Dispatches from Elsewhere

I need to confess that I've put off writing a review of this limited series because I'm really conflicted about how it is crafted. It begins with a decidedly sinister narrator (or is that just the real life vibe of Richard E Grant?) telling us that they are going to break all the rules of storytelling in a limited series. The first character is written and performed to be emotionally flat and yet we are told to identify with him. Once I got to the relationships, I began to enjoy it (Eve Lindsey's and Sally Field's characters and performances are fantastic) but the last episode turns everything on it's head when it breaks the fourth wall (again) and turns into the creator's existential catharsis, which really unravelled the whole experience for me. (FYI, the series was inspired by a 2013 documentary called THE INSTITUTE about a group of people who fashioned this alternate reality game in San Francisco.which was also a trippy experience) I give the six episodes in the middle of this series an 8 (great) out of 10, but the others a variety of 5 (meh), 6 (fair) and 4 (poor). {Fantasy Drama Mystery} >See why this was a difficult review to write<

Jason Segal is one of the most fascinating "creatives" in the entertainment industry. He is constantly re-inventing himself and his career, from "Freeks & Geeks" to "How I met your mother," from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" to re-inventing The Muppets. This is his latest, a limited series based on a mysterious ARG that popped up in San Francisco a few years back (and then, just as mysteriously disappeared.) It's anything but safe. It's funny, clever, disturbing and very addictive. It's anything but boring, concerning 4 people who find themselves caught up in a strange company by the name of The Jejune Institute. A company which may or may not be real and may or may not contain the answers we all seek. Starting created, directed and written by Segal. Co-starring Sally Field, Richard E. Grant and Andre Benjamin (3000). Really interesting, highly recommended.

It started off slow, got to a really interesting place and then meandered....

Off a cliff.

It's based on an interactive game that was played in SF a few years back. See the documentary THE INSTITUTE for more details.

The premise interested Segal enough that he wanted to make a series about it. Kudos for AMC to breaking out of the Zombie and vampire hell they've created for themselves but still.

If only someone had been brave enough to tell him to throw out the last episode, never to be seen again, this would've rated as high as an eight.

Instead it changes into something else entirely.

After watching the first episode I found it intriguing yet chaotic. I kept wondering where it was going but at the same time wanting to find out. I can however now see why David Lynch loved Philadelphia so much as the city comes off as quirky as this presentation. The jury is still out for me as maybe I should smoke something before I watch the next episode?

The first 7 episodes of this show were great! It was nice seeing Sally Field in a show again, and I didn't realize how much I'd missed Andre 3000. The diversity of the cast was nice, the plot seemed a little out there but in a fun and interesting way. Unfortunately by episode 8 things start to slide, episode 9 does a poor job of wrapping anything up, and episode 10 is self indulgent, pretentious nonsense best left unwatched. Seriously, if you haven't seen it yet, don't bother, it adds nothing to the show and is not the feel-good, uplifting ending they seemed to think it was going to be. Disappointed.