Review: The Beam and Plugged
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2014
First, I read The Beam Episode One and was intrigued. The future Platt and Truant paint seems plausible, yet not stuck in current technical difficulties. In E1 they introduced a relatable world, interesting characters, and start some good storylines. A real plus for me was that the authors avoided the technobabble that takes me out of SF stories and into to the land of "what is a poly-phased quantum force and why does it matter?"Because I was aware of the authors, I knew they had a companion book "Plugged" that did a "Malcolm Gladwell style" telling of the evolution of The Beam and it's impact on society. Platt and Truant refer to it as Season 1.5, but I blew that off and read it before continuing with Season One. I'm glad I did. You don't need to read Plugged to enjoy The Beam, but it allowed me to read the rest of Season One with an appreciation for the background story and that made the characters pop out more.There is a style point that took me out of the story. There are portions where conversations and action are mixed in an indirect style, for example: "Bill drug Frank down the hallway to the baby shower while Frank told him what a pile of poop he was and that he is so ugly his mother probably fornicated with a troll. Bill informed Frank that he was no gentleman and that he should man up and plaster on a smile before he opened the door." It's a style I'm seeing more and more of and I guess it is incumbent upon me to get used to it.Like Episode One, Season One isn't a complete story nor is it meant to be any more than Season One of, say Burn Notice, is a meant to be complete story. If you enjoyed Episode One, you'll enjoy Season One and Plugged. There are plenty of unexpected turns in the story and a few laugh out loud moments, too.