Dope Thief

There are very few assignments that Apple TV will take on which they will not bring out with the utmost skill and delivery. I have always felt that the Apple Brand was associated with excellence and that the decision of Apple to make some inroads in the world of movies would further prove this fact. 

Dope thief is really a story about friendship and loyalty and yes betrayal as well. Two friends tied together at the hip meeting during their early years, victims of a system and failed state…not nation state and state in the US. Drawn together by troubles they are both involved in and whose friendship and bond will bind them together for the rest of their lives. 

You watch them deal with their past and the challenges of loving and living. One trying to piece together his past and future while healing the pain of his past. Relationship issues with a father who is incarcerated and an adopted mother who lives with him. His childhood friend in the meantime, struggles with an addiction as he manages a life with a lovely lady who is stuck between her love for him and this other guy who wants to take the role she believe is hers. 

Being stuck in a place that has no future and realizing your fate may be bound to this place, the desire to escape is universal but few will get to see it. These two then come up with a hustle that could be their way out of this cursed existence. 

As can be expected things go sideways. The rest of the show is a demonstration of resilience and the struggle to survive against all odds. It is about the triumph of the human spirit and the rescue of broken hearted men by simple acts of love. It is about people trying to prove that they have love even when they are so evidently broken. The show is delivered in a short 8 episodes but much of what has to be said is said. 

Thumbs up for me. 

Class of ‘09

Was looking for something great to post and then came across this gem. I watched it…no binged it a few weeks or months ago and enjoyed every bit of it…okay not so much the romance between the two ladies. Anyhow. 

Going with the theme of AI and Data, this is an appropriate series for watch. 

It is done in an interesting way featuring the cast in three major timelines past, present and future. 

Anyone who loves to see what it takes to become a Federal Agent will appreciate this show. There is a slight obsession with power for those who like these types of shows. Maybe it is the feeling you get when you walk into onto a crime scene and the cops have to make room: for you because it is a case that transcends borders and the local sheriff no longer has jurisdiction (at least the movies tell us this much). 

There is a story about how one person’s amazing attempt to stop crime through profiling and prediction goes all wrong. Maybe this is a look into the future with all the data that we are collecting and all the records that our systems have about people in our world. Maybe this is a conversations about the three strike rule (a law that punishes offenders if they commit crimes repeatedly and sets a limit to three-seemingly turning crime into a baseball game). 

The cast director was spot on in the choice of characters as were the actors in all the moral dilemmas they portray. 

My favorite and most troubling scene comes a little later in the show when a car is disabled remotely after some kind of violation. I guess it is not too sci-if given that this is possible with many cars today but transition from control to self-driving and then remote control is quite troubling. 

There are ways in which this show takes from some of the ideas in Eagle Eye at least in part with the immense power that is surrendered to the system when it takes over all operations and after some form of consciousness begins to make use of all devices with chips in them.