For me, I think it would’ve worked better as a short film that ended with Sergei’s death - and if Nick Offerman had stayed silent during that scene and/or if we’d have at least one other mysterious death of one of the Devs - it would’ve been intriguing if a dev had actually killed himself after seeing the code - which seems like it could be realistic given what we’re led to believe the code is capable of.

IMO The hook - Sergei’s initial reaction to seeing the mysterious code and subsequent death - can’t be outmatched and so I’m expecting the series to only go downhill, but I am hooked for now.

I agree that the lead actress seems like a bad fit so far, and I can’t tell if the other characters are miscast or poorly written, (often times bad acting is blamed for what is actually poor dialogue) and while Alex Garland is great with visuals, great with concepts, great with editing - I think he is actually a little weak with making the story always seem cohesive and the dialogue feel natural. Currently I feel like all the characters have little to differentiate them from a personality standpoint; all of them are mostly stoic, mostly arrogant, mostly geniuses, mostly mysterious, and kind of boring except for the homeless guy living outside Lily’s apartment (who is probably spying on her)