The avant-garde weirdness and practically created art of ghosts — Max's new series Problematic Writer-director Julio Torres makes it seem infinitely more whimsical and lighthearted than most other TV shows about people living in a near-future filled with robots. But in addition to being a story about a misunderstood artist trying to survive in a world hostile to creativity, ghostsThe first season has been one of this year's most brilliant examinations of the torturous experience we commonly refer to as “being (too) online.”
The rent has been overdue for a long time. ghosts First up is multidisciplinary artist Julio (Torres), who, after receiving multiple threatening letters from his landlord, finds himself in desperate need of proof-of-existence identification in order to keep his apartment. ghosts'New York City's heightened ethos makes obtaining proof of existence fairly easy if you can provide a Social Security number, credit score, or prove you're an exceptional person like Beyoncé.
But aside from Julio’s agent, Vanesja (Martine Gutierrez)—the “J” doesn’t say anything—few people can appreciate his natural talent for designing things like transparent crayons and communicating with bodies of water (Tilda Swinton). And while the ID is necessary to live freely and get a job, the idea of having to prove it exists is so mind-boggling to Julio that he insists on foregoing it on principle.
Because Julio's robot assistant, Bibo (Joe Rumrill), isn't trying to kill him, and his need for an apartment is subsumed into a quest to find a lost oyster-shaped earring, ghosts It doesn’t look or feel like many other recent stories about dystopian futures, but the show’s jokes about Zappos becoming a movie studio and Exxon getting into the multi-family real estate business underscore the extent to which people’s lives have become trapped in corporate systems that are fed by technologies like Proof of Existence.
Although ghosts It's not going for a Matrix-The style narrative about humans fighting machines becomes easier to read as a story about resisting the commodification of one's entire being as Julio encounters other eccentrics like Chester (Tomás Matos), a taxi driver who protests against Uber with its one-person ride-sharing service, reluctant to sign up for Proof of Existence.
ghosts The show offsets the weight of its deeper themes by using a series of absurd scenes to build a fantastical world around Julio. His social media manager is a tiny gnome who refuses to take comments, and his quest for the earring takes him to a former gay hamster nightclub that has been gentrified and turned into a mini-CVS. The show revels in its own stupidity as much as its cleverness, which partly explains why it rarely feels like it’s condescendingly speaking to you about the dangers of trusting social media algorithms (Dominique Jackson).
As crazy (positive) as ghosts It might seem, with its plots about soul-sucking demons fishing for men on Grindr and dressed like toilets, that the show is presenting them as things people have grown accustomed to over time and with constant encouragement to accept the new norm.
That last point in particular has a fascinating way of making Julio's journey feel very similar to the experience of being bombarded with noise on the internet that is really only aimed at extracting engagement rather than giving you something you actually want. But in a world like ours, which is currently so committed to increasing that noise at every opportunity, ghosts'The willingness to poke fun at him has made the show a surprising gem of summer television.
ghostsThe first season is now available to stream on Max.
