Prime Target

So called smart people, one user wrote, and that's a typical defense mechanism used anytime someone encounters someone smarter than they are. It's very hard to live in a world of feeling uncomfortable which is why most of us either avoid learning more or prefer to live in ignorance. Also, never acknowledging doing either and pretending they're doing the opposite.

This is a bold series. I am impressed at what has been presented so far. Eager for more and frustrated only two episodes are available now.

I think it's hard for people to accept things they don't understand, so I hope this show keeps people like me engaged. Leo Woodall has impressed me in White Lotus and Me Before You, so I'll be here to see how it all plays out.

Thankfully, it's not a blow em up or fight em up show, as I prefer thinking type drama shows. Things that make you think. For anyone out there that thinks they already know, they don't at all.

Here's to keeping an open mind, cheers!

Just 3 episodes in the viewer senses that the number of people out to murder the protagonists is uncountable. Starting with a belief that a unique prime number generator exists the argument postulates prime numbers used in cryptography are not random. If that is true then the financial foundation of the economy would be on shaky ground. Even without a degree in math that is hard to swallow. Everyone knows there is always a bigger number than any number you can think of. Just add 1. In a nutshell the movie is about 2 very pretty people evading the hoard after them while knowing the danger will never end.

It's not quite clear who the audience is for this series. Is it trying to appeal to people wanting to engage with intriguing scientific theories? Or is it trying to appeal to Gen Z feeling misunderstood for their genius?

On the one hand teasing intriguing questions on the nature of science and mathematics. And how archaeology may unearth interesting new theories.

And then, a supposed math genius who in the Cambridge library system searches for "prime numbers"... And then doesn't find anything in the library catalogue about prime numbers because it's been deleted.

I mean... it isn't consistent to its own universe. And that is very disrupting.

The basic idea is great: the notion that a gov't might kill to keep a possible math shortcut, that would instantly render useless modern cryptography, from being discovered isn't totally ridiculous.

Though I'm sufficiently interested to finish the series, what sank this for me, as already mentioned by others, are things such as the "check-list" attributes assigned to characters and thus the selected actors. Consequently, I found the casting was hit and miss. That may have also been a result of the direction. E.g. In episode 5, particularly, one veteran actor may well have been given direction to "imagine Matthew Goode in the role and act like him".

And the script wasn't great.

6/10 means interesting enough to watch it through but prioritize other, much better, viewing options.

Alfred Hitchcock said that Maguffin shouldn't be revealed because it shows how silly plots are. This series tipped it's hand very early and sure enough, Hitchcock was right. A driven but maverick PhD mathematics student is working on prime numbers but the security services don't want that. Cue mysterious deaths and ancient artifacts. A kind of Indiana Jones and the Lost Integral.

There's a bit of really shallow exposition about prime numbers and the preposterous idea that all the university library books have been deleted. Protagonist gets upset rather than going to Amazon next day delivery. I just kept yawning.