by Jane | Nov 22, 2019 | Television
Better Than Us is a Russian sci-fi show on Netflix. The show revolves around life-like robots known as “bots”. An unscrupulous man heading up the leading bot corporation has illegally imported what is known as an empathy bot, who is supposed to have real emotions and learn from her surroundings. Unfortunately, in the first few minutes after she is activated, she kills two people and escapes.
While wandering around the city, she meets a little girl and adopts her family. But this family is anything but perfect. The mother is trying to take the children to Australia to be with her boyfriend, while her husband Georgy works to keep the family together. Meanwhile, their teenage son has joined a violent group dedicated to ending bots in order to meet a girl. In addition, the businessman and the police are after Georgy.
There’s a lot of action and violence in this series but some tender moments as well. It’s well-done and very binge-worthy. Watch it if you can.
by Jane | Nov 8, 2018 | Television
In April 2017 I gave a lukewarm review to the Netflix series 3%, but now that I have seen the second season I am liking it much better. Season 2 occurs about a year after Season 1 and focuses mostly on the Cause and how they plan to stop the upcoming Process. (If you haven’t seen it or read the first review, the Process is a procedure whereby 20-year-olds can compete and hopefully be chosen to leave their miserable lives in the Inland to live in the utopic society of the Offshore.)
The plot involves Cause members both Offshore and Inland working together, most of whom we’ve seen before, and through flashbacks we get to see what happened to them in the intervening year. As befits this series, there are many surprises, betrayals, and deaths to keep the viewer interested. I won’t give away the ending, but I will say it’s one of those which could end the series or pave the way to something new.
After finishing the second season, I did something I never do – I rewatched the entire first season. I did this mainly because I remembered how intriguing the Process itself was and wanted to experience it again. Of course, it also reminded me of what happened with each character and why they were in their current situation at the beginning of Season 2.
I don’t often change my opinion of a show this much. One of the things I said originally was that I didn’t like the acting. Now I believe it was just the dubbing I found annoying. The concept and plot are really quite good. If you get a chance, watch 3% and join me in hoping there’s a Season 3.