Bodies Review
Bodies Review – Becoming The Muse
Bodies is a sci-fi crime thriller series primarily written and created for Netflix by Paul Tomalin. It is based on the DC Vertigo graphic novel of the same name written by Si Spencer. The series consists of eight episodes and premiered on Netflix on 19 October 2023.
The story revolves around four detectives in four different time periods of London who find themselves investigating the same murder.
The Good
You get to the end of the first episode and be like “whaaaaat” and watch the next episode and the next and the next…
Bodies is a who-dun it cop drama thriller with temporal displacement which makes for an intriguing genre-blurring plot with quite The Twist as 4 detectives investigate the same murder.
The four detectives are not only the heart of the series, but they are the focal point in showing the ills of the society in which they belong
Kyle Soller as DI Alfred Hillinghead in 1890 navigates the Victorian Era along with its prudish morality and double standards.
When you kneel before God do you feel your lies will be forgiven for persecuting others for theirs? -Bodies
Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as DS Charles Whiteman a 1941 Jewish cop in an anti-semitic world with a backdrop of the World War and Hitler’s shadow.
Amaka Okafor as DS Shahara Hasan is a 2023 a female Muslim cop, who has to face the gender challenges and Islamophobia.
Shira Haas as DC Iris Maplewood a 2054 cop in a utopian society that is not without its prejudice and the perfect world that comes with a hefty price tag.
Gabriel Howell delivers an emotive performance as the youthful Elias Mannix in 2023, and I foresee awards in his feature..
The Bad
It’s a very bingeable series and don’t start watching it if you have deadlines…
The pacing can get a bit weird, it starts of intensely and then loses steam as it tries to push the plot across four different timelines, the period piece feel of the 1890s, the film noir of 1941, the more familiar 2023 and a futuristic 2054.
While the show tries to keep the explanations simple, time travel always creates problems and paradoxes which can never be logically resolved and in the end you are sort of left to your imagination…
The Ugly
Do not watch this if you have a headache or about to get one because part of the plot might blow the bulbs in your mind…
Some of the make-up effects to age characters was not making sure and even downright terrible for some that I wondered if couldn’t they just give them a terrible wig instead… Speaking of terrible hair, does the future have terrible barbers because hey, whats the matter with your hair?
The series touches on some themes which arent the finer moments of humanity, the racism and prejudice but ultimately it doesn’t seem to want to make any bold statement through any of lead characters in the different eras and instead lets it all simmer as a backdrop and swept away with the broad strokes of the plot.
Know you are loved.
Final Thoughts
It has a puzzle box feel to it until the connection between the various timelines is revealed then makes about as much sense as anything with aspects of time travel can make… which is to say it will leave you with a great big, hey can you back it up and explain something…
The series has been compared to Dark which I have not got round to watching, so might bump it up the watch list….
Fun Fact: Bodies pays tribute to its origins with the occasional appearance of split screens that divide up scenes and eras like the panels of a comic book.
Have you watched this? What do you think of stories, movies and TV series that involve time travel
Becoming The Muse 
Your thoughts.. if you will?