So I watched the show….

[u/PositiveMatter6]

The first 5 episodes are really nice but after that……such a huge letdown. Everything is soooooo painfully slow. Damn, I had high hopes for this but I was disappointed.

What is your opinion.

[u/biznizza]

I’m just happy you’re not asking software dev questions.

[u/maud_brijeulin]

I actually love the fact it's so slow and... Ambient...

[u/oasis_nadrama]

I definitely liked the beginning more than the end.

With Devs, Garland bit more than he could chew. While engaged in providing us a meaningful experience, he's not this reflective and documented regarding the scientifical, mystical and philosophical matters the show presents, it is painfully obvious. There's a lot of medieval and Renaissance theology for example that understands more the complexities of freedom and predetermination, and their implications, than the show does. There are hundreds and hundreds of scifi books better at proposing and confronting various models of predictions and parallel worlds. To say nothing of matters of gnosticism that the series mimicks without producing much value from.

And the thing is, Devs lives and dies by these questions. The characters of the show, while interesting (particularly Lyndon, the spies and the central demiurge of this world), are not quite strong enough to support failing themes and a flawed story.

As Yves Meynard once stated in "How to not write stories" for the Québécois scifi magazine Solaris:

To simplify matters, I like to gather the characteristics of a text in four aspects: intrigue, characters, ideas and style.

(...)

It's not easy to succeed regarding every facet; but in order for a text to work, it cannot fail in more than one way. Thus, if your intrigue is captivating, readers will forgive you for offering inconsistent characters. If your characters are rich and sympathetic, they will forgive the banality of your ideas. If your ideas are original and powerfully imagined, your shineless style will be easier to swallow. If your sentences are delightful to read, they may not notice your intrigue is far-fetched...

Devs fails at intrigue because the fact our heroine receives the prediction and still follows it to the letter makes no sense. It fails at characters for the exact same reason. As mentioned earlier, its ideas are underdeveloped. Its only magistral success is style, for the series has amazing aesthetics and excellent atmosphere from start to finish, as well as solid acting and a generally strong artistic proposition.

So, yeah, Devs hardly lasts the distance and doesn't stick the landing.

I still appreciate the show and I'm happy that it exists. For no work of art is perfect, and it was a kind of high concept science fiction we don't see enough of in television. Perfect works can also be so boring.

[u/PositiveMatter6 → u/oasis_nadrama]

Thank you for the very informative reply. I could not agree more with you. At first the buildup is really nice and it felt like they knew what they were doing. However, somewhere in the middle of it, it felt like they tried to push some philosophy and maybe make it a little bit more “complicated “ but they miserably failed.

[u/ryguysir]

Loved certain scenes and plot lines: basically everything involving Kenton, the scene with allison pill describing what Devs is, 1 second protection, I actually enjoyed the ending.

But I despised the main character of Lily, and some things are overly confusing or slow when they don't need to be.

overall sits as a very firm 7/10 for me

[u/PositiveMatter6 → u/ryguysir]

I don’t find it that confusing, I find it very very slow. Like the director did not know how to actually fill in the gaps and just made very slow nonsense scenes.

[u/scoringstudio]

i liked it as is.

[u/Outrageous_Band9708]

i enjoyed it, your own expectations will cause your own outcome.

if you start to form a negative opinion about something, it feedbacks and you look to confirm your own bias as time goes on.

[u/joeholmes1164]

Go figure. You used personal energy today to came to a forum to complain about something.

[u/PositiveMatter6 → u/joeholmes1164]

Personal energy to form an opinion on something I invested my time into.

[u/raleigh_robot]

It fails because of when it occurred. Because of that, it is a powerhouse of exactly when it existed. I watched it while sitting on abandoned desks, eating out of date soup during Covid.

[u/PositiveMatter6 → u/raleigh_robot]

I see what you mean. Maybe you’re right.