Altered Carbon is the latest offering from Netflix in the sci-fi noir genre. Based on Richard K. Morgan’s novel written in 2002, this series is a view into a dystopian future where technology has reached new peaks but human consciousness has not evolved at all. Still trapped by the same emotions of greed, lust and jealousy human beings have used science to conquer nature and consider themselves as Gods. The concepts shown are fascinating in themselves but the themes of the plot run deeper than that. The series raises questions on multiple issues ranging from religion to science with all of these wrapped in a sexually charged violent atmosphere revolving around a murder mystery.

The major achievement of science in this future world is the ability to digitize and store human consciousness into small pieces of discs called stacks. These are surgically implanted at the base of the skull for everyone. Anyone who dies can come alive by transplanting their stack into new bodies which are called sleeves. The super rich in this world are called Meths, in line with the Biblical character of Methuselah, and they live in mansions high above the clouds. The Meths can buy the best quality sleeves of their choice and can also have their own clones as sleeves to remain alive in the same body for ever. In other words the Meths are all powerful and immortal. The ordinary people and poor have to remain satisfied with whatever bodies come their way according to their budget. This way a young girl dying in a road accident has to come back to her parents in an old woman’s body. A certain segment of religious people in this world consider that it is against the will of God to extend life beyond natural death and do not accept sleeves to keep on living.

Takeshi Kovacs was a special soldier, an Envoy, who fought in a revolution and died. After being on the ice for 250 years in a prison, he is bought back in a new sleeve by a meth named Laurens Bancroft. Bancroft was murdered in his own house and he was able to come back to life via the back up of his stack he maintains. But he has no memory left of who killed him.  He is sure that he is not the type to commit suicide and neither believes that he was murdered by his wife. Hence he wants Kovacs to find out the killer and in return offers him a full pardon for his crimes against the Protectorate which governs the human civilization. Though unwilling at first, Kovacs agrees and in course of the investigation comes in close contact with other characters, like that of detective inspector Kristin Ortega who has her own reasons for disliking Kovacs. The layers of the plot open up gradually as the back-story of Kovacs is revealed in repeated flashbacks and things get more mysterious. A the past and present

The plot is set in Bay City, formerly known as San Francisco. The first episode plunges the viewer right into the plot with Kovacs and it takes some time to grasp the various rules of the world. It is possible that the creator of the show, Laeta Kalogridis, wanted the viewers to feel the same disorientation as that being felt by Kovacs after waking up. The first half of the season takes time to gather pace even though one or two action sequence is thrown in every episode. Altered Carbon keeps throwing information and opinions at us from the start through all forms of dialogue which at times get somewhat tedious. But even with all that dialogue the series fails to build any memorable dramatic moments between the characters. Interesting concepts like a virtual interrogation chamber are developed which can remind viewers of The Matrix. The second half picks up pace and the plot thickens with more twists and turns. The story of Kovacs gets entwined with that of Bancroft in some ways and we get a view of the corruption that has remained constant in human society all through the years.

Joel Kinnaman plays Kovacs and though physically perfect for the role, he seems rather stiff while delivering the dialogues. He looks comfortable during the action sequences.  Martha Higareda does well in the role of Ortega but her character is kept the same throughout without much variation. James Purefoy as Bancroft does bring out multiple tones in his character but he is not given much scope. Among other characters, Chris Conner plays the role of Poe, an artificial intelligence, quite colourfully and brings in some notable light moments in an otherwise humourless and serious show. Ironically the character of an AI is more interesting than that of the actual human beings in Altered Carbon.

Visually, Altered Carbon is gorgeous with rich aplettes and the effects are top notch. There are moments that can remind one of Blade Runner but Altered Carbon tries its best to curve its own path. Though nothing like Vangelis, the background scores are enjoyable here. The original novel was full of sex and violence and the series does not deviate from that tone.  Altered Carbon shows the same disregard for human bodies as the Meths show for sleeves in the series. Flesh is ripped out, bones are broken and blood flows freely all around. Nude bodies are cut open and at times strewn around on the floor like trash. The show spends a lot of time on action sequences which mostly include hand to hand combat. Some of them are well done and shows the hard work the actors have put up while for others the martial art choreography could have been better.

The creators of Altered Carbon must be lauded for transforming the novel into a series which is rich in concepts and visually stimulating as well. But in spite of raising so many interesting questions and developing an intriguing premise, the show is somehow unable to make the viewers get involved with the characters and really feel for them. It raises fascinating questions about human morality and mortality but only touches them at the surface. Once the major revelations are made, the plot follows the conventional track to its climax, unable to hold up the excitement till the end. In the end, the knots in the threads are resolved only to appear as really flimsy to warrant such an extravagant set up. Altered Carbon is entertaining in bits and pieces but in the end result appears like digitized human consciousness without a soul.

 

By Suvajit Banerjee

 

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