Solos, on Prime Video, is a series of 7 short episodes. They are mostly a single character conversing with an AI, although some have a second human actor present at times. The episodes tackle memory, love, loneliness, isolation, time travel, and space travel.
Morgan Freeman, Uzo Aduba, Nichole Beharie, Anne Hathaway, Anthony Mackie, Helen Mirren, and Constance Wu were the main characters in Solos. The episodes were uneven, some more successful than others. Basically, each episode was a monologue. I thought the writing was too literary and precious for this kind of sci-fi material. It made some of the monologues feel pretentious. However, I’m always impressed when an actor can deliver 30 minutes of dialogue without help from anyone opposite them.
I watched the series because of Helen Mirren. Mirren was excellent in her story. Constance Wu was hilarious and raunchy – right up until the twist at the end. Anne Hathaway played 3 of herself chatting via time travel. Nichole Beharie had an episode with a bit of action. Most episodes didn’t have much action going on.
The final episode with Morgan Freeman made sense of the entire season and tied the various stories together. He had Dan Stevens there with him to make it a two-hander.
I’ve watched several series like this. They are attempts to keep the creative work going during the global pandemic by finding a way to give people something interesting to do alone. It was similar to Social Distance or Oxygen in that way.
Although the series was uneven, I watched it all the way through. Watchable but not great is the takeaway.
Here’s the trailer.
hard to go totally wrong with Dame Mirren and Mr. Freeman in one’s cast. i’d watch those two read a phone book (if they could find a phone book these days).
Even at her age Helen Mirren (#EldersRock btw) can pull off fresh and girlish moments. She’s so good.