Hi my Movievaures! After a fairly strong critique about Fifty Shades Freed, I come back today with more enthusiasm. Indeed, I’m going to talk about the last series that everyone keeps talking about and everyone seems to have a strong opinion on: Altered Carbon.

Netflix is now the bible of the TV shows. Not only we found almost all of them, but the brand keeps creating new ones, some more addictive than others. How not to give in to temptation?

So, like everyone else I was very curious seeing the first teaser of Altered Carbon. My curiosity has steadily increased until I satisfied it with the pleasure of binge watching and finished the first season.

Advertising hit or good series? Here is my opinion.

• A universe shaped by the fear of what we will become

Who has not dreamed of what will become of humanity in 100 years, 500 years and more? Some think of a better future, others see a dark one, gnawed by human drifts. Altered Carbon is clearly in the last category. A world dominated by vices, money and power. Takeshi Kovacs, a former soldier / resistant, finds himself centuries later in a world that he recognizes without knowing. Technology has taken the place of nature, rich men have become gods, money is the only law, the only moral.

Altered Carbon highlights the moral issues behind immortality: who can access it, are we not going to lose all our humanity, is it our right to be on this planet forever? When we see the consequences of our actions on natural habitats, we quickly say that the answer is no. Nevertheless, we all considered this access to eternal life. Some companies are even working on this project right now. So, will we be deprived of all that makes us human, by attaching ourselves to human life?

In the series, some groups have struggled to avoid this access to eternal life, others buy it with money and power. But without any doubt, the fact of becoming immortal does not allow Man to become a better version of himself according to the creators of this universe. I let you discover that by watching the episodes.

• Incredible but credible scenes

I do not want to tell you the whole story. Nevertheless, I am forced to reveal that it is a show  filled with action and combats. In the present and the past, the scenes are simply incredible to watch, and sometimes very beautiful to admire. One would sometimes think of a choreopraphy, a dance of death. Brutality in no way detracts from the subjugating side of their blows and killing strategies.

But what is all the more interesting is that the series manages to make these fights completely realistic. There are wounded in all camps, the dead can be sublime or atrocious, but the pain seems very real. And this especially since it is a series. We know that Netflix puts the financial means for the series it produces, but this is still impressive.The fact that the bodies are ejecatable, and exchangeable makes the scenes of action completely credible to the viewer so that it is possible to escape with a sword between the ribs, a bullet in the chest or a knife in the throat. The magic of the scenario my friends.

• Several bodies, but only one character

As I told you, the body only becomes an envelope in this series. A girl can be found in the body of an old man, a man in one of a woman; there are even synthetic bodies. In short, the body is nothing, or almost. Which asks the real question about what a person really is: body or mind, both? This question will be more for you to answer.

But beyond the philosophical questions that can be asked, something that is extremely well done by the creators is that although the characters can change their bodies, we still manage to become attached to them, to get involved in their life, history. Past as present, we understand their motives, their actions despite the fact that the body that performs them is never the same.

A question arises then. Will it be possible to start a new season with new actors, but the same characters? I think that given the work done by the directors of the series, it is quite possible that we hang on to the new faces that we will see in the new season, if new season there is. Look Doctor Who, and the total success of this series. Although it may be disturbing at first, I think they can make a success.

In short, it is a series that deserves to be watched and put forward for its originality and the questions it asks. All is obviously not perfect: some clichés remain, some characters are not appreciated at their fair value and some points remain unanswered. But I hope that a new season will fill these few imperfections and that it continues to alert us to the possible excesses of a futuristic world where immortality becomes a reality.

This is the end of my review on Altered Carbon. I hope you liked it and made you want to watch the show. I did not tell a lot about the story so you would not be spoiled. Goodbye my Movievaures and see you until my next article on …. Black Panther!