Solos review : Seven mind-boggling sci-fi episodes rooted in the human need for companionship and connection

Though Solos does rely heavily on the success of anthologies like Black Mirror and Love, Death and Robots to appeal to audiences who have already dabbled in the genre, the star-studded cast and the inventive writing in this series set it apart,

Solos

On the surface, Solos is an anthology series that combines sci-fi with the inherent need of humans to feel something. Six mind-boggling episodes boil down to the last, starring Morgan Freeman, that makes you realize that perhaps the series is not as independent in each episode as you thought.

Created by David Weil, the series features one running theme throughout the narratives of different characters whose journeys have been poles apart - the human need for companionship, and connection. Some stories find themselves leaning towards the importance of family, like Leah (Anne Hathaway) in Zach Braff's directorial or Tom (Anthony Mackie) in Weil's story. Leah is a genius, a physicist who is trying to travel to the future while looking after her mother, the love of her life, who suffers from ALS. When she finally makes a breakthrough, she finds her future self tricking her. Hathaway's charged performance complements the intensity of the scenes that follow - Leah's motivation to travel to the future is not to save her precious mother, but to skip the days leading up to her death which have hampered her progress.

In the second episode, we find Tom who is nearing his last days because of his lymphoma. He sees an ad that changes his life - futuristic technology allows him to clone himself and fill the void he will leave in the heart of his family when he dies. Initially, Tom hates who has appeared in front of him but as he tearfully recollects the little things about his family that he is going to miss, he realizes that perhaps the man sitting in front of him is not all that bad. Through Leah and Tom, Solos knits together stories of science fiction which are so rooted in a human's love for their family that for a moment, you'll forget that they're set in a completely different universe.

Helen Mirren's Peg is one of the best performances in the anthology series. Her portrayal of a woman who has forever found herself on the sidelines, whose life has passed her by without having formed a single meaningful relationship, whose introverted need for not wanting to be a bother has overshadowed the opportunities life has presented to her, will strike a chord in the hearts of the audience. Her sheer dismay at having lived her golden years with no impact, only to face the despondency that senior citizens experience when they find their importance in society dwindling will resonate even with those teenagers, who just like Peg, feel like fillers in a conversation.

Second only to Mirren's portrayal is Constance Wu's Jenny. Our first look at Jenny leaves us confused, for she seems to be waiting and cannot quite remember why. But this doesn't faze her - she chirpily provides information about her husband (who she doesn't really seem to like that much), her gorgeous neighbour who she had a crush on, and her state of disarray after being trapped in the waiting room for two whole days. Soon, her happy exterior fades away, and the jarring truth of what she has done comes to light. She is a memory donor who has accidentally killed Tyler, her neighbour's son. Tyler was her only friend, the only one who seemed to see her for who she was in the midst of her struggle with infertility and her loveless marriage. Wu's cries on recalling her memory are haunting.

The perils of a world where technology slowly takes over and kills a human's natural instinct to know what is real and what isn't is echoed in Uzo Aduba's Sasha. She is terrified of leaving her home where she has lived for the last 20 years in an attempt to escape the pandemic. Sasha is certain that her home bot's attempts to make her see the outside world are drenched in malice till the very end, but is horrified to find out that she is the only one still stuck indoors even after the pandemic ended. This episode is one that is most relatable due to its setting and Aduba's anxiety of having to face the outdoors.

The series comes full circle in the last two episodes, where we find Nicole Beharie's Nera heavily pregnant with a child that seems to have been conceived by technological advancements. When the child starts to grow at an unnatural rate, Nera is left to protect herself in the middle of a snow storm. Ultimately, the plots of all six episodes are tied together by Morgan Freeman's Stuart who is struggling with dementia. However, a startling truth comes to light in this episode that leaves us in awe of the vision of Weil in Solos.

Though Solos does rely heavily on the success of anthologies like Black Mirror and Love, Death and Robots to appeal to audiences who have already dabbled in the genre, the star-studded cast and the inventive writing in this series set it apart. Weil has successfully stuck by the genre while pushing the boundaries of what anthologies are known to be in Solos.

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