Varun Patel
‘Devs’ is a science-based thriller that manages to intrigue viewers with its quick yet meditative pacing and an excellent exposition of both the futuristic technology at the heart of the story and the narrative. It is created, written, and directed by the exceptionally talented storyteller, Alex Garland of ‘Ex Machina’ fame after all.
Over the course of five episodes, ‘Devs’ has explored various cliches that arise with its murder-justice and David vs. Goliath premise. The mini-series uses the cliches to subvert them and keep the story moving at a breakneck pace. For instance, the second episode did away with an international espionage track. The fifth episode sees a further exploration of the Devs system and ends with Jamie making Lily escape from her involuntary psychiatric hold.
Devs Episode 6 Recap:
The sixth episode begins with flashback scenes of Amaya playing with Forest and her mother. Then, Stewart is going back to his trailer, where he lives. Lyndon is there and asks Stewart to talk to Forest so that he can return to Devs.
Lily wakes up in a motel, confused how she got there. Jamie tells Lily that he helped her escape from the involuntary psychiatric hold where she had been put on heavy medication. He does not tell her that Kenton tortured him. The two go to Forest’s house. Katie is there too, and it is revealed that she and Forest have been in some form of sexual/romantic relationship.
Katie wants to speak to Lily alone. The two sit inside Forest’s house while Forest and Jamie sit outside. Katie tells Lily that Sergei stole the source code and that Kenton killed him. She admits that she and Forest had been involved. Lily asks Katie what Devs is. Katie asks Lily whether anything in the world happens randomly. When Lily tries to give a few examples, Katie debunks them, saying how everything is preceded by a cause. She explains how the entire world is deterministic, and nothing happens without reason. She tells Lily that Devs basically calculates everything in the world: all the forces of the universe, both macroscopic and individual ones.
Meanwhile, Forest and Jamie make small talk. They talk about loss and then start playing with a frisbee. Katie tells Lily that the Devs machine simulates all the forces in the world to make predictions of the future and also comes up with simulations of past events. Then, Katie tells Lily that after a fixed point in the future, the Devs machine ceased being able to predict the future. The visualization became “static” and “impenetrable.” She tells Lily that in 21 hours, she (Lily) would be at Devs and cause something that would lead to the disruption of the world’s determinism. It would lead to a breakdown of cause and effect and all the laws of the universe.
At first, Lily thinks that she can make her own choice and choose not to go to Devs in 21 hours. Then, she understands Katie’s point of view. After their conversation, Lily and Jamie leave. It is revealed that Kenton has been spying on them from his car. He thinks that Forest and Katie have become friends with Lily and Jamie. Lily asks Jamie to sleep in her room. They have sex. Katie tells Forest that she did not tell Lily everything. Then the two express how they like each other a lot. Katie tells Forest that the thing they have been waiting for is just hours away.
Devs Episode 6 Review:
The sixth episode of ‘Devs’ turns out to be an hour-long set-up and nothing much more than that. This is the reason that the episode might feel the slowest out of all the episodes. Nothing major happens apart from Lily and Katie’s conversation. The viewers are not told anything that they do not already know.
However, the sixth episode is not one that could have been done away with altogether. In fact, it might have also not been a good idea to shorten it. The exposition of the Devs machine is required for the understanding of casual viewers. Apart from that, it also highlights the revolutionary stakes that the characters find themselves facing. Moreover, the episode also sets up the penultimate and concluding episodes rather intriguingly. The fact that Lily will disrupt the laws of the universe is a very promising premise, and viewers would certainly be eager to tune in for the remaining episodes.
Read More: Devs Episode 5 Explained
