Extrapolations - General Discussion

[ams1001]

Coming to Apple TV - An anthology series which will tell intimate stories of how the upcoming changes to our planet will affect love, faith, work and family on a personal and human scale.

[BetterButter]

 

[AnimeMania]

Extrapolations is an eight episode Drama TV Series premiering the first 3 episodes on March 17, 2023 on Apple TV+, then streaming weekly thereafter.   

These 8 interconnected stories countdown to the year 2070 and the impending climate crisis. Explore the life-altering choices people are forced to make whilst they navigate love, faith and family. Connected by the shaky future of humanity, everyone is confronted with the same choice about taking action before it's too late.

[marinw]

Between this and Silo, I am not going to wait until Season Four of For All Mankind to renew my Apple+ subscription.

I love CliFi.  And I’m here for anything where Cherry Joins is POTUS!.

That said, this look really bleak. I would love to see Apple adapt Kim Stanely Robinson’s The Ministry of The Future for a take on tackling climate change that manages to be both realistic and hopeful.

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by marinw

[aghst]

This is launching next Friday, March 17.

Another article.

Read in Bloomberg: https://apple.news/AcuLvj6OiQ9uYw5YPCxanKQ

Cast is well-known and presumably they spend money on SFX.

But it's launching the same week as Ted Lasso so may not get noticed as much.

 

[AnimeMania]

Extrapolations      March 17, 2023   Apple TV+    

Episodes 1-3     Titles and Descriptions

Spoiler

S01.E01: 2037: A Raven Story

As nations fight over Earth’s fate, Rebecca (Sienna Miller), Marshall (Daveed Diggs), and Junior (Matthew Rhys) all see their plans go up in smoke.
Matthew Rhys as Junior, venal businessman
Heather Graham as Hannah, social media celebrity
Alexander Sokovikov as Vadim
Tahar Rahim as Omar Haddad, Algerian representative at the international climate conference in Tel Aviv
Sienna Miller as Rebecca Shearer, a pregnant biologist/Parkranger in the Adirondacks, wife of Omar Haddad
Kit Harington as Nicholas Bilton, a trillionaire CEO who’s combined seemingly all of Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Ag into a single omnipresent corporation called Alpha, who has earned obscene riches by capitalizing on the fallout of global warming.
Noel Arthur
Daveed Diggs as Marshall Zucker, studying to be a Rabbi
Leslie Uggams as Mrs. Zucker, Marshall's mother 
Peter Riegert as Ben, Marshall's father 

S01.E02: 2046: Whale Fall

Kit Harington as Nicholas Bilton
Meryl Streep as Eve Shearer/Whale 
Sienna Miller as Rebecca Shearer, archivist who studies the extinctions

S01.E03: 2047: The Fifth Question
Premiere Date: March 17, 2023     Apple TV+
Daveed Diggs as Rabbi Marshall Zucker, a rabbi torn between family and duty at a temple in a flooding Miami.
David Schwimmer as Harris Goldblatt, a property tycoon
Neska Rose as Alana Goldblatt, angry young congregant
Judd Hirsch as David Goldblatt

[marinw]

Well that was depressing. The best part was when evil dude got stabbed by the Walrus.

Mom giving her son stuffies of extinct animals struck me as cruel.

I’m always happy to see Daveed Diggs. That dance number was weird.

Edited March 17, 2023 by marinw

[chocolatine]

22 hours ago, marinw said:

Well that was depressing.

That's pretty much my only take-away from the first episode. I was intrigued about this show but don't think I'll keep watching.

[marinw]

I’ll keep watching. I’m still thinking about the third episode. The best of the three IMO.

[DesiJF]

I'll keep watching as well, if only to find out what the end-game is with the mega billionaire.  I mean, what is the point of doubling down on destroying the planet just to make more money?  What does more money actually matter if you can't step outside without a respirator.  Eventually there will be fewer and fewer people buying batteries, and whatever else bullshit consumables they make.

What, are they going to clone the animals that went extinct?  To what purpose?  Put them in a zoo?  They can't put them back in the wild because the wild will kill them just like it killed their ancestors.

If he's just your stock in trade short-sighted megalomaniac I'll be disappointed.

[marinw]

Mega Billionare dude is probably planning to move to Mars with all the animal DNA. What could possibly go wrong?

[TimWil]

Daveed Diggs is quite awful in this as is Heather Graham. She’s playing a pop superstar? Uhhh…OK. Yikes. I couldn’t get through the first episode but will give the third one a shot because I’m curious how David Schwimmer will do,

[marinw]

10 hours ago, TimWil said:

Daveed Diggs is quite awful

Respecfully disagree. By the end of Episode 3 his character was someone I cared about. Don't know what (if anything) happens to Marshall in the remaining episodes.

I must confess my own bias here, DD is one of those actors I just like no matter what he is in. Still annoyed that the final season of Snowpiercer (another CliFi show) has vanished.

Edited March 19, 2023 by marinw

[marinw]

I'm still not sure how the synagogue could have been saved as an individual building when whole blocks are being abondoned. Build a little seawall around it?

[DesiJF]

4 hours ago, marinw said:

I'm still not sure how the synagogue could have been saved as an individual building when whole blocks are being abondoned. Build a little seawall around it?

The more I thought about the city saving any of those buildings the less it made sense.  The water is rising, it is only going to get worse.  Why would you throw good money after bad?  The most depressing part of that story is knowing the idiocy of government bureaucracy will survive a global warming apocalypse.

[marinw]

The logical thing would be to take the Torah and move the synagogue to another building on higher ground. A moot point as it looked like almost all of Miami was destroyed.

Edited March 21, 2023 by marinw

[aghst]

I haven't watched this yet -- been trying to rewatch Succession and Barry before their new seasons.

I know the criticisms, preachy and boring.  How are the photography and the visual effects?  The setting sounds like the last season of The Affair, near future, with the ravages of climate change as the setting for a drama.

Was the talking whale as bad as some have said?

[marinw]

45 minutes ago, aghst said:

 How are the photography and the visual effects?

Excellent. Apple spared no expence. The phones and computers look great, the planet not so much.

As for Mary Streep as a whale, that is a judgement everyone must make for themselves.

[marinw]

To make this show even more depressing, Extraplotations shows that we do transfer to renewable energy (mostly?) but we do so too late to stop extreme climate change. Sounds about right.

[QQQQ]

This reminds me of Years And Years (which I loved).

Edited March 22, 2023 by QQQQ

[marinw]

I loved Years and Years too. Glad a few of those predictions didn’t come true (so far) like Trump getting a second term.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E04: 2059: Face of God

Jonathan (Edward Norton) suspects his ex (Indira Varma) latest invention — a pilotless powered plane — isn’t what it seems.

Premiere Date: March 24, 2023     Apple TV+
Edward Norton as Jonathan Chopin, a concerned government scientist
Mia Maestro as Mariama Cruz
Indira Varma as Gita Mishra, a scientist 
Michael Gandolfini as Rowan Chopin
Diane Lane as Martha Russell, Alpha’s conflicted second-in-command
Cherry Jones as Elizabeth Burdick, President of the United States 

[HerkyJerky]

7 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Cherry Jones as Elizabeth Burdick, President of the United States 

Didn't Cherry Jones play the President in "24"?

[marinw]

1 hour ago, HerkyJerky said:

Didn't Cherry Jones play the President in "24"?

Yes, Seasons 7 and 8.

[marinw]

Season 57 of 24! I kept waiting for POTUS to demand “Get me Jack Bauer” because this felt like a JB situation. 

I enjoyed this episode although it made no sense. How could a chemical engineer build a fleet of giant planes just to use them as a distraction?

The Climate Change in this episode felt very abstract here. Lots of statistics were cited yet in most scenes things looked nice and clean and habitable. Hopefully all those new trees didn’t burn down in massive forest fires.

So will all those new chemicals in the atmosphere disperse in a few years? Will the dimming affect solar power which must be providing a great deal of the Worlds pier by 2057?

Edited March 25, 2023 by marinw

[TimWil]

Well, after three excruciatingly awful episodes this one was quite decent. Who knew it would be because it totally aped 24? Whatever. At least Cherry Jones gave her Madam President a hint of a Southern twang this time.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E05: 2059 Part II: Nightbirds

In Mumbai, small-time criminal Gaurav (Adarsh Gourav) and his unexpected companion Neel (Gaz Choudhry) must complete a high-stakes mission.

Premiere Date: March 31, 2023     Apple TV+
Adarsh Gourav as Gaurav, smuggler crossing India
Gaz Choudhry as Neel, smuggler crossing India

[marinw]

Best episode so far. Did Gaurav get his final 5000 Euros? Nice tie in to the previous episode. Pay attention to the end credits.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E06: 2066: Lola

Natasha (Gemma Chan), a single mom in London, braves the world of artificial companionship, until she rents a partner (Tahar Rahim) she can’t forget.

Premiere Date: April 6, 2023     Apple TV+
Gemma Chan as Natasha Alper, a single mother
Tahar Rahim as Ezra

[HerkyJerky]

10 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Natasha (Gemma Chan), a single mom in London, braves the world of artificial companionship

Ironic that Gemma Chan is in this episode since she played a "Synth" in HUMANS. GREAT SHOW!!

[AnimeMania]

S01.E07: 2068: The Going Away Party 

Auggie (Forest Whitaker) and Sylvie (Marion Cotillard) throw an intimate New Year's Eve party where he makes a surprise announcement.

Premiere Date: April 14, 2023     Apple TV+
Marion Cotillard as Sylvie Bolo
Forest Whitaker as Augustin Bolo
Eiza González as Elodie
Tobey Maguire as Nicolas 

[marinw]

That was so boring. Hope the finale offers some hope.

[AnimeMania]

S01.E08: 2070: Ecocide
(Season Finale)

Nicholas Bilton (Kit Harington) is on trial for crimes against the planet, but will the new Alpha CEO (Diane Lane) save him - and the world?

Premiere Date: April 21, 2023     Apple TV+
Diane Lane as Martha Russell
Kit Harington as Nicholas Bilton
Murray Bartlett as Ariel Turner, a lawyer
MaameYaa Boafo as Lucy Adobo

[marinw]

I liked this one. The sun is shining! The costumes are really cool. I was trying to place the actor playing Lawyer Guy, I see he is Murray Bartlett from The Last Of Us. That guy can really pull off a dress!

The solution seemed a little too easy, and humans are always going to human. But I do like that there is room for hope. I would watch a second season if there is one.

ETA: I enjoyed the costumes, but the clothes suddenly looked really heavy and warm. Ism't it getting hotter?

Edited April 24, 2023 by marinw

[hurrrz]

I am a bit torn on this show. I think the idea is good, the concept is interesting, but they haven't been able to really string together the actions and consequences well enough to make the final trial have the proper weight behind it.

[marinw]

The skies in a bunch of Canadian and US cities today is looking way too much like the later episodes of Extrapolations 😬

Edited June 8, 2023 by marinw

[TimWil]

There won’t be a second season of this, it seems to have been quite a disaster for Apple TV +, certainly critically. It was also buried deep in the online schedule so I’m guessing it was a disaster in terms of viewership, too.

Funny that Keri Russell put in an appearance in the Indian episode. I always thought of her reminiscent of Diane Lane who is, of course, prominent in one episode in addition to the finale. I loved the performances of Adarsh Gourav and Gaz Choudhry and thought the Indian episode was by far the strongest. I did find the blatant rip-off of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (The young Nick character has even been named Nic) to be quite entertaining though. Marion Coltillard was mesmerizing.  This was a nice try but I can’t get over how horrifically bad the whale episode was.

Edited July 7, 2023 by TimWil

[aghst]

I haven't started this, so much stuff to watch, even just within Apple TV +.

I guess it's kind of a win though that they had so many actors who normally wouldn't do TV, at least in the US?

Maybe that will give it a chance for renewal.  But maybe it took a long time to shoot and edit this series so even if it came back it might not for a couple of years.

[TimWil]

No way it gets renewed, sorry. All the reviews called it a big embarrassment for Apple TV +. And the story does reach a “conclusion” of sorts.

[CarpeFelis]

Going Away Party: I could not understand why either man wanted Marion Cotillard’s character. Yeah, she’s beautiful but she was also a massive bitch. I was happy the maid got the ticket in the end and not that twit girlfriend.

What the hell did they do with Kit Harington’s makeup in the final episode? He looked like he’d either way, way overdone Botox or had his face remade out of plastic. He did a good job of moving like an old man, though.

[aghst]

Finished it.

It's not as preachy as I imagined it.

It just shows how different people lived with the results of climate change.

But the trial at the end was kind of ridiculous, blaming over 100 years of pollution on one guy and he was convicted because he chose not to use the carbon removable device to remove enough carbon.

Some are desperate, like that guy who took on roles just to keep alive his memories of Lola.  You'd think Gemma Chan would have made him forget about Lola.

Or Anna, who stole the Lifepause ticket because she was also living a marginal existence, barely making ends meet.

Of course the guy in Mumbai, taking on odd jobs.  Apparently the Euro is the most prized currency in the future.  He had stopped believing the world oould become better again but really went to the hilt to finish his mission, tried to save his more hopeful partner.

They showed extreme effects of climate change as a given.  They didn't use special effects to show dramatic effects, which climate change deniers used to instantly dismiss some movies on climate change.

For instance, it was simply reality that people couldn't go outside during the day in the Mumbai episode, so there were curfews until dawn.  In fact it was dangerous when the bulb temperature reached certain values.