Netflix Series “Bodies” review

Bodies started well. The mystery is compelling from the start, and the acting is top-notch. All of the characters are interesting, except for Maplewood who neither my wife or I liked from the beginning. Also, the period sets and costumes were fantastic. The scenes set in 1890 and 1941 were extremely well done.

After the first four episodes, we were hooked and excited to see how they would resolve things. But starting around the fifth episode, it started getting less and less entertaining. By the end, I found the mystery resolution to be annoying. My wife and I were trashing the ending as soon as the last episode was over. And then the more you think about it, the more holes you find.

It’s a time travel story, so there are bound to be plot holes. But to me, it seemed as though the writers were only interested in creating dramatic scenes, regardless of the lack of logic behind them.

Based on the excellent beginning to the show and the overall stellar acting, I’ll give the show a C. But, if I graded the first and second half separately, it would be an A- for the first four episodes and a D- for the last four.

Spoilers Below

One thing that I found original is the concept that time travel makes copies, and time travel is symmetric, with copies sent forward a few days, years, and decades in both directions. That much is pretty interesting. But they leave a lot of loose ends. Maplewood travels through time, but we only see the 1890 version of her. What’s up with the other copies? The same goes for Hasan. She traveled through time, but we only saw her story from one time period.

The show ends with Maplewood and Hasan meeting in present-day 2023 as a cliffhanger for the next season. But Maplewood is driving a taxi, so I’d like to see how she pulled that off since she’s paralyzed and her device doesn’t travel through time.

Is there free will or not?

In the second episode, Gabriel Defoe makes a big deal out of saying that there’s no such thing as choice or free will. Everything is predetermined based on the experiences that lead to the present, and free will is an illusion. He’s the physicist and makes a compelling argument, so it feels like that’s going to be a big deal in how the plot ends. I expected something to happen that would indicate that there is free will and for Gabriel to recognize it so that someone could make a different choice, which would almost certainly be some sacrifice. But that never happened. Or if it did it wasn’t pointed out as evidence that there is free will. The whole topic is pretty much dropped after the second episode. Maybe the writers thought they were going somewhere with that but changed their minds.

Second Season?

As I mentioned, I liked a lot about the show other than how the story ended. I don’t plan on watching the next season if it gets one. But only if it gets some outstanding reviews on IMDb. The IMDb rating for the first season is a little surprising. The ratings go up as the season progresses. Entirely opposite of what I would have expected. So I can’t put too much faith in the ratings. But if the ratings fall in the 8+ range, then we’ll probably watch it. Otherwise, there are better things to do with time.