Intelligence) is an action series about a noble and handsome intelligence agent with a brain-augmenting microchip running around saving people and the world, with the help of his beautiful and capable female sidekick (well, bodyguard). Yes, it’s that cheesy. It also has a 24-style conservative bend and is full of plot holes. However, the acting is good, the chemistry between main characters is excellent, and the pace is fast enough to avoid boredom. Amazingly, the show manages to touch on many transhumanist ideas, although “touch” is probably not the right term. “Rape them”, more like. X-risks, what it means to be human, unpredictable effects of brain augmentation, intelligence explosion, gray goo, you name it. I think the main positive effect of the show is that it brings the transhumanist ideas to the mainstream viewers, so they are no longer seen as something only wacko singulatarians talk about.
I’ve been watching this show as well and agree with your review. What I find most distracting though isn’t the plot holes or mistreatment of various transhumanist ideas, but just constantly thinking “why the hell is a unique, multi-billion-dollar, supercomputer-augmented agent running around getting into fistfights and gunfights with just one sidekick/bodyguard instead of having a full tactical team protecting him at all times.” If someone could tell me a good “reason” for this, I think I’d be able to enjoy the show a lot more. :-)
Actually, a unique person with a chip like that would not be let out of the lab. Mycroft more than Sherlock. The reason for him being a field agent is, of course, that it makes the show more exciting. Similarly, any chip like that would be built with external access by the handlers, so it can be debugged, updated and disabled if necessary.
Intelligence) is an action series about a noble and handsome intelligence agent with a brain-augmenting microchip running around saving people and the world, with the help of his beautiful and capable female sidekick (well, bodyguard). Yes, it’s that cheesy. It also has a 24-style conservative bend and is full of plot holes. However, the acting is good, the chemistry between main characters is excellent, and the pace is fast enough to avoid boredom. Amazingly, the show manages to touch on many transhumanist ideas, although “touch” is probably not the right term. “Rape them”, more like. X-risks, what it means to be human, unpredictable effects of brain augmentation, intelligence explosion, gray goo, you name it. I think the main positive effect of the show is that it brings the transhumanist ideas to the mainstream viewers, so they are no longer seen as something only wacko singulatarians talk about.
I’ve been watching this show as well and agree with your review. What I find most distracting though isn’t the plot holes or mistreatment of various transhumanist ideas, but just constantly thinking “why the hell is a unique, multi-billion-dollar, supercomputer-augmented agent running around getting into fistfights and gunfights with just one sidekick/bodyguard instead of having a full tactical team protecting him at all times.” If someone could tell me a good “reason” for this, I think I’d be able to enjoy the show a lot more. :-)
Actually, a unique person with a chip like that would not be let out of the lab. Mycroft more than Sherlock. The reason for him being a field agent is, of course, that it makes the show more exciting. Similarly, any chip like that would be built with external access by the handlers, so it can be debugged, updated and disabled if necessary.