The Peripheral 2022 (Spoilers)

[Reynard]

I agree that the first season does feel rushed at the end. Possibly in part to having so many details, and so many characters with good development, they probably could have used an extra four episodes to flesh it out more and give it time to develop a few plotlines further.

Oh in case anyone was wondering why they have those weird statues all over future London, there is a line somewhere about using them as air scrubbers, post Jackpot the air is bad I guess outside the city (they don't explain it in the show).

In the book they are just tall spires. I don't know why the show depicted them as weird collosi.

 

[Dire Bare]

In the book they are just tall spires. I don't know why the show depicted them as weird collosi.

Because they look cool? The future London is incredibly visually arresting, and makes you realize you are somewhere else . . . .

 

[Reynard]

Because they look cool? The future London is incredibly visually arresting, and makes you realize you are somewhere else . . . .

I personally think things like that ruin good world building because there's no purpose behind them.

 

[Dire Bare]

I personally think things like that ruin good world building because there's no purpose behind them.

Huh?

Does art in the real world always have to serve a purpose? Does it in the fantasy/sci-fi world?

Yet, it usually does. As already discussed, these giant towers are air scrubbers. They could have made them into utilitarian, ugly towers . . . but instead decided to make them imposing giant, super-cool statues. Also, they are a part of the illusion the RI projects, the illusion of control, of power, of stability and safety.

It's a very deliberate and purposeful part of the world-building for this show.

 

[MarkB]

I personally think things like that ruin good world building because there's no purpose behind them.

The RI is trying to project power while at the same time personifying stability and British tradition. Making its world-saving technology into monuments that dwarf everything around them allows them to do just that. It's also an expression of the march of technology - from custom-printing complex electronic devices in the 2030s to using similar techniques on a literally monumental scale in the 2070s.

 

[Rabulias]

Does art in the real world always have to serve a purpose? Does it in the fantasy/sci-fi world?

Yet, it usually does. As already discussed, these giant towers are air scrubbers. They could have made them into utilitarian, ugly towers . . . but instead decided to make them imposing giant, super-cool statues. Also, they are a part of the illusion the RI projects, the illusion of control, of power, of stability and safety.

It's a very deliberate and purposeful part of the world-building for this show.

I think there is a one-off line in the show that described them as air-scrubbers. And I agree that in a world where they show you fake people to make you think the world is more populated so you feel better, it makes sense that they would try to make such depressingly necessary technology as an air-scrubber appear more beautiful and attractive.

 

[briggart]

I liked the show a lot, so went and listened to the audiobook.

Wow were these different. Most of the core characters are the same from a personality and motivation standpoint but the details are extremely different. I am glad I watched the show first because I think I would have hated it for how much they changed for the show.

I read the book, and loved them. I mean, it's Gibson.

The show, I have mixed feeling about. Overall I really liked it, but I've the same issues as with Game of Thrones. The parts that deviate the most from the books also feel rushed and overall weaker than the rest of the show. So it's not necessarily the changes per se, but the quality of the changes.