The Hood Maker

Keeping in mind there are still 9 episodes to come, all with completely stand-alone stories, so far it seems this might be a new masterpiece to keep your eyes on! Throughout the whole episode I felt like being swept away by the story. The story was brought to life by a lovable cast, great sets and decor lots of mystery and questions in the story line to demand your attention and tickle your desire to keep on watching.

As I want to keep this review spoiler free, I can only urge you to watch and be (hopefully) positively surprised, just like I was. I am really looking forward to the next episode with a new story, new cast and new director. If they are all gonna do a tribute to Philip K. Dick's work as done in the first episode, the next ones are also gonna be really satisfying!

I'm a big fan of Philip K Dick's work so was looking forward to this series. Anthology series generally open with one of their stronger stories and on that basis this is a worrying start. The acting was dry and the script dull, some reasonably well known actors appeared weak working on this. I rarely give up on a TV episode when I start one but this one pushed me to my limits.

It has been said that this is the strongest episode of Electric Dreams anthology series. This does not bode well then.

There was nothing too special about The Hood Maker and the dark, grungy look of the dystopian society was just off putting and very much a cliché.

The visuals might had been inspired by Blade Runner but the story was more reminiscent of Minority Report.

The police use Teeps, who are special telepaths to read people's mind and the public are not happy as it is an invasion of their privacy. Special hoods have been created to block the telepaths.

Honor is a Teep but her new partner Agent Ross is someone she finds hard to read. This is a relationship based on mutual distrust as they hunt for the hoodmaker.

The story is a parable of modern times. The influence of government snooping, anti terror legislation etc. It just a shame that the episode was too po faced and drab.

Keeping up with the other episodes I have seen, the acting, atmosphere, and technical aspects here are all at their best. What sets this story above the ones I have seen so far, is that the characters are gripping and well developed, and the ending not only makes sense, but has the nerve to avoid giving you exactly what you would want. I am beginning to like the idea of re-imagining PKD's stories rather then giving them literal adaptations. My second favorite so far next to "Human is". Give it a watch.

A complex slow episode like a distorted work of art.