Madison Meeks – Media Director 

mvm7037@psu.edu

Spoiler Alert

Virtual reality, science fiction, “The Peripheral”. “The Peripheral” is a science fiction show created by Jonathon Nolan, the creator of HBO’s “Westworld”. The show is being released on Amazon Prime Video and premiered on October 21, 2022. “The Peripheral” is based on the book of the same name by William Gibson. The show features Chloë Grace Mortez, Jack Reynor, Gary Carr, JJ Feild, T’Nia Miller, Louis Herthum, Katie Leung, Melinda Page Hamilton, Chris Coy, Alex Hernandez, Julian Moore-Cook, Adelind Horan, Austin Rising, Eli Goree, and Charlotte Riley. 

“The Peripheral” starts in London in 2099 with a guy named Wilf sitting on a bench at a park. Wilf is talking to Aelita, played by Charlotte Riley. The two are talking about how Aelita had saved Wilf’s life. She says that she is going to save the world. Is Aelita an android? The whole conversation makes it seem like she could be an android because she saved Wilf’s life and is only a young kid. The setting of the show is kind of confusing because it switches from 2099 to 2032 without saying anything about what the current time is. 

The show then switches to 2032. The audience meets a woman named Flynn, played by Chloë Grace Mortez. She is taking care of her bedridden mother, while her brother Burton is living in a trailer playing virtual reality games. This scene is the first introduction to the virtual reality topic of the show. It is revealed that both Flynn and Burton test video games to be able to live and afford their mother’s medical expenses. Flynn works at a 3-D printing company where she has to scan her eyeball to be able to take a package that was sent to her work for her brother. 

It is revealed that Burton was hired to test a beta version of a new VR game. The deal with him playing the game is that the more that they play the game the more money they will receive. Burton then asks Flynn for help because she is said to be a better gamer than he is. After she puts on the headset, a voice takes her through the game. At the end of the game, a woman tells Flynn that she will resume the mission tomorrow. When she comes back to reality, she feels sick. It is revealed that VR causes physical effects, not just mental effects. This is the first time that it is shown that the game might be more of an impact on Flynn’s dark future. 

When she is working she receives a message from Wilf saying that she is in danger and she must go play the game again. She tells him not to contact her again. Flynn then finds out that the danger is that they are going to be ambushed at the house. After the fight, Flynn heads back to the simulator game and talks to Wilf. He reveals that the simulator is not a game but a time machine that sends them 70 years into the future. She tries to tell Burton but he does not believe her. She then meets with Wilf and the rest of the mysterious people again and demands that her mother be cured. Later, Flynn’s mother reveals that she can see again. 

While “The Peripheral” is difficult to follow in the first episode, it becomes easier to follow in later episodes. The show seems like it is going to be interesting so far. There are so many questions that the show needs to answer for the rest of the season. “The Peripheral” is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video with episodes released every Friday till December 2, 2022.