New Zealand Listener 03.14.2020

64 LISTENER MARCH 14 2020

C

harlie Brooker’s Black

Mirror may have

been fuelling our

techno paranoia for

a good many years

now, but he’s not the only

one who wants to pose tricky

21st-century questions about

technology and the effect it is

having on our lives.

Novelist, screenwriter

and director Alex Garland,

whose credits include 28 Days

Later, Never Let Me Go and Ex

Machina, explores the idea of

a deterministic universe in

eight-part series Devs

(SoHo, Sky 010, Thurs-

day, 8.30pm).

It’s a stylish techno-

noir centred around

a quantum comput-

ing company outside

San Francisco called

Amaya. “Devs” is

short for “developers”

and the story begins

with Sergei (Karl Glus-

man) being offered a

role within the exclu-

sive developer division

of the company, which

is housed in a heavily shielded

structure in the middle of a

forest.

Sergei is taken there by

Amaya’s shaggy, guru-like

chief executive, who is actually

called Forest (Nick Offerman).

However, what happens after

that sets in motion a series of

events that may or may not

have already been determined.

Sergei goes missing and

his girlfriend, Lily (Sonoya

Mizuno), a maths genius who

works at Amaya in encryp-

tion, begins to believe that the

Taking up the cause (and effect)

If you think you have free will, the creator of a new techno-noir

series could have you believing otherwise. by entertainment editor FIONA RAE

Devs,

Thursday.

Lily (Sonoya

Mizuno);

below,

Forest (Nick

Offerman).