Specials

Ken Liu is one of my favorite authors of all time, so I was primed to like this from the get go. I didn’t even know Amazon had saved this show since AMC had tried very hard to kill it by airing it out of order and burying it on a streaming service that nobody used. Episodes are ordered properly, and the animation doesn't have the fuzzy lineart issue that plagued the first season. Voice acting is improved as well, and in general, needle drops and technicals are better. The first 6 episodes continue the main story where it left off in Season 1, and they build upon that narrative. There is plenty to like here, from an examination of the tech savior mindset to the unique blend of action and sci-fi creativity. And it seems to somehow connect incredibly well with real world events, including an absurdly prescient r4 conflict going on right now as well as discussing the pandemic in a way that doesn't seem cringey. But these last 2 episodes are something truly special. The story and narrative depart into new areas, and I'm sure that may confuse people who were not expecting such a dramatic change, but oh boy are these 2 episodes special. I really don't have ways to explain them without spoilers, and hell, I'm still trying to digest them. It becomes a philosophical playground that, as I said before, is probably some of the smartest sci-fi I've consumed. And it's all signature Ken Liu. Extremely forward looking, creative, grounded in reality, audacious and unique, and never losing sight of the emotional core. From a rumination on death and pain, the importance itself of death, the footprint humans leave behind, the desire for the unexpected versus the desire to control...I could go on and on. But just watch this criminally underrated sci-fi gem which deserves to be right up there at the top of the Pantheon of sci-fi TV shows

Ken Liu is one of my favorite authors of all time, so I was primed to like this from the get go. I didn’t even know Amazon had saved this show since AMC had tried very hard to kill it by airing it out of order and burying it on a streaming service that nobody used. Episodes are ordered properly, and the animation doesn't have the fuzzy lineart issue that plagued the first season. Voice acting is improved as well, and in general, needle drops and technicals are better. The first 6 episodes continue the main story where it left off in Season 1, and they build upon that narrative. There is plenty to like here, from an examination of the tech savior mindset to the unique blend of action and sci-fi creativity. And it seems to somehow connect incredibly well with real world events, including an absurdly prescient r4 conflict going on right now as well as discussing the pandemic in a way that doesn't seem cringey. But these last 2 episodes are something truly special. The story and narrative depart into new areas, and I'm sure that may confuse people who were not expecting such a dramatic change, but oh boy are these 2 episodes special. I really don't have ways to explain them without spoilers, and hell, I'm still trying to digest them. It becomes a philosophical playground that, as I said before, is probably some of the smartest sci-fi I've consumed. And it's all signature Ken Liu. Extremely forward looking, creative, grounded in reality, audacious and unique, and never losing sight of the emotional core. From a rumination on death and pain, the importance itself of death, the footprint humans leave behind, the desire for the unexpected versus the desire to control...I could go on and on. But just watch this criminally underrated sci-fi gem which deserves to be right up there at the top of the Pantheon of sci-fi TV shows