Immortality has been the most sought after ability among humans for many reasons. We all want to live an endless life, to bear witness of the fruits of human evolution or to simply live long enough that you turn filthy rich from years of experience. Altered Carbon takes that concept but instead of focusing on the moral implications of never dying, it instead focuses on the mystery of solving a murder case.
The plot is as follows:
The series takes place over 250 years in the future, in the year 2384. In the future, people’s consciousnesses are contained in “stacks”, storage devices attached to the back of a person’s neck. Physical bodies are turned into “sleeves”, mere disposable vessels. Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman), a violent mercenary, wakes up 250 years after his sleeve is killed, and he is given the choice to either spend the rest of his life in prison for his crimes, or help solve the murder of the wealthiest man in the world (James Purefoy). Takeshi was the sole surviving soldier of those defeated in an uprising against the new world order 250 years prior.
Honestly, I loved the premise and concept of Altered Carbon. It’s engaging, interesting and shows us an idea of what could happen to humanity if we cracked the code of life itself. I’ve never read the book so I had zero expectations going into this series and so far I’m enjoying it a lot. It’s like a mixture of Blade Runner and Westworld which somehow works really well.
The world of Altered Carbon is incredibly vibrant and detailed, and its concept, the idea that you can live on in body after body through downloading your consciousness (a “stack) to a new vessel (a “sleeve”) is an immediate hook for me personally. I found myself asking if I’d ever want to re-sleeve so I can continue on living so often watching it. It’s so intriguing as well that the AI’s in the world are seen negatively. I don’t why but that really sets the world for me and gave me an idea on just how humanity has advanced.
Altered Carbon sets up its world clearly and concisely which is one of the reasons why I’m already so invested in the series. As the title suggested, I’ve only watched three episodes so I keen to learn more about the Envoy and how they tie in to the story but I’m sure that will be answered in the later episodes.
Overall, I’d easily recommend anyone to watch it, it’s pretty good.
