Anna Daniels
Altered Carbon season 1 is a gritty neo-noir tale set several centuries in the future where interstellar travel and immortality have been achieved. Human consciousness is now contained in small discs known as “stacks,” which, for those who can afford it, are moved between bodies or “sleeves” as the vessels age. In this future, humans have settled on planets beyond Earth, and are led by the Protectorate, a version of our modern United Nations that oversees life across several different worlds. The political body employs a force of elite interstellar soldiers known as the Colonial Tactical Assault Corp to maintain power. At the start of Altered Carbon season 1, Takeshi Kovacs, a private detective and former member of the highly trained and skilled rebel “envoys,” is downloaded into the body of police officer Elias Ryker (Joel Kinnaman) after being digitally imprisoned for 250 years for his role with an uprising against the Protectorate.
Revived by the wealthy and politically powerful Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy), Kovacs must solve the mystery of Bancroft’s own death. Bancroft died by suicide according to Bay City police lieutenant — and Ryker’s romantic partner — Kristin Ortega (Martha Higareda). But the “Meth” — a term for this future society’s wealthiest people — believes he’s been murdered, and hires Kovacs to track down his killer. The job sees the mercenary caught in a plot that connects Bancroft’s death to Kovacs’ sister Reileen (Dichen Lachman), a Russian mob, Kovacs’ lover Quell (Renée Elise Goldsberry), a tortured young woman name Lizzie (Hayley Law), a dead sex worker named Mary Lou (Lisa Chandler), and Resolution 653 (more on that in a bit). With the help of Ortega, Poe (Chris Conner), the A.I. who runs the Raven Hotel, and more, Kovacs slowed untangles a web of political corruption, familial betrayal, and death in an immortal society.
Written by: Looper
