Just finished season two of Altered Carbon and my thoughts on it are still fresh and unfinished. It was really good, and a bit of a throw back to “hard R” sci-fi of the 80’s and early 90’s. (Think Robocop and Total Recall.)
In fact, if I was 14, I think think this would be my favorite show and I wouldn’t be able to shut up about it. As it stands, it’s very interesting to me how it approaches its place in sci-fi. I’ve read the first two books – the second of which this show totally ignores – and I would say they play very loose with their cyberpunk trappings.
Not so with the show. It has cranked up the Cyberpunk themes about as high as they will go. It is much more interested with social unrest, dehumanization, and how its technology actually works. These things were absolutely in the original novel but first and foremost that was a detective story. So seeing the show as a true interpretation and not a pale recreation is the main draw for me.
Also, given the state of things, there was some catharsis in seeing these themes played up more.