Altered Carbon Season 2

by | Apr 2, 2020 | Essays

I tend to find stories that explore the limits about consciousness and death to be interesting. Netflix’ Altered Carbon is one of them. Altered Carbon general premise revolves around the theme that in the future people extend their life by installing a device called “stack” in the back of their neck which provides real time backup of their mind so when a body dies, they can live again as long as their stack is intact. The rich can even prolong their life even longer by having remote backup of their stack and bio-engineered identical body as their original body which makes them seem immortal (which gives themselves the nickname “Meths”). The story of Altered Carbon revolves around Takeshi Kovacs; hundred years old consciousness who was ex elite government soldier which turns sides into the rebellion (envoy) that want to abolish the use of stack for meths’ immortality which are spin back to life by someone to solve their unique case due to his capability.

Season 1 vs season 2

I really like the premise of Altered Carbon but i it hard to watch Altered Carbon season 1 in peace. The pace seems slow and i find myself skipping minutes after minutes just to get what the story actually is. I find myself in different state for season 2. I have no other preferred series to binge watch to and i’m curious on how the story continued.

The good and the bad

Like any other things, there are good and bad part about the series.

ALERT: This might contain spoilers so if you plan to watch it, close this page and re-open this after you’re done watching it.

The good

  • More relatable. In season 1, Kovacs was spun back to life by some meths who wants to solves the case of their own murder. Who the heck did that? In season 2, Kovacs spun back to life and found his old lover rampaging and killing Meths. Again, who the heck did that? But his relationship and his quest to find her again seems more relatable.
  • The development of the story. It makes me more curious to keep on going to reveal why certain characters does something.

The bad

  • Double sleeving. Again.
  • Stories around Kovacs his old life happens in span of hundreds of years but i found it really weird how the technology seems to improve a little. They can even brought back to life and immediately adjust themselves to their surrounding without any confusion. Imagine you’re dead in 80 and reanimated back to life in 2010 and see a smartphone.
  • The props and environment design is monotone, boring and lowkey cheap. I get that it is “TV series” but still..

I wish Altered Carbon’s world building to be more grand. I wish it shows deeper repercussion of stacks existence and how it changes human life. I wish they explore more of interstellar travel because that’s why stacks are made of in the first place. There are so much potential, and if there are season 3, i wish it makes use of these potential.

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Notes

  • Altered Carbon is one of those series where their replace the main protagonist cast and it is perfectly makes sense to do so because of how stac and sleeve work.
  • Netflix has released Altered Carbon-based anime called Altered Carbon: Resleeved. Let’s see how it goes.

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