by Jack Grimme, Contributing Writer
As the name suggests, Apple TV’s Extrapolations is an exploration of a world that could exist if humanity continues its current path. The show primarily explores the dire consequences of unchecked climate change, but also touches on the commodification of personal data, the increased social gap fostered by advancements in technology, and other bleak potential realities. For the most part, each episode follows different characters that exist in the same timeline, with the series spanning about four decades. One story may occur 20 years later on the opposite side of the planet, but still directly experience the fallout of previous characters’ decisions. I was enticed by the interconnected storytelling and topical thematic elements and was sold as soon as I saw the stacked cast that lend their talents to the project.
The first element of this series that caught my eye was the subject matter. I will use climate change as the primary example throughout this review, because that is the conundrum at the heart of this show. It opens with the United Nations debating about loosening the restrictions on climate change to ensure that people across the planet have enough food, water, and power to survive. It is an impossible decision with dire consequences on both sides, and no right answer. Ultimately, that is the main theme of the entire series. We watch characters sacrifice everything for one stab at a brighter future. We watch billionaires carelessly apply pressure and impose their will on politicians and the public. We even watch some people just cross their fingers and hope the earth finds a way to survive and repair the seemingly insurmountable amount of damage we’ve left in our wake. Sometimes these people get their desired result and earn a moment of reprieve from their grim reality, and other times the individual is forced to watch their gamble further doom the world to its inevitable end. The show offers several ultimatums that are interesting and thought-provoking. Most of the characters have believable motivations and compelling points of view. However, there are a handful of times that the plots are stale, predictable, and occasionally even a little condescending. A handful of moments make me think of 2020’s infamous celebrity “Imagine” music video (if you have not heard of it, consider yourself lucky). This kind of show needs its food for thought to be substantial enough to keep the audience involved. Extrapolations is not perfect in this regard, but there is enough here to bring me back each week.
Unfortunately, the impressive cast is a little more hit-or-miss. There are many good performances throughout the series. Tahar Rahim is a standout, and carries one of my favorite episodes of the series. Edward Norton, Daveed Diggs, and Gemma Chan also have believable emotional beats that endear their characters during their limited screen time. There are several other noteworthy names, but for the most part, the performances are average and forgettable at best. However, I do not blame this on the performers — I believe it is a symptom of the larger problem that holds this show back from greatness: the breadth of information, stories, and characters we are expected to resonate with throughout the series.
Creator Scott Z. Burns clearly had an ambitious pitch at the core of Extrapolations. A decade-spanning web of storytelling that enlightens on some of the most pressing concerns of the modern day is no simple task. Unfortunately, the story just becomes too big for one short season of a show to carry. The current format forces the audience to grapple with their depressing future, all while meeting character after character whose lives are ruined by our looming fate. You have almost no time to connect with my protagonists before the consequences of their actions catches up to them. The program was destined to be bleak and depressing, but the structure just led me to feeling even more disconnected from this potential reality.
Do not get me wrong: There are some inherent strengths to this type of storytelling. There are some storylines or characters that are particularly disinteresting, so I was thankful that I did not have to spend the entire eight hours with them. But even that is more of a positive for the viewer than a strength of the show. I also think exposing the audience to this many different characters is great for world building, which is necessary for this show. Watching the repercussions of certain mistakes or gambles echo throughout the entire show is rewarding and well-done. I think having climate change as the backbone of the series works well, but it leads to some of the smaller ideas feeling shallow or underdeveloped.
Making a project like Extrapolations work is an incredibly challenging balancing act. With some more time, both in terms of behind the scenes work and number of episodes, this show could have been something special. However, as it stands, Extrapolations is a decent time that will probably struggle to find an audience due to the depressing, and unfortunately controversial, subject matter at hand.
Score: 6/10
Extrapolations is currently streaming on Apple TV+
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