nolawnchairs

I was unaware of this attempt to adapt Liu Cixin's Dark Forest until it was referenced on Reddit in a post containing vicious reviews from Chinese viewers. At first, I took this with a grain of salt, as Chinese fans of Liu's work generally impugn on any adaptation that doesn't follow the book to the letter.

I was wrong. These reviewers are spot on.

First, the animation is decent - not the best - definitely underwhelming for something produced in 2022, but was not a barrier for me to enjoy watching.

The problems start in the earlier episodes where small plot points not germane to the larger story are dragged out and expanded to ridiculous lengths. A plot line that should eat up no more than a few minutes somehow monopolizes the better part of some episodes.

The entirety of the final third of the 15 episodes is focused on a ridiculous manufactured subplot that is not in the original books, and can't possibly serve to advance the story in any meaningful way.

The most agreed upon weakness (at least in Western circles) of the original book is not only adapted, but expanded on to nauseating effect.

The cerebral and thought-provoking source material written by Liu being adapted into this cringeworthy amalgam of action and romantic comedy leaves no doubt why the wider fanbase of the Three Body trilogy - Chinese and Western alike, have disowned this monstrosity, and rightfully so.

In this golden age of serial television - with the abundance of carefully constructed narratives spanning multiple seasons of cinematic-quality, it seems that the tired breed of procedural, formulaic and clichéd tropes is still alive and well on American network TV.

To start, Dennis Haysbert's introductory exposition during each opening sequence is another clue that deep and intricate storytelling is not something on the menu. I suppose there is still a market for serial television that requires few brain cells to watch - it's clear this show will primarily be popular among aging armchair jockeys for whom technological accuracy is not a concern. The same audience whose apathy would raise nary an angry fist in protest upon its inevitable cancellation.

The formulaic nature of Reverie makes it difficult to explore beyond the surface of character development - sure there are main characters with past tragedies, but having to wrap up an episode in 40 minutes leaves precious few minutes to go any deeper than casual mention. Because of the show's dearth of soul, It's difficult to see anyone - even the aforementioned armchair jockeys - elevating Reverie up to the cult status of series like the original CSI, Dexter, Game of Thrones or Lost... but then again, it's not trying to be. It's lazy television at best, solely existing to fill a time slot in the TV off-season.

Admittedly, I watch it each week for no other reason than it's the summer and there's absolutely nothing else new coming out on network or cable, and one can only survive on Netflix for so long.

Plus that child computer voice is really creepy.