The SF series “Peripheral” is airing in Germany on Amazon Prime. It starts playfully, with quirky characters, but quickly becomes action-packed, clever, and dark. The series is based on a book by Cyberpunk creator William Gibson. So, is it an ideal series for gamers?
This is how the series begins: In 2032, the countryside in the USA is still just that: the countryside. The population is impoverished, there are hardly any jobs, and young men are joining the army.
Flynn Fisher mourns her missed teenage love, who is now the town sheriff and has married a smart doctor, while she has a rather silly job at a 3D printing shop and cares for her blind mother.
Once, Flynn was a brilliant gamer and made her money by leading rich noobs to the highest levels of a virtual reality shooter. Today, she no longer does it; it’s not real enough for her anymore, plus it was always difficult because even in the future, rich men don’t want a girl to boost them.
But her brother, a military veteran, has just the right image. Rich guys hire the former Marine when they can’t achieve a level.
But because his little sister is simply better, it ultimately falls to Flynn to jump into the virtual world and solve every problem with outstanding reflexes and creative ideas.
And she is also the one who tries a mysterious new headset that leads to a new simulation, the name of the games of the future. In the simulation, she slips into her brother’s avatar. Now, as a mysterious voice in her head tells her, she is supposed to seduce a woman, drug her, disable her robot chauffeur, and then take her to a secret hideout.
For this, there is a lot of money, and then she goes to the next level. But the simulation is much more real than anything before.
A host of exciting supporting characters populate the series
What makes the series so special: “Peripheral” begins playfully, with quirky supporting characters who all somehow hoped for more from life.
But it quickly becomes clear that there is more behind the typical clichés of country folks: The brother and his friends are not a drunken gang of ex-soldiers mourning their golden days; they have been implemented a system that seems far too modern even for 2032, allowing them to operate as a single highly competent unit.
The town’s villain, a wonderful character, has dumb, drunken thugs as henchmen, but there is much more to him than meets the eye.
And the actual villainess is so powerful and feared that she can stand up to any Bond villain.
The story itself takes so many bizarre turns that you stay tuned episode after episode to see how it continues, how all the many characters and hints are resolved and come together.
My highlight was an aging Irish killer: He appears late in the series, but then becomes the center of every scene and manages to create a full, exciting character in just a few minutes.
One nice gag is that the most powerful factions in the series are Russian oligarchs, a corporation straight out of the worst “Bill Gates” conspiracy theory, and the damn police, which even the oligarchs of the “Putin diaspora” fear.
Season 2 never came – after 8 episodes, it’s over
Are there any downsides? For seven episodes, the series entertained me well, but the 8th and final episode lost me. It clearly needed to have a season finale that feels like a foreign body in the story.
Amazon actually wanted to air a second season of Peripheral, but the writers’ strike got in the way, and eventually, the series was canceled.
But that’s okay – even the one season of “Peripheral” is worth it, with many twists, great ideas, strong visuals, and colorful characters.
Peripheral is available on Amazon in German. The episodes are recommended for ages 16 and up.
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