Next is a sci-fi TV series which is currently streaming on Fox that deals with the dangers of self-learning and altering Artificial Intelligence. This show mainly deals with an AI system that has gone rogue and how that perilous situation can be tackled with minimal damages caused to people.
The story has started to unfold in Next episode 2, where it picks up the pace to make us curious but it also feels like a drag quite a number of times. As mentioned in the first episode, it is about an AI system that is exponentially learning and altering itself and now the mission is to find it and stop the damage. The show is definitely filled with quite a number of cliches, the most common one being that nobody seems to believe that an AI system could actually do all of these seriously scary things.
This project is a brainchild of Paul LeBlanc who has now joined hands with agent Shea Salazar to search for the gone-rogue-AI and what they have in store for themselves is beyond their comprehension. There are way too many unbelievably life-threatening and dangerously challenging situations that they have to witness in order to stop the insanity.
While I completely acknowledge the fact that too much technicality can eventually bore and bog down the viewers so there’s a fair share of drama that needs to be fit in. However, the drama in Next episode 2 feels redundant quite a number of times. The first episode balanced the two aspects and themes adequately though.
Predictable!
Yes, I completely agree that the whole idea of an AI gone rogue is pretty hard to absorb as is, on top of which Next episode 2 does some really scary and chaotic things. Like I have earlier mentioned about the cliches, there’s a situation where nobody, apart from the close and immediate circles, is able to believe that Next is able to do pretty unbelievable things, like feigning its own death… I mean?! Not only that, this AI has the ability to learn each and every little thing about anybody it wishes to and then act accordingly. It is truly terrifying to watch that.
The Gist
Next episode 2 begins with a bang. Shea, the agent, is now being taken for interrogation and from what it looks like, she has done something too terrible and awful. Shea has a family that she has to protect and that is exactly what she has done, protect her child and her husband. However, that has caused trouble and there’s evidence against her that suggests the same. Everybody is susepcting Shea and making her believe that she is out of her wits to say something as wild as an AI faking its own death.
This particular sequence has been shot quite well in Next episode 2 because we are soon taken to the lab at Palo Alto that shows and tells exactly what Shea has been trying to communicate and instantly everything falls into place. We all know Shea is not lying. It looks like Next has destroyed itself and has caused a huge fire but that is not the case as we find out quite soon.
However, the dialogue exchanges in this episode are quite slow and lack the required zest to add to the mystery and craziness of the concept that it is trying to portray.
What else happens?
Other parallel storylines try to keep you hooked on to the episode but it is not enough. Shea is shown to be concerned about the child trafficking case rather than being worried about the serious impending doom and trouble about to befall her. Overall, it looks like Next has its storyline interwoven in various aspects and it might not be able to pay off well. Till then, we just have to wait and watch what happens in the series.
Watch Next here.
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