As the first episode of The Peripheral begins, Wilf Netherton (Gary Carr) sits alone on a bench in London in 2099 as ships fire canons in front of him. Aelita West sits down next to him before she is asked what kind of mess she got herself into this time. She accuses him of getting her into the mess and admits she didn’t see him becoming the type of man who gets such dangerous friends. She talks about her shoes and how she doesn’t wear them. Aelita reminds him that she made a vow to save him when she found him. He thinks she did. She claims she is going to save the world before telling him goodbye. In the Blue Ridge Mountains in 2032, Flynne Fisher (Chloe Grace Moretz) checks on her mother and tells her that she made her a sandwich. She notices that some of her pills are missing. She gets upset and goes outside to confront Burton (Jack Reynor) who is playing video games in his camper.

Flynne wants to know why her mom’s last Tamosene is only ten milligrams and asks whether he has been slipping pills with their mom. Flynne asks for cash to replace the pills he has been swapping and stealing. Burton can get a thousand by making it to the next level and he thinks Flynne could help with that. He has something big coming tonight so they should have the rest tomorrow. As she takes the headset and controller, she is told that someone hired them to get him past level 20. Flynne takes over and begins playing with Reece and others. She quickly eliminates the enemies and finds the map that they were looking for. Flynne tells Burton that he can send the money to her phone because leaving. When she goes to the ATM, she asks Tommy Constantine (Alex Hernandez) about Homeland Security flagging every withdrawal. He thinks that is true since people only use cash for something funny nowadays.

They briefly talk about Flynne’s mommy because Tommy reveals he was dropping off an order for Dee Dee because they’re printing toppers for their wedding cake. She has to go help them out. At work, Billy Ann Baker (Adelind Horan) teases Flynne. Macon (Miles Barrow) interrupts to say he has Tommy’s order. He finds that the form was misread so they ordered two grooms and only one bride. He breaks one of them to solve the problem. Billy thinks Flynne is being wasted working here. She asks how much Burton gets paid jockeying for rich folks. Billy believes Flynne could earn even more if she uses his avatar and they don’t realize it is a girl doing it. Flynne says she is done with it because it isn’t real and this is the only world she has. Billy admits she would’ve wanted to know if someone had been puppy-eyed about her in the lead-up to marrying Jasper. Once Billy leaves, Flynne begins working and has a trash bag rip causing the contents to spill on the ground.

She takes the broken groom figurine back inside. Before long, Macon and his friend arrive with the new headset that Burton wants. She is told that something called Milagros Coldiron paid for it. It is a Colombian company although they don’t know much else about it. Flynne gets her eye scanned so she can take it before doing so later that night. Burton and Flynne check out the cutting-edge VR device. Burton reveals that they want him to beta test it for a lot of money so they’re in the clear for months. He is one of the few jockeys to reach the 100th level in Halcyon so that is why they picked him. He admits that someone else was playing as his avatar and she all the way to level 107. Although Flynne doesn’t want to get involved, Burton claims it is the only way they’re going to pay for their mom’s Tamosene. She learns that they’re paying for time on the clock so they’ll get more money for playing more. Flynne uses the headset and soon finds herself on a motorcycle in London.

She talks to a woman who asks if this is like the other sims. Flynne admits it isn’t because she can actually feel things. She is warned that she’ll feel pain too before the woman explains that she’ll tell her what to do. Once she arrives, she goes into the building and registers as Easy Ice. She soon learns that she is at a company party at Buckingham Palace for a company called RI. Flynne is asked who is the prettiest of them all before being encouraged to stay away from the Queen Bee. Once she finds Mariel Raphael (Poppy Corby-Tuech), she is told to convince this young woman to take her home. As Burton approaches her, Mariel tells him that it seems dodgy when you stare for too long. He quickly begins sweet talking her until she agrees to leave with him. Flynne is warned that the creature will kill her if she tries to harm Mariel. As they make out in the back of the car, the voice tells Flynne that she’ll find a glass ampoule in her pocket.

She is ordered to snap it open, hold it under Mariel’s nose, and pay close attention to her surroundings. Once she does it, she is attacked by the driver. The fight continues until the driver is finally killed. Flynne follows the orders of the voice and eventually meets with her. Aelita (Charlotte Riley) admits that he is her first polt. She asks whether it’d carry any weight if she told him that he wouldn’t exist in another decade. When Flynne asks what happens next, Aelita reveals it’ll be something eye-opening. She says they’ll continue this tomorrow before Flynne returns to reality. She tells Burton what it felt like and how it was weird being in his body. Burton says they want her back tomorrow and just bumped up the money. Flynne seems eager to continue doing it. When she stands up, she begins getting dizzy and nearly falls. Burton offers to ride over to Jimmy’s to get the rest of mommy’s drugs, but Flynne wants to do it so she can get some fresh air.

Once she arrives on her bike, Conner Penske (Eli Goree) is cut off since he has already had too much. He follows them outside where Flynne tries to buy Tamosene from Atticus (Harrison Gilbertson) and his friend. When Conner comes out, they laugh at him. Flynne only wants one pill and says she’ll get the rest tomorrow. Atticus doesn’t want to sell anything to her. Conner drives over and asks them to give her what she wants. Cash (Duke Davis Roberts) thinks a one-armed man would know when it is time to mind his business. Flynne tries to get Atticus and his friends to leave for their own good. She ends up getting the one pill. As Cash walks away with his pals, he tells Conner that they should’ve finished the job. Flynne tells Conner that he should come by sometime to see Burton. He agrees to help her get home since the battery on her bike is getting low. Back at Jimmy’s, Corbell Pickett (Louis Herthum) scolds Cash for bullying before slamming his face into the table.

Once Flynne returns, she looks in on Burton and notices the illuminating scars on his back as he grunts in pain. The next day, she thinks about her experience as Burton while trying to wash her mom’s hair. They talk about Billy Ann and how her Jasper is still messed up with Corbell. Ella tells her that Burton has been giving her his extra pills. Burton comes for her so they go outside to his camper. They talk about his haptics. She apologizes about the pills and reminds him that she is there if he ever wants to talk. Flynne thinks the company has a good thing going here and she is going to enjoy it while she can. This time, she finds herself restrained to a hospital gurney and unable to move. Aelita asks if she knows what enucleation means. He is about to receive Mariel’s blue eye. Aelita confesses that she may need to endure terrible pain in the coming hours, but it is for a noble cause. She wants Burton to discipline his mind and convince himself that all of this is imaginary.

Once she proves that she can control her heart, she is allowed to get some sleep. Once he wakes up, he realizes that his eye has been replaced. Aelita tells him that he is going to open some doors for her. Burton uses Mariel’s eye to get them access to a place that Aelita calls “infinity in the palm of your hand”. She claims it is a great gift she is giving him so she hopes he is worthy of it. Aelita asks if he is ready to lay claim to his destiny before forcing him to hold his eye to the reader. When a man arrives, Burton is tasked with killing him. The man quickly subdues Burton before attacking Aelita with a stun gun of sorts. Burton rips his hand out of the cuffs and finds out that he is a robot. Daniel shoots Burton with the gun when he stands up. They continue fighting until Burton is shot with the sonic gun causing Flynne to return to reality. She vomits before telling Burton that she’ll never do it again. Later, Billy visits her at home only to learn that she is going to call in sick.

While looking through her dresser, Billy finds the groom figurine that Flynne put back together. Flynne makes her give it back. They briefly talk about Tommy before Flynne tells her about the next sim she has been playing. She doesn’t understand why she’d be a machine underneath the skin. Flynne can’t help but think she was actually there and not just in another sim. Later, she gets a call from Wilf who tells her that she is in great danger and everything she believes about the headset is wrong. He wants her to log back into the sim, but Flynne hangs up on him. A police officer begins following two suspicious vehicles only to lose them a short time later. When he stops and gets out, he is confronted by a man with a gun who forces him to step into the road. The cop is hit by an invisible car. Odd things begin happening at Flynne’s workplace as Wilf begins encouraging her to sign back into the sim. He explains that a hit has been placed on her family on the dark web so they’re in danger.

The offer has been accepted by a party out of Memphis and they won’t be able to help unless she signs back into the sim. Leon (Austin Rising) talks to Burton about how Conner is going to leave Jimmy’s one night and not make it home. Reece reminds them that they had intel on the situation and didn’t tell Conner anything about it. Burton believes it was a little more complicated than that at the time. Flynne makes it back and tells Burton about the hit on them only for everyone to laugh at her. Burton says he’ll call them tomorrow and tells them to screw off. Burton’s friends try to convince him to take the threat seriously before he asks if they still have the drones. Flynne talks to her mom about Tommy. Once she puts her mom to bed, Flynne goes back outside where she learns that they’ve spotted people in the woods using the drones.

 

The Peripheral Review

The opening episode of The Peripheral establishes an interesting story based on the works of William Gibson. It is great that the series was actually filmed in the authentic Appalachian town of Marshall in North Carolina although that is pretty much where the similarities end. The main performers do well with the script. Jack Reynor may sound the most authentic of the bunch since the accent isn’t so forced and over-the-top, but more effort should’ve been made to bring in local talent to create a more authentic experience.

Some of the forced accents are exceptionally bad while others are noticeably hit-and-miss. This was only the first episode so there is still room to expand, but this doesn’t really feel like Appalachia for a number of reasons. The “simulation” scenes were more vast and exciting while the scenes in Flynne’s hometown were mostly limited to a few locations leading to a claustrophobic experience. The characters at home mostly came across as the typical hillbilly clichés so common in other projects since they were cartoonish.

The Peripheral can likely be successful if most of the time is spent exploring its futuristic world because the replication of Marshall they’ve created is drab, colorless, and unwelcoming. The episode count and episode runtime are concerning considering this episode felt a bit drawn out at points. The opening episode shows some promise, but it may have tampered with the source material a tad too much. It scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of The Peripheral can be found on Reel Mockery here.

Find out site helpful? Consider supporting our work by following this link.