DUBAI: “The Peripheral” is an adaptation of a William Gibson novel by “Westworld” creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan. As you’d expect with that pedigree, it’s a compelling and complex show that demands your attention and, largely, rewards it.
The narrative skips between 2032 and 2099. In the former, Flynne (Chloe Grace Moretz) and her military veteran brother Burton (Jack Reynor) are looking after their seriously ill mother at their family home in Virginia’s Blue Ridge mountains.
Chloe Grace Moretz in ‘The Peripheral.’ (Amazon Studios)
This near-future America is a wonderful creation, with tech tweaks that seem a realistic prospect in the next decade, and social tweaks too (withdrawing cash from an ATM immediately attracts suspicion from the authorities, for example). Burton makes a living playing VR games. Wealthy players hire him to take their characters to higher levels. Flynne is a more-talented gamer, and will sometimes step in as a substitute for the substitute. But she and Burton keep this secret, as females rarely get hired.
Burton is offered serious money — the kind that could change their mother’s situation — to beta test new VR gaming gear. Flynne reluctantly agrees to do it, immersing herself in a thrilling adventure in futuristic London while a disembodied voice (with a Cockney accent that rivals Karl Urban’s in ‘The Boys’ for awfulness) gives her instructions. It feels incredible, Flynne tells Burton. It feels real.
Turns out, that’s because it is. Flynne was controlling a body in the later part of the timeline.
Back in her actual life, she begins to receive messages that she and her family are in grave danger. There’s a bounty on her head, offered by people 70 years in the future on the Dark Web. The ‘hows’ of this are labyrinthine, but the showrunners pitch the story just right; the internal logic seems robust enough to stand up to scrutiny, but if you don’t get how it works, that’s OK.
Moretz carries the show well — a convincing mix of take-no-prisoners tough-talking and frightened bewilderment — at least in the two episodes we’ve seen to date. Hers is the most well-rounded character by far though. Hopefully that will change soon. All the pieces are in place for this to be a very good show. It would be a shame if it’s let down by not giving the rest of the cast enough to work with.