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This review may contain spoilers
It was all in his head
If you don’t recognize my profile picture, Ms. Minutes, you should know I have a deep appreciation for time-travel narratives and the intricate storytelling they can achieve. This series certainly set out to explore those complexities, but in execution, the timeline is poorly conveyed and often frustratingly incoherent.
Episodes 1 - 4 leave the audience in the dark about a crucial narrative device: Great’s dual timelines. In one, he saves people using his four-minute vision; in the other, he does not. The reveal comes far too late, and by that point I was more mentally exhausted than intrigued. To make matters worse, the show frequently shuffles scenes that take place before Dome’s death and after, a disorienting choice that dilutes emotional impact. And then, in episode 7, we learn that none of it “actually” happened. It was all in Great’s head. It happened when he was coding during 4 minutes lack of oxygen. There was no seeing the future 4 minutes ahead...NOTHING! That revelation undermines the tension built up across the earlier episodes.
There are also narrative threads that feel like they don't belong to neither timeline. For example, the woman at the temple who shakes a fortune-telling bowl before inexplicably hiring a hitman. Or the hooded figure who stoned to death someone with no identity revealed. Or the unseen character who secretly records Title and Great disposing of Dome’s body, only to discard the evidence in the mud rather than hand it to police. Even more glaring is the disappearance of Title’s supposed girlfriend, who is introduced only to be erased from the story as if she never existed. Aslo, we do not know who killed Title's Dad, the Police Chief.
Most troubling is Tyme’s storyline. His parents and grandmother were brutally murdered, yet there is no real closure. The man who killed them ends up bedridden and incapacitated (NOT by Tyme but by his occupational hazard. he was badly beaten by some random guy and ended up in ICU), but Great’s parents who were deeply complicit in the killings escape accountability entirely. This lack of resolution is disappointing, especially when Tyme’s grief and quest for justice were positioned as the emotional backbone of the series.
When you consider it, more than half of the series’ events never “happened.” That choice robs the story of consequence and leaves major arcs unresolved. I will give credit where it is due: the cinematography, lighting, editing, and performances were consistently strong. The production design deserves recognition as well. But in the end, I walked away unsatisfied. The series promised a layered time-travel narrative, yet delivered a disjointed and incomplete experience.
Episodes 1 - 4 leave the audience in the dark about a crucial narrative device: Great’s dual timelines. In one, he saves people using his four-minute vision; in the other, he does not. The reveal comes far too late, and by that point I was more mentally exhausted than intrigued. To make matters worse, the show frequently shuffles scenes that take place before Dome’s death and after, a disorienting choice that dilutes emotional impact. And then, in episode 7, we learn that none of it “actually” happened. It was all in Great’s head. It happened when he was coding during 4 minutes lack of oxygen. There was no seeing the future 4 minutes ahead...NOTHING! That revelation undermines the tension built up across the earlier episodes.
There are also narrative threads that feel like they don't belong to neither timeline. For example, the woman at the temple who shakes a fortune-telling bowl before inexplicably hiring a hitman. Or the hooded figure who stoned to death someone with no identity revealed. Or the unseen character who secretly records Title and Great disposing of Dome’s body, only to discard the evidence in the mud rather than hand it to police. Even more glaring is the disappearance of Title’s supposed girlfriend, who is introduced only to be erased from the story as if she never existed. Aslo, we do not know who killed Title's Dad, the Police Chief.
Most troubling is Tyme’s storyline. His parents and grandmother were brutally murdered, yet there is no real closure. The man who killed them ends up bedridden and incapacitated (NOT by Tyme but by his occupational hazard. he was badly beaten by some random guy and ended up in ICU), but Great’s parents who were deeply complicit in the killings escape accountability entirely. This lack of resolution is disappointing, especially when Tyme’s grief and quest for justice were positioned as the emotional backbone of the series.
When you consider it, more than half of the series’ events never “happened.” That choice robs the story of consequence and leaves major arcs unresolved. I will give credit where it is due: the cinematography, lighting, editing, and performances were consistently strong. The production design deserves recognition as well. But in the end, I walked away unsatisfied. The series promised a layered time-travel narrative, yet delivered a disjointed and incomplete experience.
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