Amazon Video's anthology series debuted on the platform for Prime members, loosely based on Philip K. Dick's works.
I'm not particularly sure why I watched the fifth episode first, but it's not really something that matters given each episode is a different story with different characters; it's essentially Amazon's version of Black Mirror.
Unfortunately, this episode was a struggle to watch. I found its narrative interesting: a person uses a virtual reality world as an escape, but soon fails to understand just which world is the real one. In one world, she's a billionaire game designer, and in another she's a detective attempting to find a killer. There's enough narrative and character to fill in the gaps, but it's not so much the narrative that I have a problem with.
The cast, for the most part, just do not work. They're emotionless when they're supposed to be emotional; their lines are clearly supposed to display some particular emotion, yet it comes out bland and almost careless. I found it hard to care for the story when the characters just did not connect or feel natural. It seems to be a problem that falls into casting unknowns that haven't really appeared in anything decent; they haven't yet found their perfect roles, and it shows in this episode.
I couldn't help but think that the episode would have performed much, much better with a different cast, and it made me incapable of just sitting back and enjoying it. Everything else is there, however, the visuals are great, and the writing isn't awful. There are some cool shots of this world futuristic world that I hope unravels a bit more in the other episodes. As for this episode, I believe it will be very hit-and-miss for many.