To the people who might be reading these IMDB reviews before deciding whether or not to watch Devs, ignore the haters. It's a fascinating show that's both haunting and thought provoking.

I've heard many stories about the rampant, ugly sexism in the predominantly white, male world of sci-fi fandom. The way they savaged the female actresses in the recent Star Wars movies comes to mind. But I never witnessed it first hand-only second hand in articles or posts commenting about the phenomenon. Then I read these reviews. Good lord this stuff is rich. Review after review ragging on the lead actress as being untalented, monotone, boring. It's so predictable it's stupid. When a female character doesn't look or act like Princess Leia or Lara Croft, or Seven Of Nine, sci-if nerds turn on them. Why? Who knows. All I can say is that in this case, at least, it's both predictable and baseless. Sonoya Mizuno is not only not a bad actress, she does a fine job in this series and is one of the reasons to watch it. She's far from a conventional heroine, but to me that's a good thing. Aren't we all tired of the same old same old? Devs is not for dummies. Or people who just want the same pablum served up in a sexy wrapper. It's something new. It has a different shape. A different rhythm. A different feel. If you like that type of cinema, and are open to new ideas, and giving your mind the space to explore them, then this is a show for you. Give it a shot.

And to all the angry, sexist dweebs who think that ganging up on, and savaging, an actress who doesn't fit your cosplay ideal is your idea of fun, I feel sorry for you. The female stereotypes that you keep trying to preserve will never make you happy. Good sci-fi is based on progress, difficult ideas, change, and above all, humanism. Until you understand and embrace that, you just won't get it.

(For the record, I'm a white male who enjoys sci-fi, and typically doesn't like identity politics, or criticism of groups based on demographics. So let me be clear: not all sci-fi/fantasy nerds are ignorant, sexist haters. In fact the vast majority aren't. But a small percentage of them are very loud and work very hard to dominate the conversation with their insecurities and tired biases, because they believe that's all they have going for themselves. They're wrong about that, too. But until they get over that, you can continue to expect this kind of predictable witch hunting.)