in 2029, I’m guessing this is an upscaling of that technology.
Charming cast
In the first few episodes, we know Flynne and Burton are targeted by the future movers-and-shakers but we don’t know why. That’s not the negative point it might seem, because “The Peripheral” – similar to “The Nevers” – allows us to get to know and like the people.
The cast and their characters boast a delightful array of accents – ranging from the siblings with their Appalachian speech to the singsong Irish lilt of future ally Ash (“Harry Potter’s” Katie Leung). The future’s central heroes are also siblings, via adoption: Gary Carr’s Wilf and Charlotte Riley’s Aelita.
The baddies are sufficiently nasty – drug dealer Corbell (Louis Herthum) in 2029, powerful Cherise (T’Nia Miller) in the future.
Learning about the taken-for-granted technology and rebuilt society of 2100 is part of the show’s charm, but it might sound dry spelled out. Suffice it to say “The Peripheral” achieves verisimilitude regarding the danger Flynne is in both from Cherise and from regularly transferring herself into the Peripheral robot.
It’s similar to “Quantum Leap’s” tenet that if the leaper is killed in his borrowed body, he dies in real life. But it’s more nuanced. When Flynne’s Peripheral is beat up, she’s not equally beat up back in her gaming chair. But she feels effects — psychosomatic injuries in a way, but real ones.
Believable future(s)
I like “The Peripheral” a bit more than “Westworld.” Flynne and Burton are worth rooting for. While the world-building is complex, it’s not abstract and philosophical; it doesn’t try to outsmart the viewer, but nor does it hold our hand.
Flynn is in danger both as a human and as a Peripheral, and plenty of well-staged shootouts and fights test her, Burton and their friends. Plus, there’s time for arguments about life choices and romances (Flynne missed her chance with the local deputy), complete with those mountain accents.
“The Nevers” is more fun and freewheeling, but “The Peripheral” is tiding me over. It does have that air of self-importance that dystopian SF shows can’t quite shake. But to be fair, its vision of the future – while bleak – is an engaging extrapolation of what we might see in our lifetimes.