Joe Horsman

Weak and limp. There’s so much wrong with this series but at the core I’d have to land on bad writing, a bizarrely rushed story and fumbled attempts to over-dramatise an exceptionally thrilling book. The very worst part about it is that it’s the absolute basics they’ve managed to get so wrong. After hearing a TV series was being made, I thought it could fail because of the scope of the book’s grand concepts, the mind-bending imagery and some of the more incredible scenes. The TV series earns 2 stars from me because they do actually manage, visually at least, to pull off scenes like the Panama Canal and various moments within the VR game. Around these moments, it’s how they get there and the dialogue where it all goes horribly wrong. They rush up to big scenes, leaving the viewer feeling uninformed, disorientated and, dare I say it, a little uninterested. They fill the rest of the story with forced (unfunny) laughs and forced (limp) drama. And, unfortunately, they employ a few actors (without naming names) who just can’t seem to get the tone right. The end result is a B-Grade TV series that will mildly entertain a new viewer purely because it clings to scraps of the genius of the book series. If you’re reading this and you’re yet to watch, just don’t. Pick up the incredible books instead.