Altered Carbon

Im not sure what to make of the future of Altered Carbon, the Netflix series which just debuted its second season this past weekend. Season 1 was one of my favorite seasons of sci-fi TV ever, and while I liked season 2, its hard to say it fully lives up to the first.

There are a lot of open questions about what happens with Altered Carbon next. Netflix is known for killing shows after two seasons a lot of the time unless they are total breakout hits. Does Altered Carbon qualify? Im not sure. Season 2 was not a sure thing for a long time, until it was finally greenlit, and while I am seeing Altered Carbon in Netflixs new Top 10 list of whats being watched (its #4 today), we dont know if thats enough for Netflix to renew a series thats probably more expensive than most of their others by a wide margin.

And the problem? It needs to be even more expensive.

Going into season 2 of Altered Carbon, I noticed that it was quite a bit shorter than season 1. Not only were there two fewer episodes, 8 instead of 10, but most of the episodes were sub-50 minutes, where most season 1 episodes were 50+. That struck me as a possible cost-cutting metric, but after watching the show, thats not the only thing that seemed like a budget reduction.

One of the core problems with Altered Carbon season 2 is that is just seems so muchsmaller than season 1. One of the best parts of the first season was its worldbuilding, and how it created this massive, Blade Runner-like world of immortality with minds jumping through different bodies. It felt like a blockbuster movie in TV form and spanned a wide variety of fascinating locations from the towering mansions of the rich to floating illegal sex clubs in the sky.

Altered Carbon

Altered Carbon season 2 hasfar less of that.

The most obvious cost-saving metric is to reuse the exact Edgar Allen Poe-themed hotel for a large number of scenes, despite being on a totally different planet. There is a technological explanation for this given in the show butyeah, its a little goofy.

Past that, the other environments are justkind of uninspired. They feel like small sets, like a crowded grungy corridor in town, or a lot of stuff just filmed in some random woods or caves. Even when we start to get into the fantastical, a blissful utopia where consciousnesses go free of their bodies, its just like, a local park with a weird color filter on it. The world just feels smaller and faker than what we saw in season 1, and again, this feels like a budget issue.

This may be part of the reason that this season isnt being as well-received by fans as the first. Curiously, critics are reviewing season 2 better than season 1 (82% versus 68% on Rotten Tomatoes), but fans are the polar opposite. Season 1 has a 90% fan review score while season 2 has crashed down to a 38%.

Altered Carbon

From my view, neither of these assessments are correct. Season 2 is not better than season 1 as these critic scores would have you believe, but neither should season 2 be crashing down to a failing 38% as fans are saying either, as its not that much worse. But clearly there is some sort of disconnect going on here, and I am curious what thats about. I do think part of it is the smaller, shorter, lower budget season. And I also think Joel Kinnaman was a better Takeshi Kovacs than Anthony Mackie, though thats not a problem a potential season 3 would have, as no doubt he will be recast again.

I dont know what Netflix will decide to do with Altered Carbon. Season 2 ends with a pretty obvious cliffhanger and the potential for more stories to come. There are three books in the original series by Richard K. Morgan, so it stands to reason Netflix should just let those run their course, at least. But come on, loosen those purse strings just a little bit so you can have a sci-fi show to rival Amazons The Expanse again. It needs the help, judging by how this past season went.

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'Altered Carbon' Season 3 Needs A Bigger Budget, If Netflix Renews It At All - Forbes