neXt (2020)

Clever, a bit frightening and a whole lot of fun, “Next” is a show that wonderfully balances our own trepidations when it comes to technology with deft storytelling.

Slattery elevates the pulp melodrama with crisp, ironic detachment. [12 - 25 Oct 2020, p.9]

I thought it was great. Lively writing in an entertaining, network-quality serial thriller about artificial intelligence running amok. John Slattery — pitch-perfect casting.

The techno-thriller plot is suitably involving, but it’s the evolving relationships between the characters that really have us keen to see what happens next on “neXt.”

It’s surprising “neXt” ends up with as much potential as it has. Clearly, no one has any idea what the coming months will bring, so the more that “neXt” sticks to what it can control, the better off it should fare.

So far, "NEXT" is kind of cool too. But the real challenge will be in sustaining this battle of humans against a machine, without taking a turn that careens off a cliff.

Slattery is fine in this bland AI thriller.

Despite its timely trappings, Next works best as an empty-calorie thriller, with plot points that only hold together if you don’t think about them too much.

“Next” finds smart ways to illustrate the full breadth of neXt’s capabilities. ... In these moments, “Next” becomes a surprisingly effective horror thriller, with each episode finding new ways to convey just how catastrophic this technology could be. It’s a shame, then, that “Next” isn’t this streamlined throughout. In its attempts to flesh out the world and characters it’s portraying, the show keeps throwing in more complications and backstory that threaten to swallow the rest of the stories whole.

The plotting is similar to “Little Shop of Horrors.” Just sub in a digital assistant for the talking plant (and remove songs). When the concept gets stretched to become a series, it loses steam fast.

Slattery’s presence makes it a watchable mess.

If it's a crazy artificial intelligence series you're looking for, hunt down Person of Interest, which at least figured a way to give its maniacal machine a personality and relatable decision making progress. Next is too much artificial, not enough intelligence.

Ultimately, when it’s not deadly dull, “Next” just doesn’t make sense.