'You're Dead Already'

Based on the graphic novel of the late Si Spencer. Star Stephen Graham only makes a brief appearance in the first episode.

A time travel murder mystery. The same dead body is found in the East End of London in 2023, 1941 and 1890. There is a bullet that went through his eye and lodged on his brain.

Only the pathologist in Victorian London cannot find the bullet.

In 2023, there is no signs of who the dead person is. There are no fingerprints and DNA of him in the police database.

Only in the wartime segment, does a mysterious woman order DS Karl Whiteman to go and collect a corpse.

Then there is a coda at the end of the episode which is set in the future, 2053.

It is certainly stylish and intriguing. Two of the police investigating the case are from marginalised groups. DS Whiteman is Jewish and suffers from antisemitic abuse from his fellow officers. DS Hasan in the present is a hijab wearing policewoman. There certainly seems to be an element of outsiders examining the murder.

Even though the first episode seemed to be mainly shot in the north of England rather than London itself. It looked stylish with producer Susie Liggat having previously worked on Doctor Who.

This show was good and now please please please make McGhee's Murder Red Ink!

It came out in 2014 and is about the Whitechaprl murders being committed by A. I. somehow, and was featured at a Rippercon in Baltimore at the time.

We can never have too many Ripper cyberpunk shows!!

I did enjoy the mood but it wasn't gritty enough for my taste to give it ten stars.

It was not at all bad to sit down though I maybe would cut it to half the episodes maybe.

The first one was a good representation of the direction the whole show was going and I'm happy to see anything cyberpunk with its popularity.

Not to beat a dead horse but Murder Red Ink was one of McGhee's last cyberpunk stories as he was read as early as the 1080s in the genre so I would love more expansion of the founders of the genre. We have PKD and need some more Gibson.

Good writing, acting, cinematography, and direction, really pays off in this time travelling who-done-it, that spans over 150 years and 4 different detectives perspectives. Yes a bit of a trope theme, but it's entertaining - I love the fact they had the guts to go back a 130 years and forward another 30. That was a nice touch and leveled this show up from "historical murder mystery", to a future-forward quantum entangled one.

Yes quantum theory is all the rage - but who can resist a quantum state superposition? A system able to be in all states until measured? Perhaps a bit like the human soul, or people's inner most dialogue(s) and intentions (see what I did there?).

One caveat. I'm assuming there's an alternate universe where I didn't write this review, or in our current iteration where Quantum theory is disproved, or changed, and the show is as farcical as some that have come before, but good writing, acting, cinematography, and direction, generally lands well in any time period. IMHO.

Btw, I give things 10/10 as a show of gratitude to the work the team does to bring a production to life - it's probably an 8/10 - but is also a 10/10 too.

I'm not really going to evaluate a show where the first episode simply introduces us to the plot line and the characters (the police detectives). The premise, of course, is the treatment of a mysterious body, thought murdered and left somewhere. After watching Dark, perhaps the finest time travel/quantum theory show of all time, I noticed some parallels. Especially the physical events that take place in the surroundings that are not explained at this point: lights going out, explosions, the vilification of people who seem out of place. But, to be honest, there are way too many questions that it would be unfair to throw out a critical view of this. Instead, I will soldier on and see if this is worth the time.