# Devs (2020)

> A young software engineer infiltrates the secretive Devs division of a San Francisco tech giant, convinced it is tied to her boyfriend's murder.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/69630

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 52 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: science fiction, mystery, drama
- Created by: Alex Garland
- Network: Hulu
- Cast: Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, Jin Ha, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Alison Pill, Zach Grenier, Brian d'Arcy James
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8134186/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: dense
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: anxious, eerie, cerebral, melancholic, intimate

## What critics say

Viewers admire the atmosphere, performances and bold concepts of Devs but find its philosophical ideas stretched thin over its run and its ending unsatisfying.

## Synopsis

Devs (2020) is a American limited series created by Alex Garland for Hulu, an eight-episode science fiction mystery that unfolds as a slow, cerebral conspiracy thriller. Young computer engineer Lily Chan (Sonoya Mizuno) suspects the secretive development division of her San Francisco tech employer is responsible for the murder of her boyfriend, and she pushes past guarded colleagues and the company's polished facade to uncover what is really happening inside the Devs lab. Nick Offerman plays Forest, the company's enigmatic head, while Jin Ha and Cailee Spaeny round out the principal circle around Lily. The engine is steady investigation: each episode peels back another layer of corporate secrecy, and the questions grow from who is responsible to whether anyone's choices are truly their own. Told in one continuous story across its single season, the show moves at a measured, deliberate pace, favoring long silences, muted interiors and unsettling imagery over action. The tone is anxious, intimate and eerie, with a cool, austere look that fits Silicon Valley's gleaming surfaces. Fans of Severance, Westworld and Ex Machina will find resonance in its philosophical unease and its interest in simulated reality and free will.

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