I saw this as a 16-episode (45 minutes each) series. It starts off slow, almost boring, then becomes very interesting very fast. It carries the plot and story all the way through, having numerous twists and turns as the story unfolds. This is one of those series that actually needs to be 16 episodes long to tell the entire story. Everything in the series held up well, was well-written and excellently produced.
But then we get down to the very final, 16th episode... and the storyline becomes very complex and convoluted. It's not impossible to follow what's going on, but it just seems way out of sync with the rest of the series. Things start moving very quickly (literally), too much happens all at once, and normal characters very suddenly become very not-normal characters.
The result is a show that many will proclaim to be brilliant cerebral science fiction, but for me simply tried to cram far too much into the last episode and thereby somewhat derailed the series. I found the final episode contrived and disappointing, bombarding the viewer with too much too fast and expecting the viewer to simply ride the roller coaster. The final part of the ride is too full of itself. They needed to slow the roller coaster down quite a bit and deliver a less-uber-existential conclusion.
But then we get down to the very final, 16th episode... and the storyline becomes very complex and convoluted. It's not impossible to follow what's going on, but it just seems way out of sync with the rest of the series. Things start moving very quickly (literally), too much happens all at once, and normal characters very suddenly become very not-normal characters.
The result is a show that many will proclaim to be brilliant cerebral science fiction, but for me simply tried to cram far too much into the last episode and thereby somewhat derailed the series. I found the final episode contrived and disappointing, bombarding the viewer with too much too fast and expecting the viewer to simply ride the roller coaster. The final part of the ride is too full of itself. They needed to slow the roller coaster down quite a bit and deliver a less-uber-existential conclusion.