Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

In many ways I feel this should be the show for these times. It delves into people's obsession with conspiracy, entitlement, projecting one's values upon others and fanatacism, while facing the fears of a pandemic.. The first episode had me hooked. An unpublished sequel to a prophetic graphic novel has been discovered and is put on the collectors market. Friends from an internet fan group meet to collectively try to obtain this unpublished work, to further their adventure in figuring out what future crisis will be predicted. This is a fascinating concept, but as the series progresses it loses magic along the way. I really enjoyed the concept of a prophetic graphic novel, with clues to future crisis. I like it's puzzle solving aspect and the questioning of sanity that occurs when one metaphorically enters a rabbit hole. The more the series goes on, the manuscript becomes more of a Mcguffin, and less of a puzzle or road map. This should be expected to a degree as the fictional world they're investigating appears to have real world consequences, but the real world consequences quickly ruthlessly dominate and the mysteries become more tedious than enticing. Part of the magic in the first episodes is the chemistry of this group of comic book geeks discovering true friendship among their internet aquaintences, this quickly devolves though as they find themselves wrapped in a real world conspiracy with dangerous consequences. It's hard to talk about much of this without giving things away, but as the group gets to know the real world version of the hero of the graphic novel, it's a real disappointment. This should have intensified the viewers investment, but for me it was a major let down, because she had no more idea what was going on than anyone else, and is utterly unsympathetic, with no more insight into her life than her fans. Her introduction stifles the dynamic of the group and really the group becomes more or less irrelevant to the story as is the fictional graphic novel that brought everyone together in the first place. Once it was clear the "hero" did little more than take the story from likable characters I was already invested in, I just wanted to know what the motives of the bad guys were, and it took several more episodes to get a disappointing answer. I feel the meeting with this character happened way too soon, and there really wasn't time for their group or the viewer to appreciate how their lives as they knew them were over. I think if the entire series lived up to the first episode, this would be a new favorite, but as it goes along it gets less credible, less magical and follows less sympathetic characters more. By the end, I just wanted it over. I realize how negative this sounds, but it is very well done and introduces pretty fascinating ideas. I feel the opening credits are smarter than most documentaries these days. I'm largely just frustrated because this is close to genius, but falls short in very annoying ways. I do recommend it though