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Primetime Picks… 3/5/20

Mar 05, 2020 Posted by in Features | Comments


Earlier this week FX kicked off the new FX on Hulu program, where shows that air on FX will also be available for streaming to all Hulu subscribers the next day. However, FX will be airing its new limited series Devs exclusively as a FX on Hulu original, bypassing the cable network altogether. Today the first two episodes of the 8-episode series are available to stream on Hulu.

Devs is a tech thriller set in the near future. Lily Chan (Sonoya Mizuno, Ex Machina) and her boyfriend Sergei (Karl Glusman, Nocturnal Animals) both work for tech company Amaya—she in the encryption division and he in A.I. division. Company founder Forest (Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation) is brilliant man, but a bit of a recluse ever since the death of his young daughter, for whom he named the company. There is also an enormous statue erected on the campus in her memory.

Sergei is giving a presentation about his current project to Forest and his right hand engineer, Katie (Alison Pill, American Horror Story, Star Trek: Picard), demonstrating how he is able to predict the future movements and behavior of a small organism. The two are impressed with his work, and invite him to join their top secret Devs division. Lily is excited for Sergei, but knows that he cannot tell her anything about his work. However, the day that he starts in his new position, Sergei goes missing.

Now, as Lily desperately delves into this, trying to figure out what happened to her boyfriend, she starts to unlock some secrets about Sergei and what is really going on at the company and in this top secret division. The only person Lily can trust and turn to is her ex, a hacker named Jamie (Jin Ha, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert). Meanwhile, Forest’s ruthless head of security Kenton (Zach Grenier, The Good Wife) will do anything to protect the company’s secrets. Other regular characters include Devs department engineers Lyndon (Cailee Spaeny, On the Basis of Sex) and Stewart (Stephen McKinley Henderson, New Amsterdam), and Pete (Jefferson Hall, Taboo), the homeless man who lives outside Lily and Sergei’s apartment.

The series comes from writer/director Alex Garland (Annihilation, Ex Machina, Dredd), and certainly has a similar feeling to his other work. It mixes technology and thriller with a more cosmic and ethereal look and feel. The show takes place in a slightly futuristic San Francisco where this Google-like company has its hands in all major technology. The first two episodes introduce viewers to this slightly off world and characters and sets up the mysteries of what exactly happened to Sergei, what exactly is this Devs team working on, and is Forest hiding something? I really like the cast and atmosphere the show sets up, but a warning that this show is a bit of a slow burn, going more for an atmosphere than non-stop action.

 

Tonight, I’ll also be watching/recording Grey’s Anatomy, A Million Little Things, Young Sheldon, The Unicorn, Carol’s Second Act, Tommy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Will & Grace, Indebted, Outmatched, Katy Keene, and Everything’s Gonna Be Okay.

For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight, including a new episode of Station 19, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 3/5/20 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.