Reverie - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Your Media Topic!

[Cranberry]

Reverie Premiere Recap and Review: Welcome to the Mind

This bit intrigues me:

"Since anything goes, physics-be-damned, the things Mara is able to do with her mind can be quite imaginative, even if it expose her to the hostilities of the subject who doesn't want to wake up. The potential for future episodes to explore extensive creative scenarios with possibly the most bizarre and unique worlds they can come up with is limitless."

[Just Here]

NBC has announced the premiere date (press release):

Quote

“Reverie” will launch Wednesday, May 30 at 10 p.m. ET/PT immediately following NBC’s popular summer alternative series “American Ninja Warrior.”

[Cranberry]

Promo:

[Cranberry]

Trailer:

[Cranberry]

"Meet the Team" promo:

[Cranberry]

Former hostage negotiator Mara Kint is hired by tech company Oniratech to save people who have lost themselves in a sophisticated virtual reality program called Reverie.

[janeta]

Not terrible; I'll watch Shahi in anything, but i think this will be three and out.

Edited May 31, 2018 by janeta

[Maximum Taco]

It's an interesting concept, but it feels like this ground has been tread nearly a decade ago by Inception. Sure the ideas are a little different, but the whole concept of lucid dreaming is very similar and is a well worn road at this point. 

It wasn't the worst. But I struggle to see how they are gonna get a whole season out of this. I'm not really interested in seeing her go into a different dream every week and talk someone off the ledge. 

I'll give it the old 4 episode test though, if they can find a new angle it could be a good show. 

Edited May 31, 2018 by Maximum Taco

[JasmineFlower]

I love Sarah Shahi, but this isn't for me. I think they should have established why she'd even be willing do this since when she inquired about removing the implant they said it's basically permanent and could cause irreversible damage and she looked alarmed. Next scene, she's getting implanted, there was barely any consideration just because Dennis Haysbert mentions "reuniting families" and that's her weak spot? Makes no sense and even though the rest makes little sense either, I think starting off on this weak point is highly problematic.

The whole thing was just kinda weird and not fleshed out to me, though the second half made much more sense than the first, but that's a low bar. I kind of liked Sendhil's character, but this Lexi is one cold ass chick, basically willing to use anyone as an experiment to test the program and didn't care one bit about the consequences to the person, i.e. Sarah.  Her having some dead brother she modeled the AI after doesn't make her suddenly sympathetic either.

The imagery here is very interesting and pretty, but it's all a stretch to me and a good deal didn't make sense. And for a show with people trapped in their happiest memories, this sure had a depressing tone to it. Like I said, doesn't seem like it's the show for me.

I did manage to get through til the end and that was a good shocking ending more in line with what the commercials made this show seem like it would be, but I basically only stuck with it thanks to reading the EW review where they basically include a transcript of a live chat while watching this preview. In case anyone is interested http://ew.com/tv/2018/05/30/reverie-nbc-review/.  A better read for those who didn't like it or on the fence I'd say.

[Quilt Fairy]

Best line from that review:

Quote

Kristen: I couldn't understand this show LESS if it were in Esperanto

[Free]

26 minutes ago, JasmineFlower said:

And for a show with people trapped in their happiest memories, this sure had a depressing tone to it. Like I said, doesn't seem like it's the show for me.

Yeah, it's basically people trying to escape their problems, almost every character has some tragic backstory where they lost loved ones, based on the set up so far.

[bros402]

Well, it wasn't terrible, so there's that.

It seems like a show that would make a good miniseries, especially with the intrigue they are trying to inject with All State guy & mysterious investor (Sounds like they are affiliated wit the government?)

I hope that if it is between Reverie and Timeless, Timeless gets renewed.

[shapeshifter]

I fell asleep from about minutes 2-14 and didn't seem to have missed enough to go back and rewatch.

3 hours ago, Maximum Taco said:

I'm not really interested in seeing her go into a different dream every week and talk someone off the ledge. 

Not only not "interested in seeing her go into a different dream every week and talk someone off the ledge," but it felt like one of those dreams that you just want to end so you can go to the bathroom LOL. 
And as for:

3 hours ago, Maximum Taco said:

 if they can find a new angle it could be a good show

I usually hate those other "angle"/series-long arcs with some psycho nemesis like Red John or whatever it was in PoI of which I didn't watch more than a couple of episodes. I liked Shahi in Life, but hated the revenge plot in that one too. Why couldn't they have just had Damian Lewis enjoy fresh fruit, yoga, being free, plus his million bucks—which is more than most wrongfully convicted get.
And with Reverie, I don't even care for the main gimmick. It's like M.C. Escher meets LSD meets PhotoShop meets some chase scene—and then I'm waiting for the bathroom/snack break again, LOL.

 I have to admit the effects were well done, and I like the 3 leads we're familiar with, but episode 2 is going to have to be better than I'm expecting at this point, and that 3rd hour of prime time is often when sleep takes over—without reveries. So maybe 1 or 2 stars out of 4 or 5.

[Maximum Taco]

10 hours ago, Free said:

Yeah, it's basically people trying to escape their problems, almost every character has some tragic backstory where they lost loved ones, based on the set up so far.

It feels like this show would be better as an episode of Black Mirror, instead of a series all it's own. I'd totally watch a Black Mirror with this concept of getting trapped in a program that lets you live your fantasies. Although you could argue they already did something like that.

Spoiler

I guess it might be kinda similar to San Junipero, but they could give it a different tilt easily. 

 

 

9 hours ago, forumfish said:

I haven't seen Sendhil Ramamurthy in anything since Covert Affairs, so it's always nice to see his pretty face.

Sendhil Ramamurthy's voice always has sounded really nice to me, I wish he did audiobook narration, I'd love to listen to him read me a story. 

Edited May 31, 2018 by Maximum Taco

[luvapickle]

Seems like Inception meets Falling Water.  Not bad, but it's only the first episode.  Surprised to see Kathryn Morris in it. I miss Cold Case. 

[tennisgurl]

I liked it, at least enough to give it a try for a few more episodes to see where it goes. I really like the cast, made up of a bunch of actors I've liked in a lot of other things, and the concept has some potential. The visuals look great, and I am interested in what the main character is seeing with the ghost of her dead niece. 

It has a lot of concepts that have been done before, but the reviews I've read have been favorable, and if it can find some interesting concepts beyond talking people off a dream ledge, I think this could be pretty good. I like that we dont really have a villain yet, and I hope they stick with that for awhile. No need to bring in some evil corporation (if the one we know isnt already evil) or dream hoping serial killer, I think it could work as a way to just explore this technology and do some character stuff. 

I hope this show succeeding doesn't mean the end of Timeless, as I think the shows could happily co-exist. 

[Anakerie]

I just keep expecting Dennis H. to keep trying to sell the customers insurance before they go into Reverie. 

[Loandbehold]

8 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I liked it, at least enough to give it a try for a few more episodes to see where it goes. I really like the cast, made up of a bunch of actors I've liked in a lot of other things, and the concept has some potential. The visuals look great, and I am interested in what the main character is seeing with the ghost of her dead niece. 

I agree. I've loved SS since Life, and even Alias before that, albeit in a much smaller part. 

One little thing I liked was when SS's character promised the daughter that she "would do everything she could do" to get dad back. No guarantee. I hate when cops/superheros/whomever say not to worry b/c they'll get the bad guy and return the hostage to the loving arms of the family. 

[Camera One]

I tuned in because I liked the actress on "Person of Interest".  I thought this pilot was mildly engaging, enough for me to watch another.  The strength is the main character.  She's likeable and it was a nice feel-good episode.  The concept is intriguing, though I didn't feel like we saw much of that man's dream world since he identified her as an intruder right away.  I would have preferred if she could blend in and do some leg-work without the person being immediately alerted.  

I also liked that there wasn't any villain, though I'm assuming that government lady at the end has ulterior motives for the project.  None of the supporting characters stood out to me... that guy from "Heroes" acted just like he did on that show, as did President Palmer from "24".  I also wasn't that keen on the ghost niece.  

Given the ratings weren't good, I probably should have waited for the entire run and avoid it if it got cancelled.  I don't really want to get invested in a doomed show.  Unless they wrap the story up, but these types of shows always seem to end in a cliffhanger just in case they get a second season.

[LittleIggy]

“Paul” is super hot! ? Enough to keep me watching.

[Anela]

I like the main actors, and have been looking forward to this since last year. I'm tired of the, "They couldn't help their own family, so they became something or stopped being someone" thing, though. I also remember SS playing a similar character in Life (which I loved, when I finally watched it on Netflix). 

[Maverick]

As someone who thinks too much about TV shows, several things bugged me.  What's the deal with  Reverie?  Is it a widely/commercially available program?  The developer mentions that 7 people are a "fraction of a fraction" so there must be a lot of people using it.  If something like this became publicly available everyone would have heard of it but yet the friend was clueless.   And it would surely be expensive--like way more than a first gen HD TV or original BetaMax.   So how did the guy who couldn't afford health insurance get it?   If the program is still in testing, that's a huge testing pool again based on the fraction comment.   And whether it's a production product or in testing (best especially the latter) my biggest question is:  aren't these people doing any psych testing?   You create a virtual world where someone can make any fantasy come true, live without pain or fear and bring back the dead and it never once occurs to to you that someone might want to stay in the program rather than return to real life?  That's just ignorant.  

[oompa]

Didn't win me over, but I'll give it a few more episodes. I'll watch almost anything that is Sci-Fi related.

Why do I get the feeling someone was watching Westworld and thought that 'reverie' was a cool word? "We should totally make a show called Reverie!"

[Enigma X]

I watched but doubt I will keep watching.

[AngelKitty]

This reminds me of Ghost Whisperer.

[Cranberry]

Finally got around to watching this. It wasn't bad. I think they could do some neat stuff with different people's Reveries, especially if some people get better at manipulating the program to do "impossible" things. The show looks like it'll have a blend of serialized and procedural elements, which I tend to enjoy. I'll keep watching, but I don't really expect this to catch on, and won't be too disappointed if it doesn't.

[tessaray]

Not a terrible start for a summer series but honestly, I kind of expected more considering the cast. Still, the visuals were pretty and the non-VR  mystery might be interesting if they take it up a few notches. Soon.    

[Nessie]

I liked it enough and I'm in for as long as it lasts.  I've always been interested in the concept of lucid dreaming, and I'm interested enough to see where this is going.  Plus, Sendhil Ramamurthy will be back on my TV screen, which is always a bonus, IMO.

Charlie told Mara (yes, I had to look up their names) that the reveries are constructed out of the subject's social media, right?  So I guess people like me, who have virtually no SM presence, are screwed?  I really don't want to end up back in high school because a bunch of people have tagged me in old pics.  Maybe I would be in my favorite TV show from commenting on and liking posts here on PTV (both an intriguing and somewhat frightening thought!)?  Hopefully they wouldn't use my PTV avatar and land me in Loch Ness...LOL

Edited June 4, 2018 by Nessie
just cleaned up a couple of things that bothered me because I can be fussy like that.

[Loandbehold]

1 hour ago, Nessie said:

Hopefully they wouldn't use my PTV avatar and land me in Loch Ness...LOL

The possibilities are endless. You might never want to leave the lake, er, loch. 

I agree that while they're likely going to do weekly procedural stories, they're going to need to up the serialized elements in the next one or two episodes. 

[Netfoot]

1 hour ago, Nessie said:

Hopefully they wouldn't use my PTV avatar and land me in Loch Ness...LOL

Visited Loch Ness last year!  And something disturbed the surface of the water . . .

I think the real story here will be the serialized arc.  Dark secrets about Reverie are obviously going to come out, and Alexis strikes me as just loony-tunes enough to be responsible for some of the worst of the weird shit.  The question is:  which of the others is with her?

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Nessie said:

Charlie told Mara (yes, I had to look up their names) that the reveries are constructed out of the subject's social media, right?  So I guess people like me, who have virtually no SM presence, are screwed?  I really don't want to end up back in high school because a bunch of people have tagged me in old pics.  Maybe I would be in my favorite TV show from commenting on and liking posts here on PTV (both an intriguing and somewhat frightening thought!)?  Hopefully they wouldn't use my PTV avatar and land me in Loch Ness...LOL

Good point.
Not only would it not work for those off the social media grid, but that concept could turn off viewers who can't imagine sharing all that personal stuff with the world.

And the writers would at least need a throwaway nerd line about some algorithm that corrects for the documented fact that the vast majority of people only show their best selves online.

Kudos for the Pilot already having the bit about the butterflies being misinterpreted by the software.
But I still don't think this show is gonna float my boat.

[tessaray]

6 hours ago, Nessie said:

Charlie told Mara (yes, I had to look up their names) that the reveries are constructed out of the subject's social media, right?  So I guess people like me, who have virtually no SM presence, are screwed?  I really don't want to end up back in high school because a bunch of people have tagged me in old pics.  Maybe I would be in my favorite TV show from commenting on and liking posts here on PTV (both an intriguing and somewhat frightening thought!)?  Hopefully they wouldn't use my PTV avatar and land me in Loch Ness...LOL

I thought they said something about scanning in photos, videos and voice messages.  SM would be the source of some but not necessarily all of it.  

Leaving aside all the implausible aspects of the Reverie system (and there were a lot), it seems like one giant privacy violation. In order to create an effective simulation, you'd end up programming in a lot of real people who wouldn't have a clue they were being used like this. 

[Clanstarling]

On 5/30/2018 at 9:26 PM, Maximum Taco said:

It's an interesting concept, but it feels like this ground has been tread nearly a decade ago by Inception. Sure the ideas are a little different, but the whole concept of lucid dreaming is very similar and is a well worn road at this point.

So is time travel has been done to death too - and yet I at least watch the first episode of every time travel show. I'm lukewarm on this one so far, but I personally think lucid dreaming has a lot of possibilities. Though, like you, I did think of Black Mirror when the show opened, especially when they got to the social media part. There are at least two episodes that are at least tangentially similar to the story in this one.

On 5/31/2018 at 8:10 PM, Loandbehold said:

One little thing I liked was when SS's character promised the daughter that she "would do everything she could do" to get dad back. No guarantee. I hate when cops/superheros/whomever say not to worry b/c they'll get the bad guy and return the hostage to the loving arms of the family. 

Me too. I was pleasantly surprised and was already preparing to hear the guarantee - which I hate on tv and in real life.

[Maximum Taco]

23 hours ago, Nessie said:

I liked it enough and I'm in for as long as it lasts.  I've always been interested in the concept of lucid dreaming, and I'm interested enough to see where this is going.  Plus, Sendhil Ramamurthy will be back on my TV screen, which is always a bonus, IMO.

Charlie told Mara (yes, I had to look up their names) that the reveries are constructed out of the subject's social media, right?  So I guess people like me, who have virtually no SM presence, are screwed?  I really don't want to end up back in high school because a bunch of people have tagged me in old pics.  Maybe I would be in my favorite TV show from commenting on and liking posts here on PTV (both an intriguing and somewhat frightening thought!)?  Hopefully they wouldn't use my PTV avatar and land me in Loch Ness...LOL

 

Your family could probably provide them with e-mails and pictures and texts and whatever (assuming they could get your password or your phone or whatnot) or even notes or a journal you write on *shudder* paper. I mean they don't have to respect your privacy anymore, you're dead (I'm assuming). But if you stay totally off the grid, then yeah, they're pretty much screwed. 

I don't think you need to worry about "ending up back in highschool" because of old pics though. For one I'm sure the date would be taken into account. For two, it seems social media retrieval in this case is more to give a sense of personality. It'll help create a virtual approximation of you that is interested in the same things the real you was. If you post a lot about baseball, they'll make sure the virtual you is similarly interested in that, for example. 

Edited June 4, 2018 by Maximum Taco

[Adira]

I liked it.  I like Shahi in everything.  Although it wasn't really clear why Mara took the job when she apparently had a decent teaching job already.  Especially since she still has her demons for not being about to succeed negotiating with her brother-in-law, I'm surprised she'd put herself in a position to do more negotiating.  Though I guess seeing the abandoned kid pulled at her heart strings and maybe the idea of being able to reunite families after her own family tragedy was a strong pull?

Big fan of the end where she saw a glimpse of her niece!  Is she still dreaming??

[Machiabelly]

On 02/06/2018 at 7:43 AM, AngelKitty said:

This reminds me of Ghost Whisperer.

That's exactly what I said to my wife. And we stuck with that to the end. 

[thuganomics85]

I totally forgot this has premiered days ago and finally got around to it.  I knew that Sarah Shahi and Dennis Haysbert were going to be in this, but Sendhil Ramamurthy was a pleasant surprise as well.

Overall, it was fine for a summer show, I guess, although I hope they go more into the concept of "Reverie" in future episodes, because I still have a lot of questions about the concept and how it even works.  Also, it feels like almost every character has some kind of dark secret.  Paul and the lady (creator?) hiding something from everyone else.  Dennis Haysbert secretly working with Kathryn Morris, who is apparently in the government.  And Shahi's character hiding that she saw her dead niece in the "dream" and she'll probably hide that she is now seeing her in real life.  Just talk, people!

I did like that it was directed by the same guy who did some of the best "Liam Neeson action movies" (Run All Night, Nonstop, etc.)  On the other hand, the last show I saw that was created by Mickey Fisher was Extant, which went off the rails in the second season.

It is funny that I'm currently rewatching Person of Interest at the moment too, so it took a while getting use to Sarah Shahi emotionally connecting to people.  Shaw totally would just roll her eyes, dive into the dream, and try and drag the guy out.  All while Finch is regretting ever sending her on the mission!

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, thuganomics85 said:

I totally forgot this has premiered days ago and finally got around to it.  I knew that Sarah Shahi and Dennis Haysbert were going to be in this, but Sendhil Ramamurthy was a pleasant surprise as well.

...

I did like that it was directed by the same guy who did some of the best "Liam Neeson action movies" (Run All Night, Nonstop, etc.)  On the other hand, the last show I saw that was created by Mickey Fisher was Extant, which went off the rails in the second season.

 

I always have to get over Heroes whenever I see Sendhil - but that's probably because I haven't seen him as a regular character on anything else. He is nice to look at though.

I thought Extant was pretty wobbly the first season, and didn't watch the second. Which was too bad, because I thought the idea was good. Of course, my dislike was based on one lead's acting which I thought was terrible (and I'm generally not a harsh critic when it comes to acting).

[Dowel Jones]

8 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

but Sendhil Ramamurthy was a pleasant surprise as well.

So you made it all the way through the training, then?

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I always have to get over Heroes whenever I see Sendhil

Heh, whenever I see Sendhil Ramamurthy, my mind skips past his pretty face and goes straight to that point in Heroes in which his character seemed to me to become a total homage to Jeff Goldblum's The Fly.

[shapeshifter]

Quote

Mara tries to help a client who becomes addicted to a "Jane Bond" adventure; Mara deals with the unanticipated side effects of Reverie.

I was totally unimpressed with the pilot, but at least this sophomore episode has a cute title.

Edited June 6, 2018 by shapeshifter
Caps

[Clanstarling]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Heh, whenever I see Sendhil Ramamurthy, my mind skips past his pretty face and goes straight to that point in Heroes in which his character seemed to me to become a total homage to Jeff Goldblum's The Fly.

Aw man, I'd managed to block that out of my mind! LOL

[Enigma X]

Whenever I see any former castmember from Heroes, I lament on how my must-see TV show became a hot pile of hot garbage. Milo and Adrian have finally gotten me past some of the sadness with good roles elsewhere. I digress though.

[Clanstarling]

1 hour ago, Enigma X said:

Whenever I see any former castmember from Heroes, I lament on how my must-see TV show became a hot pile of hot garbage. Milo and Adrian have finally gotten me past some of the sadness with good roles elsewhere. I digress though.

Same here.

[Lily H]

I loved it. Which means that it's sure to be cancelled sooner rather than later. It's visually stunning and there's a creepy mystery underneath it all. Most important, there was nothing to watch on Wednesdays, and now there is.

[bros402]

This episode was okay I guess?

[janeta]

Yes, this ep seemed a bit better.  Hope the trend continues (even though i still expect it to be three and out). 

[lion10]

Kind of a boring episode, we're not given a whole lot of reasons to care about Molly besides she's "broken".  Maybe the plan is to show a few episodes of normal procedural work before the Reverie program goes off the rails?  Because I think right now I'm more interested in what happens with the AI and Mara's hallucinations of her dead niece than "rescue a patient" every week plot.  

Next week's episode looks really interesting though.

[Free]

3 minutes ago, lion10 said:

Kind of a boring episode, we're not given a whole lot of reasons to care about Molly besides she's "broken".  Maybe the plan is to show a few episodes of normal procedural work before the Reverie program goes off the rails?  Because I think right now I'm more interested in what happens with the AI and Mara's hallucinations of her dead niece than "rescue a patient" every week plot.  

It's possible, some shows start out being more proceduralish before becoming more serialized.