We only look back: Devs episode 3

"We don’t look forward, we only look back. We don’t invade privacy"



 Episode 3 of Devs opens with the programmers watching Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller having sex. This is against the rules. We learn that the only rules are that they cannot look into the future or invade anyone's privacy.  Both of these seem strange,  given what we know about tech companies in the real world.

This scene seems to exist as world building  more than anything else.

Most of the episode is about Lily.  She pulls off a ruse in order to steal the security footage from the night that Sergei died.

She does something very clever. She fakes schizophrenia,  and panic attack and a suicide attempt.  In doing so she creates a diversion so that her friend can get the footage.  Possibly more importantly,  in planting the belief that she is mentally ill,  she lays the groundwork for ensuring that she will be underestimated.

She may also be saving her own life, although it isn't clear exactly how much danger she's in at this point.

While all of this is going on Forest is meeting with a Senator who wants to bring Amaya's technology under government control,  or at least determine what that technology is.  It seems like this plot thread could be important in future episodes.

To a large extent this episode is all convective tissue.  The plot doesn't move very far. What we do get is some wonderful character development,  especially from Lily. Sonoya Mizuno is marvelous in this episode.  She shows great range and really holds the story together.




Nick Offerman playing Forest brings some interesting nuance to his internal conflict.  He is rapidly becoming one of my favorite actors.

This episode doesn't add much to the underlying philosophical themes of the show,  but one assumes that we'll get to that soon enough.

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