Forget the science, this is great fiction

NETFLIX has become my newest dopamine pathway, and boy oh boy, how this hack loves to binge. But like all binges, there’s always the next morning as one gazes crookedly at the underrested face that stares back from the mirror.

In the historic spirit of openness and honesty that has been the hallmark of this column, let me shyly confess that the postbinge face in the mirror is not the fairest one of all.

Anyhoo, a word I’ve picked up since becoming a serial binger of Americana, I have the cure. Watch an episode a night as the directors intended, and you’ll be fine, just fine. Promise.

Which brings me to the opening episodes of Altered Carbon. This is damn fine television, requiring two aesthetic assumptions. First, that you like science fiction and its clones, and second, you respect and profoundly admire Blade Runner.

There is no doubt that this series is a splendid and overpoweringly marvellous homage to Blade Runner. What’s more, it exponentially extends the ideas and predictions made by its noble ancestor.

Liking science fiction requires the same sort of devotion devourers of Western food share for kimchi. There is no doubt that both are powerful and challenging attacks on the expected.

Better to forget the science part of damn near all science fiction and stick to the fiction section. A good story is always a good story; the “science” of most science fiction is sadly fascist in mood and dark in its predictions.

So. We begin in the future. Quite a lot of it is kinda recognisable, which helps sustain a hold on the story and its characters. It seems immortality has arrived for rich people. This takes the form of “sleeves”, which are off-the-shelf bodies you slip into and so become.

To explain the concept more fully we turn to a brothel scene in episode 2, in which the crime investigator speaks to a sex worker. She reveals that one of the bad guys has hurt her badly during previous transactions.

But what the hell, this is ultimately no big deal since, if he damages or outright kills her, she is compensated with a new sleeve that not only makes her 10 years younger but has – and I quote – “better tits”.

Altered Carbon, like Blade Runner, is nowhere near as narratively advanced as it thinks. Instead, the imagined future and its technologies are only a millimetre away from the ideas common to all fantasy-based entertainments. It’s not the cloth but the texture that matters.

Altered Carbon is well designed, well cut and exquisitely tailored by the most nimble of nimble-fingered non-linear editing packages and its sparkly elves.

The main story, magic and “science” excepted, is a quest. There is evil and there are a couple of versions of goodness. One is the investigator, although to be fair his motives have their dark sides.

The other – so far in terms of my watching – is a woman detective. She is emotionally troubled, anxious and driven.

Her mother, old fashioned and religiously observant, is a bit of a stock figure.

On the other hand, the detective herself, running on highoctane virtue linked to a good mind and potent collection of fighting skills, keeps her mom’s favourite divinity in her corner.

I think she’s going to win, but believe me, I truly know nothing about the future. Can’t wait to let myself watch episode 3.