TV
‘Devs’ is Cerebral TV for the Isolated Mind
Alex Garland’s new miniseries is a haunting take on humanity’s quest for progress in the big tech era
Alex Garland has established a series of calling cards in recent years. For a writer once hailed as a key voice of Generation X — his debut novel The Beach formed an important part of 90s dropout culture — his latest projects seem less concerned with the care-free sentiments of a back-packing DiCaprio and more interested in holding a microscope to humanity’s sketchy relationship with science and technology.
The emotionally-troubled protagonist; the clandestine scientific experiment; the isolated research facility — all hallmarks of a formula which Garland so effectively employs to depict futures which challenge our notion of morality and free will. His 2014 directorial debut Ex Machina began this new mould, while adapted screenplays for Never Let Me Go (2010) and Annihilation (2018) prove equally appropriate examples of the writer’s tendency to favour slow-burning narratives focused on the discovery of a species-defining secret.
Devs — an eight-part miniseries written and directed by the British filmmaker — continues in this vein, probing the nature of human existence in the tech-laden plains of Silicon Valley. In many ways, it represents an amalgamation of those previous projects in its dark tone and vibrant, fluorescent aesthetic, drawing on similar themes to form a Black Mirror-esque warning against playing God.
Devs proves a heady scrutiny of where the limits of technology should lie in a society closer than we think to cracking the big questions
Invited to join a mysterious research team in a suitably-remote tech facility — simply dubbed ‘Devs’ — skilled coder Sergei accepts the offer and (surprise!) is never seen again, prompting girlfriend and fellow-techie, Lily, to follow a rabbit hole of investigation and industrial espionage to uncover what lurks within the firewalls of the shady corporation. Nick Offerman — in a role that’s decidedly-less Parks and Rec and more Steve Jobs — is Forest, CEO of Amaya (parent company to Devs) whose off-the-books work, we quickly learn, is dedicated to projecting accurate visions of the past and future. Lines are crossed, heads roll, and conspiracy ensues. Obviously.
Troubled lead character? Check. Dodgy covert experiment? Check. Secluded location? Check and mate. This might be Garland’s whackiest hidden facility yet. Overlooked by a giant, porcelain-looking doll, the Devs HQ is a huge, brutalist bunker buried deep in the San Francisco forest — a sort-of neo-futuristic Wolf’s Lair if, you know, Hitler was into quantum computing. The oddity of the series’ central, secretive structure gives Garland license to go full Blade Runner on the natural environment that surrounds it — halo-like rings illuminate the surrounding flora, gold foil envelopes the testing labs — while maintaining a leafy vibrance similar to the Area X of Annihilation (save for the man-eating plants). It’s an aesthetic that works to place Devs in a plausible present, keeping events grounded in some degree of reality — San Francisco remains as is — while reminding us that something strange is going on within the impenetrable walls of the big, grey fortress.
It’s difficult to comment further on the series’ twisty plot without straying into spoiler-territory, but Devs proves a heady scrutiny of where the limits of technology should lie in a society closer than we think to cracking the big questions. But it doesn’t get bogged down by these didactic ambitions. Thirty minutes into the first episode and Devs makes its position clear — it’s as much murder mystery thriller as it is protracted examination into the dark side of technology, which is a great thing. In too many cases (looking at you, Westworld), the pursuit of a revelatory moral message drifts into the ostentatious, leaving the viewer dazed and confused and wishing for an explanatory YouTube video. Devs treads a line between thoughtful social commentary and watchable detective drama.
It’s as much murder mystery thriller as it is protracted examination into the dark side of technology, which is a great thing
There’s a pleasant trashiness to it, something pulpy about its seriousness. The acting isn’t particularly strong — though Offerman’s surprising emotional range is a highlight — and the script wobbles at times. It doesn’t have the outrageous budget of its HBO and Netflix counterparts — and for that, can’t touch them for visuals — and later episodes go a little heavy on the exposition, somewhat undermining the hands-off groundwork laid by the opening chapters, but Devs is nonetheless an incredibly watchable experience; greater than the sum of its parts.
In one scene, a typically-frosty government official remarks: “Instagram makes people feel shit about their lives. Twitter makes them feel reviled. Facebook destroyed democracy.” It’s crude observations like these that make Devs appear unaware of its own self-indulgence, but there is a genuinely-cerebral quality to what it tries to say. Alex Garland’s first foray into television is worth the watch just to uncover what that is.
Devs is streaming on Hulu in the U.S and airs on BBC Two March 15th
