Devs (2020)

created, written and directed by: Alex Garland
photographed by: Rob Hardy
music by: Geoff Barrow, The Insects and Ben Salisbury
edited by: Jake Roberts
stars: Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, Jin Ha
imdb

Devs is a series created, written and directed by British novelist Alex Garland, who came into spotlight by writing the novel from which was adapted The Beach (2000) and the screenplay for 28 Days Later (2002), both directed by Danny Boyle. But Garland is developing an impressive career as sci-fi director since his 2014 debut Ex Machina, which was a surprising psychological thriller around the issue of AI. His next directing effort was Annihilation (2018), where a group of female soldiers investigate the origen of the strange phenomena that is taking place in a growing area around a lighthouse. 

Devs is Garland's third work as director, and having watched two episodes so far, we can say that Devs might be future classic. The first episode is the best we have seen in sci-fi television in a long time, with a gripping mystery taking place in a dream-like San Francisco and decorated with several amazing images (inspired by classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey or more modern movies like Cube)

The second episode loses some of the magic of its predecessor, but turns into a more traditional mystery story. This seems like a logical evolution. We have seen other series or movies that tried to keep the non-traditional story development and finally become confusing or feel unfinished, and sometimes creators forget how important (and also difficult, is true) is to keep the equilibrium between beautiful imagery and interesting plot.

What we have seen so far is magnificent. Let's see what comes next.