Finding Freedom — E A CARTER

I recently finished “Devs”, the brilliant 8-episode hard sci-fi series by Alex Garland, the visionary mind behind the films “Ex Machina” (2014) and “Annihilation” (2018).

“Devs” is a delicious, dialogue-driven visual and aural feast that has the audacity to successfully address some of the biggest philosophical and scientific questions we face as humans: Questions I spend an extraordinary amount of time thinking (and writing) about. (Possibly to the detriment of my mental health, but there it is. I am what I am.)

This series’ deep appeal is it’s smart. “Interstellar” smart. It’s obvious Alex did his science homework. (A rare thing in sci-fi offerings these days). But it’s beautifully done and not so clever only PhD’s who spend their careers running experiments of the effects of quantum foam on waveforms would enjoy it.

Perhaps a general interest in quantum physics, ancestor simulations, consciousness, and in particular Everett’s many-worlds theories would help to enhance a viewer’s experience, but I’d like to believe those who know nothing about any of these things would still find “Devs” an immersive, thought-provoking experience because at its core it’s asking us to question what we hold as “true” simply because that’s how we perceive it.

“Devs”’s beauty is how it operates on multiple levels, visually, theoretically, and aurally in stunning sound effects, haunting music, and beautiful, constrained, powerful dialogue - all pleasing foils to its mind-bending themes each with no beginning or end, as satisfying as a hypnotic series of fractals.

Yes, I know. I am going full science geek here. I love this stuff. Probably almost as much as I love the idea of love. Almost.

I have no idea why, but ever since I can remember I have been troubled by the very questions this series conscientiously addresses, so for me, it was cathartic to experience it as I sipped a Malbec, scribbled frantic notes, asked questions, referenced science journals, and waited in agony for Alex to slip up - to paint himself into a corner and force us to take a nonsensical, word-salad driven short cut out of the series to end our collective misery and crush the burgeoning love affair with what he was doing to my mind.

But he didn’t. And “Devs” stayed where I hoped it would stay, stamped into the weave of my hungry soul alongside “The Science of Interstellar”, “Rendezvous with Rama”, “The Time Ships”, “Manifold Trilogy”, and “Tau Zero.”

My solitary criticism is the sprinkling of Judeo-Christian references and imagery which made me uncomfortable. For such a clever concept, why drag in theology? I suppose it was a nod to religious viewers, to not alienate them; to give them hope there could be something to their beliefs. But for me, I felt it shamed his work a little, that those images, and nods could have been excised and nothing would be lost - if anything much would be gained.

What I loved most was how a fundamental problem that threads between the foundation of consciousness, the many-worlds interpretation, quantum collapse, and determinism v. free will which has been plaguing me for all my adult life, of which I have researched endlessly at last folded together into a beautiful whole.

This question wasn’t directly addressed in the series, but the door I have been trying to unlock for decades at last opened for me, and with this revelation - of the pieces finally fitting together - of seeing the complexity of the whole and falling into its infinite abyss is beautiful. Liberating. A kind of freedom from the pain of a mortal existence.

Another day I might weave it into a story, but for now, this one’s for me to savor.

“Devs” is available to stream on Hulu in the US and on BBC iPlayer in the UK.