Alex Garland has always been an interesting writer and director, from The Beach to Ex Machina and Annihilation, and his venture into TV does not disappoint. In this sci fi series, the science is futuristic but the time is now, when a Russian tech whiz is invited into a Big Data company's inner sanctum to work on its secretive Devs program. When he disappears, his Chinese girlfriend (Sonoya Mizuno) is dragged into a world of spies and cover-up overseen by an ex-CIA security head (Zach Grenier) and a laid-back, pony-tailed CEO tech messiah (Nick Offerman).

The opening episodes have plenty of intrigue and action to drag you in, even if Offerman's xanax-inpsired dialogue gets annoying after a while, though the same can be said of most of the characters. Just as the tension and mystery builds to a head, it slows to a crawl, especially episode 6, devoted entirely to explaining the slightly preposterous pre-determinist science behind Devs.

This looks like a movie script drawn out into an overlong TV series that needs editing, but despite the flaws there's plenty of intrigue to keep you hooked. This thought-provoking, intelligent sci-fi adventure is a cut above the pack and well worth the ride.