Alerted Carbon is Netflix’s original TV series based upon Richard Morgan’s cyberpunk novel of the same name. The show features Takeshi Kovacs as the lead protagonist and an anti-hero in a world where death is no longer imminent.
The series got tons of plaudits and went on to achieve an IMDB rating of 8.1, which is amazing. Most of the fans loved the show and called it stellar, while a fraction of them didn’t like a few things and shared their feedbacks on various social media handles. Today, we are going to share with you five such things that fans didn’t like and 5 they loved.
Fans Hated: Weak Main Plot
A scientist invents a cortical stack that is able to store the consciousness of a living being and can easily be transferred to other bodies making people officially immortal.
Problems start when people start misusing it because the technology is so expensive that only filthy rich people can afford it. Quell, Takeshi and some other people form an army and start openly rebelling it only to get infected and killed by Reileen. Takeshi is imprisoned and later resleeved for an assignment by a meth. The plot has it’s share of shortcomings. For example, they are fighting against immorality, but are okay with their own stacks and keep them intact. The detective plot is not fleshed out properly. Character development is also minimal.
They Loved: When Poe Assumed Guest’s Prerogatives
When Kovacs first arrives in the Hotel Raven, little did he know that he was about to be attacked by a group of gangsters without having done anything yet. He is just talking to the AI owner of the hotel when they approach him and start hitting him violently.
Poe says he can not assume guest prerogatives or protect him until Kovacs makes the payment. With this single witty quote, he won Kovacs and us over. Of course, as soon as Kovacs swiped his hand and made the payment, Poe slaughtered all of them in a single go.
Fans Hated: Typecast Characters, Cringey Dialogue And Extreme Violence
Most of us would admit that most of the main characters were typecast. Ortega is a Latina cop with ill-temper. She keeps hurling abuses in Spanish. Kovacs is a stereotypical hero, Vernon a good old sidekick, Bancroft a wealthy villain and Miriam is a cougar.
No characters except Poe have something distinct to offer. Reileen is more than cartoonish in her childlike evil plans. Quotes are lousy sometimes and sometimes feel like OTT tough. The whole series is rapt with ruthless violence.
They Loved: Breathtaking Settings
Netflix’s Altered Carbon is a treat to watch, honestly. It has mind-blowing aesthetics, visuals effects and truly breathtaking sets. Joel Kinnaman himself, in an interview, said he didn’t feel like he was doing a traditional sci-fi show as he didn’t have to imagine everything. The set was so realistic, he felt like he was in the future instead.
It was not just a green box, but a fully alive and breathing city with immaculate attention to the details. And that reflects in every scene too.
Fans Hated: When Lizzie Magically Got Superpowers
When Poe, the sentient hotel, sends Lizzie back to reality while dying, she takes up a body in the exclusive facility Head In The Clouds and appears there, all set to kick asses.
And that she does. But, if it were limited to her cool ninja moves and uncharacteristic badass performance, it would still have been okay, but, she shows some real superpowers out there, like morphing the physical appearance of a vinyl catsuit with nothing but her mind waves we guess.
They Loved: Mind-Bending Action Scenes
The fight scenes are really intense, incredibly raw and as rough as can be in a series of this nature. Neither cast nor the showrunner has left any stones unturned to convert bloody brutal fight scenes from the book perfectly on the screens.
In fact, they look much more intense on screen, if that’s possible. Men or women, everyone fought on equal levels and some of the scenes with Joel Kinnaman, Renee Goldberry, Martha Higareda, supergirl Hayley Law and Dichen Lachman are top-notch.
Fans Hated: When Poe Died
In the last episode, Reileen asks Mister Leung to destroy the AI completely. Mister Leung arrives at the hotel and shoots at Poe which causes some severe malfunction and his body starts crumbling as his digital body parts convert to nano dust.
Poe is so compassionate that even when he is dying and helpless, he still travels to the virtual, informs Lizzie about the situation, pumps her about facing the real world and helps her ease back into reality. This humane reaction along with his throwback easy-going demeanor stirred fans when he died.
They Loved: Dystopian Future Plausibility
Altered Carbon explores the possibility of a distant future where technology has evolved to the extent that death is evitable. No one has to die if they have access to the tech and lots of money, of course! Tonnes and tonnes of money!
The show did not only delve into sci-fi plausibilities, but, social structures and class differences too. The people who had lots of money, called Meths, could stay alive for gazillion years and had access to as many sleeves as they wanted. They frequently use them to dodge death and more often than not, just for fun.
Fans Hated: When Kovacs Agreed To Return Ryker’s Sleeve
Kovacs had been imprisoned digitally for two hundred and fifty years for joining the rebels fighting against the cortical stack technology and its misuse. When he was released temporarily by a wealthy meth for a critical assignment, it meant he had to be sleeved.
They used the body of an imprisoned cop Ryker whom Ortega was romantically involved with. At the end of the series, we found Kovacs hinting at returning Ryker’s sleeve which meant most likely, action guru Kinnaman was leaving the show and Kovacs would be resleeved, as is evident in the just-released brand new second season.
They Loved: Chris Conner
Everyone loved Poe aka Chris Conner totally. Fans cried when he died and his body converted to nanodust. No other character was loved and missed as much as Poe from Altered Carbon.
He was not only the sidekick, but, also the comic relief from the cyberpunk noir tense setting. His character had more shades than most of the other main characters of the series. And most importantly, his smile and short poetic quotes loved fans over so much so that he is one of the very few characters who returned to the second season.
