The mini Hulu show, released on March 2020, is maybe the best thing that I’ve seen this year so far. I’m writing this article listening to « Control System » album by the gifted Ab-Soul, because this article needs my entire concentration and yet self consciousness. Devs is a science-fiction and thriller show, realized by the brilliant British writer, screenwriter and director Alex Garland who as also realized Annihilation (2018) and Ex-Machina (2014) movies. Devs is a mix between science more precisely technology’s infinite possibilities and the human impossibilities. Let’s analyze this masterpiece.
THE VISIBLE HIDDEN TRUTH
To start, Lily (played by Sonoya Mizuno) and Sergei (played by Karl Glusman) are a young modern couple living in San Francisco as engineer and scientific in biology and bioinformatics. They both work in a tech company called Amaya. On the first episode, Sergei is doing a presentation which leads him to have a professional upgrade. Sergei is called by Forest (played by Nick Offerman), the big boss and creator of Amaya and Devs is the ultimate level in the company. After a little but faded presentation of Devs, Sergei is trying to decode what his computer is telling him. After reading the code, Sergei is suddenly out of breath and go spit in the toilets. He comes back and captures a trace of this outrageous code in his watch and go. But Sergei is stopped and unmasked by Forest, the almighty. This is the ultimate fault : stealing from Forest and Devs. Sergei is killed directly by Forest’s guard, Kenton (played by Zac Grenier). His murder is disguised by a suicide. The same night, Lily is waiting for her boyfriend to come home but he never will. This is the start of a long psychological and metaphysical run in a short time. Lily is up to understand the death of her boyfriend, an investigation that will lead her to a literal big machination. Above her and everything that she has imagined.
THE ULTIMATE SIN
After Sergei death’s, Lily is determined to find the truth and the dark secrets under Devs. Lily will face Kenton multiple times. Kenton is killing every person closed to Devs‘s researches and aim. He acts like a robot, born to kill like he will be award after his service afterlife. Kenton is clearly an archangel, a fallen angel. At the end, he is showing signs of over control and powers that he doesn’t own and Forest remembers him that this is not his place. Kenton will be killed by a human or a guardian angel, Pete (played by Jefferson Hall). Lily found that his boyfriend of 3 years is a Russian spy industrial agent after she called out her ex Jaime a excellent programmer (played by Jin Ha) to decrypt Sergei’s suicide video. As Kenton asked Sergei during his recruitment, he had a concern about their couple and despite his racist a priori, he has discovered Sergei‘s identity and purpose. Lily was living in a total secret. And she knew Devs was the only gate to bring her some knowledge and enlightenment (and damn it is). Like Sergei, Lily didn’t know that she was on her way to commit the unviolated sin ever : disobedience in God‘s place. Forest has a cohort : Katie (played by Alison Pill) and their relation is strange and almost repulsive. Are they related or not ? Katie obeys him like a daughter but they sleep together. They act like they are almighty and it is exactly what they think they are. It feels like Devs is the paradise and every disruptive person is pushed away from the heavens. Lily during her run to Devs‘s exposure, has faced a lot. During the episodes 6 and 7, she finally understands the aim of Devs : simulate or reschedule Life. In Devs, programmers and coders are shaping and viewing Earth and Humanity evolutions, from Dinosaurs to our Future. For Lily, it’s impossible, not everything can’t be determined and fixed, we are not robots, we are human beings, we have the chance to change our thoughts and actions. But for Forest and Katie, this is not true and this is the purpose of Devs : control and announcing Life’s advancement. To attend Earth before Humans and to predict the Future. Forest is here playing « God ».
DEVS FOR GOD, THE BIBLICAL STORY
If you was able to decrypt Devs, Devs = Deus, Deus = Dieu in French so God, Devs means God. I saw this allusion in the first episode with the presence of aureoles of light surrounding Dev’s garden but I wasn’t able to understand the real meaning. So if Devs is Paradise or God, the entire planet is still the human world, under Dev’s control. Forest is God’s incarnation in a certain way. And this explain a lot of things. The fact that young Lyndon (played by Cailee Spaeny) was pushed out of Devs when she has succeeded to hear Jesus thanks to technology. Forest took her out because she has sinned. In a way Lyndon was serving a ultimate purpose but nobody especially not a human has the right to understand God’s son except God himself. Forest with his long hair and his beard is acting like a God. With Katie, they already know what was going to arrive, they knew that Lily was on her way to kill Forest, at what time, when and where. Katie‘s function is very unclear but she is the real brain in the duo. Forest is very poetic and dreamy, he talks and walks like a wise man, he is totally in control of himself and likes to see things go in a certain way. But he also very disconnected to everything around him. He was patiently waiting for his death hour. And when it happened he was still in shocked. During the last episode, when Lily is facing her predicted role and she is focused to not kill Forest but as predicted, she will. The death of Sergei has pushed Lily to a new road in her life. Sergei‘s death is symbolical and Lily is one of this human that is chosen besides billion ones, to serve and have a majestic destiny. But at the end, she chose to not obey. When she is repeating the final scene, she stops and throw away her gun. She has chosen to not respect God’s will. So an another God’s servant, Stewart (played by the legendary Stephen Henderson) is here to remind her that she can not choose and change God’s decisions. Lily and Forest fall and die together. In the quantum prediction, Lily was shooting Forest and they both died. In a way, Forest knew that she will die to. It is the same in Lily’s plan. But the most grandiose aspect is that she didn’t she was going to die. Neither Forest and Katie « were able » to tell her, they knew but they wouldn’t tell her or she will never killed Forest. It’s mathematical, it’s a pure strategy of mind control.
THE AFTERMATH
By the end, Lily and Forest are put in a simulation of Devs. This ending made me rethink all the entire show. What proves us that all the show was real from the beginning? Forest is finally with his family, his main goal, he is at peace. Lily is brought back to Sergei like a reset of the show, but only her and Forest know that, this is a false world. I thought that the entire world will be reset but only Devs has been. Only Forest’s environnement has changed not real humanity. This proves his narcissism and megalomania. And it proves that even science is inspired by religions. Lily before her final speech, said to Forest « Messiahs are fake prophets ». But it seems that Forest plan’s will in all the ways possible become a reality. Lily‘s resurrection was also a surprise, I mean she disobeyed to God but at the end she didn’t kill him and maybe Forest thanked her for that. She is now able to choose her right path and her right man and love life. Devs is a modern depiction of what technology place has took in our lives. Like Jaime said « tech moguls always think they are Messiahs ». And Jaime was right. Devs‘s golden cube reminded me of Cerebro in Xmen movies and Devs‘s functions and purposes reminded me of Matrix’s trilogy. It’s this big religion vs technology fight that is more and more preeminent in the popular culture. The show American Gods (2017) is a one of the latest and best example. Devs is taking to the extreme the place of technology because it is true that technology is now the world religion. We live through it everyday. From our smartphones to our cars. IA is more and more constant and performant and technology is placed in ads and education to tell us that it will exceed humanity. Devs is a spectacular show like Black Mirror (2011-) or Westworld (2016 -), which shows us that technology is replacing us and that it is destroying all our fundamental needs and beliefs. Without technology in 2020, what are we? In the Western world, blocked and seen as backlog but in some places in this world, due to an eurocentric vision, called « traditional » or holistic and not « advanced », we will be free, in all the ways.
Lunaticharlie.
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