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Thursday, June 7, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS
At risk of sounding nostalgic, I
don’t know if there’s anything better
in life than re-living a seemingly
perfect memory.
Your mind might wander to
that familiar place, or the feeling
is unwittingly triggered, or you
consciously recall it. Either way,
for several fleeting seconds, our
brain is entirely consumed with
the
unmatched
sights,
sounds
and emotions of that memory.
Everything is bathed in a warm,
goldish hue and all seems well in the
world.
And then we’re violently and
unceremoniously thrown back into
reality. It’s almost like a cruel joke,
as if our minds are teasing us with
a reminder of a world that once was.
But what if we could stay in that
space for longer? We’d probably do
anything to achieve that, right?
These questions lie at the heart
of
NBC’s
thought-provoking
new series, “Reverie.” Drawing
inspiration from sci-fi concepts
lately popularized in “Black Mirror”
and
“Westworld,”
“Reverie”
examines
the
delicate
balance
between immersive virtual reality
and reality.
In the show, emerging virtual
reality company Onira Tech, led by
virtuoso programmer Alexis Barrett
(Jessica
Lu,
“Awkward.”),
has
developed an application dubbed
Reverie that “allows two people
to interact in a shared, immersive
virtual world” indistinguishable
from reality.
Although
the
clear
benefits
of
Reverie
—
namely,
letting
individuals
relive
experiences
with family or friends who have
passed away — are enormous, the
drawbacks of the program are just
as glaring and severe.
As “Reverie” somewhat clumsily
outlines
in
its
premiere,
it’s
becoming increasingly common for
users to remain in the program for
weeks at a time and fall into a coma
in reality due to the intoxicating
nature of their memories. At the
expense of their sanity, “the dream
has become their reality.”
To alleviate this issue, Onira
brings in behavioral psychologist
Mara Kint (Sarah Shahi, “Person of
Interest”), who previously worked
as a hostage negotiator alongside
the
firm’s
security
consultant,
Charlie Ventana (Dennis Haysbert,
“24”). Kint is tasked with entering
programs and persuading users to
leave Reverie in favor of the real
world.
While this concept is clearly
influenced by (read: ripped from)
Christopher Nolan’s psychological
thriller “Inception,” it remains
an
intriguing
exploration
of
human relationships and prompts
existential
questions
about
happiness. These questions are
the series’ greatest contributions,
challenging viewers to consider
their past and confront whether they
would trade the rest of their lives
for a few euphoric, yet ephemeral,
moments.
Beyond
its
philosophical
ponderings, “Reverie” features a
strong performance from Shahi,
who manages to add layers to her
cliché backstory as someone driven
by witnessing personal tragedy.
Shahi brings a level of intrigue and
charisma to the series that produces
a complex and somewhat enigmatic
Kint.
While Shahi’s co-stars are not
as adept at deepening their roles,
Haysbert — the trademark gravelly
voice of Allstate commercials — is
convincing as a conflicted Reverie
staffer grappling with the mental
weight of the program’s implications
for reality. Playing Onira’s chief
scientist,
Sendhil
Ramamurthy
(“Heroes”) does a nice job of
providing some comic relief, though
Lu disappoints as the completely
forgettable creator of Reverie.
Although its cast is a mixed bag,
the visuals of “Reverie” are entirely
the
opposite.
Throughout
the
show’s pilot, Reverie’s virtual world
is treated to a brighter, enhanced
color palette that reflects the warm
hue which envelops our mind when
reliving fond memories.
“Reverie” excels at portraying
a virtual utopia, making it easier
for audiences to empathize with
users who elect to stay in its
confines rather than return to
reality. The show contrasts the
friendly, inviting colorways of the
simulation with a more sleek and
minimalist coloring for its scenes
depicting the real world. Consisting
primarily of varying shades of
grey, blue and black, the series’s
color palette for reality is intended
to subtly encourage viewers to
further question whether Reverie
as an application represents a better
alternative.
It’s
in
these
methodical,
thoughtful decisions that “Reverie”
overcomes its struggling cast and
occasionally heavy-handed writing
to emerge as an engaging and
introspective look at the power of
the past. Let’s hope there’s more of
it on the way.
‘Reverie’ is a provocative
dive into virtual reality
TV REVIEW
NBC
TV REVIEW
IAN HARRIS
Daily Arts Writer
CONNOR GRADY
Daily Arts Writer
“Reverie”
Series Premiere
NBC
Weds @ 10 p.m.
“Arrested
Development”
Netflix
Season 5
When it was brought back to
small screens everywhere in 2013,
“Arrested Development” was the
first major series to be revived by a
streaming service. It was a big deal.
It was in the early days of Netflix
originals and before shows like
“Brooklyn 99” could be saved within
hours of their cancellation. It was
also very different from the first
three seasons of the show, which
originally aired on Fox from 2003
to 2006, breaking up the bungling
Bluth family into character centric
episodes that came together by the
season’s end. It was darker than the
original series and it pushed the
characters to places they had never
gone before. It was also savaged by
critics and most general audiences,
with only the hardest of the hardcore
fans seeming to enjoy it. Now, five
years later, comes season five.
At first glance, season five seems
to function as a direct response to the
reception of season four, with more
scenes that feature the entire family
and most characters appearing in
every episode. Dig a little deeper
though and the cracks begin to show.
Almost right off the bat the new
batch of episodes fails to capitalize on
the two most promising cliffhangers
left hanging five years ago, the
disappearance of Liza Menilli’s
Lucille II and the congressional race
between longtime enemies Lindsey
Bluth (Portia De Rossi, “Scandal”)
and Sally Sitwell (Christine Taylor,
“Zoolander 2”).
Back in 2013, it seemed obvious
that series creator Mitch Hurwitz
was setting up some
kind
of
murder
mystery
involving
Lucille
II,
with
practically
every
member of the Bluth
family
potentially
implicated
in
the
crime. Sadly this storyline barely
simmers in this first half the new
season (the rest will come sometime
later this year). The election storyline
is marred down by two main issues,
one of which is the basic absence
of De Rossi from the show, which
renders the plotline toothless, and
the other is the fact that and election
storyline involving a candidate
advocating for a wall now feels
incredibly played out.
It’s hard to judge these first
eight episodes in isolation without
knowing how it all pans out in
the second half. They certainly
don’t stand on their own. The only
characters who truly shine are the
now grown up George Michael
(Michael Cera, “Molly’s Game”)
and Maeby (Alia Shawkat, “The
Intervention”), who are the only
members of the Bluth family who
can offer up new things that we
haven’t seen before. Will Arnett’s
GOB has a potentially emotionally
resonant story about struggling to
come out of the closet, but the almost
complete absence of his counterpart
Tony Wonder (Ben Stiller, “Brad’s
Status”) again causes his storyline to
feel incomplete.
In general the new season feels
strangely barren. Unlike the first
four seasons, which were in different
ways crammed to the gills with jokes
and guest stars and enough plot for
episodes double their length, season
five feels devoid of content, as if they
had to stretch out a few episodes
worth of story to fill the entire
season. Even more so than season
four, it doesn’t feel like “Arrested
Development” and with so many
important characters and actors
either missing or barely appearing,
it seriously begs the question if it’s
worth it to keep moving forward.
The show no longer knows what
it is about or what story it is trying
to tell. Back in 2013 Mitch Hurwitz
claimed he had a three act story
planned out, of which season four
was act one and a forthcoming
“Arrested” movie would be acts two
and three. It seems unlikely that this
version of season five
is even remotely close
to what he originally
had planned for the
movie and it seems
doubly unlikely that
another five year wait
for season six will
result in anything worthwhile. This
is besides the fact that off-screen
problems now mob the cast and key
actors are aging faster than the show
can keep up. It was once said “there’s
always money in the banana stand.”
In this half season of a once-iconic
series, the banana stand is gone, the
money is nowhere to be found and
the magic that once made this series
great seems to be gone with it.
Season five of
‘Arrested’ loses