# Devs Review: Alex Garland’s Quiet Tech Thriller Nobody Watched
Right, let’s talk about the science fiction show everyone should’ve been discussing but somehow missed entirely. Logan here, and I need to settle something that’s been bothering me since March 2020. While everyone was losing their minds over whatever superhero nonsense was dominating streaming services, Alex Garland quietly released the most sophisticated piece of science fiction television in years, and barely anyone noticed. Devs premiered on March 5, 2020 on FX on Hulu (Wikipedia), right when the world was shutting down, which explains part of why it got buried. But that doesn’t excuse how little attention this got from the sci-fi community.
Created by Alex Garland (IMDb), the guy who gave us Ex Machina and Annihilation, Devs is a limited series (TVMaze) that tackles free will and determinism (Wikipedia) with the kind of intellectual rigour most television wouldn’t dare attempt. This isn’t science fiction as window dressing for generic thriller plots. This is proper speculative fiction that uses its central premise to explore fundamental questions about consciousness, choice, and the nature of reality itself.
The show follows Lily Chan, a software engineer at Amaya, a quantum computing company run by Forest, a tech CEO obsessed with building a machine that can simulate any moment in history with perfect accuracy. When Lily’s boyfriend Sergei gets recruited to the secretive Devs division and then mysteriously dies, Lily’s investigation uncovers a project that challenges everything we think we know about free will and predetermined fate.
| Creator | Alex Garland |
| Network | FX on Hulu |
| Year Released | 2020 |
| Episodes | 8 |
| Genre | Philosophical Sci-Fi Thriller |
| Our Rating | 9/10 |
## Determinism vs Free Will: The Core Philosophical Engine
Here’s where Devs separates itself from every other tech thriller pretending to be deep. The show doesn’t just name-drop philosophical concepts, it builds its entire narrative around the tension between determinism and free will. The Devs machine can simulate any moment in the past or future with perfect accuracy because, according to the show’s premise, the universe operates according to strict physical laws. If you know the position and momentum of every particle in the universe, you can calculate exactly what will happen next.
Forest believes this completely. He’s constructed the machine to prove that free will is an illusion, that every choice we think we’re making was predetermined from the moment of the Big Bang. The implications are staggering, and Garland doesn’t shy away from exploring them. If everything is predetermined, do we bear moral responsibility for our actions? If the future is fixed, what’s the point of trying to change anything?
The genius of the show is how it makes these abstract philosophical questions concrete and personal. Forest isn’t building this machine out of academic curiosity. He’s trying to resurrect his dead daughter, to find a timeline where she’s still alive, or at least to watch her live again in perfect simulation. The quest for technological godhood becomes an expression of grief, and suddenly these heady concepts about determinism become about a father’s inability to accept loss.
Lily’s journey works as the counterargument to Forest’s deterministic worldview. She keeps making choices that the machine says shouldn’t be possible, suggesting that maybe free will isn’t completely illusory. The show never settles this debate definitively, which is exactly right. These are questions philosophy has been grappling with for centuries. Garland respects both positions and lets the tension between them drive the entire series.
## Visual Language and Technical Achievement
Okay, look, this show is gorgeous in ways that most science fiction television doesn’t even attempt. The Devs facility looks like a temple dedicated to quantum computing, all clean lines and golden light, isolated in a redwood forest that feels both ancient and futuristic. The visual design reinforces the show’s thematic concerns about technology and nature, determinism and chaos, control and acceptance.
The machine itself is presented as something between cutting-edge technology and religious artefact. The golden cube housing the quantum computer sits in the centre of a chamber that looks more like a cathedral than a laboratory. Characters speak in hushed tones when they’re inside, as if they’re in the presence of something sacred. This isn’t accidental. Garland understands that for Forest and his team, this machine has become an object of worship, a technological god that can reveal absolute truth about the universe.
The simulation sequences are handled with remarkable restraint. When the machine shows historical events, Garland doesn’t give us Hollywood spectacle. Instead, we get grainy, almost documentary-style footage that feels authentic rather than manufactured. The past appears as it might actually look if captured by an impossible camera, complete with imperfections and uncertainties. This visual choice reinforces the show’s commitment to treating its premise seriously rather than as an excuse for flashy effects.
The sound design deserves particular mention. The Devs facility has this constant low hum that suggests immense computational power barely contained. When the machine runs simulations, the sound becomes almost overwhelming, a reminder of the massive forces being harnessed. It’s technical achievement in service of thematic resonance, which is exactly what science fiction television should be doing.
## Character Development Through Philosophical Crisis
Most shows would make Forest a straightforward villain, the tech billionaire whose hubris threatens humanity. Garland makes him something more complex: a grieving father whose pain has led him to pursue technological omniscience. Forest isn’t evil, he’s broken, and the machine represents his inability to accept that some things can’t be controlled or predicted. Nick Offerman plays him with quiet intensity, never overplaying the megalomaniac aspects but never letting us forget the obsession driving everything.
Lily works as our entry point into this world, but she’s not just audience surrogate. Her journey from software engineer to someone grappling with fundamental questions about reality and choice mirrors our own experience watching the show. She starts investigating Sergei’s death for personal reasons, but gradually realises she’s uncovered something that challenges her understanding of existence itself. Sonoya Mizuno brings real intelligence to the role, making Lily’s evolution feel earned rather than imposed.
The supporting characters aren’t just plot devices, they represent different philosophical positions within the show’s central debate. Katie, Forest’s second-in-command, believes in the machine’s deterministic vision but struggles with its implications. Lyndon represents scientific scepticism, questioning whether the machine is actually showing truth or just very convincing simulations. Each character embodies a different response to the possibility that free will might be an illusion.
What makes this work is how the philosophical crisis becomes personal for everyone involved. These aren’t just intellectual exercises, they’re questions that affect how these characters understand their own lives and choices. When you believe the future is predetermined, how do you continue making decisions? When you can see the past with perfect clarity, how do you process guilt or regret? The show makes these abstract concepts emotionally resonant.
## Technical World Building That Actually Makes Sense
Here’s something that drives me mad about most science fiction: the technology makes no sense, but we’re supposed to ignore that because it’s fictional. Devs doesn’t do this. Garland has clearly thought through how quantum computing might actually work, how massive parallel processing could simulate complex systems, what the limitations and possibilities of such technology might be.
The show doesn’t explain everything, but what it does explain feels grounded in genuine scientific principles. Quantum superposition allowing multiple calculations simultaneously. The massive computational requirements for accurate simulation. The way small measurement errors could propagate into complete simulation breakdown. These aren’t just technobabble, they’re logical constraints that drive plot developments and character decisions.
The company structure around the Devs project feels authentic too. Amaya operates like a real tech company, complete with corporate politics, competing development teams, and the kind of security protocols you’d expect around genuinely revolutionary technology. Forest’s ability to fund this massive project through his successful consumer-facing products provides economic grounding for the science fiction elements.
Most importantly, the show understands that advanced technology doesn’t exist in isolation. The Devs machine affects everyone who encounters it, from the engineers building it to the security teams protecting it to the government agents investigating it. Technology this powerful would have massive social and political implications, and Garland shows us how those ripple effects might actually play out.
## Cultural Context and Missed Opportunities
Devs arrived at exactly the right moment and somehow still got overlooked. March 2020 was when tech company power was becoming a dominant cultural concern, when questions about surveillance, data collection, and technological control were front and centre in public discourse. A show about a tech CEO building a machine that can see everything should have been perfect timing.
The show’s exploration of free will versus determinism feels particularly relevant in an era of algorithmic control and predictive systems. When recommendation engines predict our behaviour, when social media platforms shape our opinions, when artificial intelligence makes decisions about our lives, questions about choice and agency become urgent rather than abstract. Devs anticipated conversations we’re having now about AI capability and control.
But the show premiered on FX on Hulu (Metacritic) right as lockdowns began, which buried it under pandemic news and streaming service chaos. It’s the kind of sophisticated science fiction that requires attention and discussion to find its audience, and 2020 wasn’t providing either. The few people who found it loved it, but that wasn’t enough to break through into wider cultural consciousness.
This feels like a missed opportunity for the genre. Science fiction television needs shows like Devs that take ideas seriously, that use speculative elements to explore fundamental questions about existence and choice. Instead, most sci-fi TV gives us action-adventure stories with futuristic window dressing. Devs proved audiences can handle philosophical complexity if it’s presented with intelligence and visual flair.
## Why Devs Deserves Rediscovery
Look, I’ve been banging on about this show for three years now, and I’m not stopping. Devs represents everything science fiction television could be but rarely attempts: intellectually rigorous, visually stunning, philosophically ambitious, and emotionally resonant. It’s the kind of show that stays with you, that makes you question assumptions you didn’t even realise you held.
The series works on multiple levels simultaneously. As a corporate thriller about industrial espionage and tech company secrets. As a philosophical meditation on free will and determinism. As a character study about grief and obsession. As a speculation about where quantum computing might lead. Most shows struggle to work on one level convincingly. Devs succeeds on all of them.
What makes it essential viewing is how it uses its science fiction premise to explore questions that matter. We’re living through a period where technology increasingly shapes human behaviour and choice. Understanding whether we actually have free will, whether our decisions are truly our own, whether the future is fixed or malleable, these aren’t just academic exercises. They’re urgent questions about what it means to be human in a world of increasing technological control.
Devs won’t give you easy answers, but it will make you think harder about the questions. In a media landscape full of content designed to be consumed and forgotten, that’s bloody refreshing. This is science fiction that respects its audience enough to be challenging, and that’s exactly what the genre needs more of.
Logan lives in Minneapolis with too many consoles and just enough opinions. He explores how sci-fi plays differently across games, TV, and film—celebrating great world-building and calling out lazy tropes. Expect passionate takes, sarcasm, and the occasional Mass Effect reference.