This review was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Remember web shows? Not only doesSteven Soderbergh, but he has now made one of his own withCommand Z. Yes, the director already has one TV series currently airing withFull Circle, but this is different and more proof he doesn’t seem to sleep. Split into eight short episodes that Soderbergh released as a surprise on his websiteExtension 765,Command Zis less a full story and is more a series of hit-or-miss sketches with a bit of a darker undercurrent that it occasionally taps into. Alas, it never reaches the full potential of its premise, getting caught up in the weeds of references and rather blunt arguments that dull any of its potential sharpness.
Command Zis a series you can watch quickly to lightly chuckle at, making it something that can’t be dismissed entirely while also hardly rising to the level of being essential Soderbergh. Operating with its tongue firmly in cheek, the result is an odd experience, often halting in its delivery and clunky in its compositions, but still elevated by a more persistently cutting cynicism about the pressing crises which may soon consume us all. Whereother works this year about such topics have been explosive,Command Zproves to be only lightly incisive while still finding moments of spark along the way.
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‘Command Z’ Is Mid-Tier Soderberghian Satire
Each episode inCommand Zis set almost entirely in two locations: a confined attic far in the future and a time in the past we go back to. The future is where we meet a group of unwitting heroes all wearing blue work jumpsuits, played byChloe Radcliffe,Roy Wood Jr., andJJ Maley, who have been tasked with going back in time to the distant past of June 05, 2025 in order to save the world. They do so at the direction of their billionaire boss, played byMichael Cera, who is now a disembodied AI head that is trying out different intros. He has identified people, and the occasional dog, that the trio can get beamed into through a wormhole in a washing machine who may supposedly set the world on a better path. In the world ofCommand Z, these three goofs are humanity’s last best hope in pushing back against the existential threats of corruption, climate change, and cruelty. Each alteration they make only provides a minute, incremental change measured in on-screen percentage updates. The doom then becomes a force that hovers over everything. It is part and parcel with the story’s playfulness, making it into a bit of a lark about looming catastrophe.
Occasionally playing like a riff on the classic 1999 filmBeing John Malkovich(without being quite as inventive) crossed with the spectacular recent featureNine Days(without becoming as emotionally resonant),Command Zis a strange little series that is best at the beginning and the end while dragging in the middle. There is a healthy heaping of snark woven throughout, as the series takes aim at everything from oblivious TikTok celebrities to hypocritical religious leaders that preach the prosperity gospel. It is satire wielded like a shotgun, hitting multiple targets all at once without ever having the focus to puncture deeper into any one subject.Command Zis an occasionally fun yet mostly fleeting experience, never achieving more in its ambling approach. Everyone seems to be having a lot of fun with the premise, as there is plenty to poke fun at and some rather good gags sprinkled throughout, but the series never gets as deep into its ideas as it could have. However, there is a surprising lack of whimsy or wonder — the most effective twist it puts on everything is when one of the characters takes over a dog to have a conversation opposite a surpriseLiev Schreiber. Other than that,Command Zis strangely neat without ever giving itself over to the darkly absurd heights that could have defined the experience. The interesting elements that exist to chew on are mostly scattered throughout rather than baked into the core of the series.
‘Command Z’s Title Is More Telling Than You Might Think
Obviously, nothing aboutCommand Zwas ever going to rise to the level of Soderbergh’s chillingly prescientContagionor his sharp recent thrillerKimijust based on the fact that he is working on a much smaller canvas. However, this series has a more quirky science fiction premise that sets it apart from the majority of his recent works and good storytelling is still good storytelling. Soderbergh has shown he can still spin many a good yarn in everything fromThe KnicktoHigh Flying BirdandLogan Lucky. It is that versatility in both genre and form that makes him such an intriguing artist, no matter what project he takes on. This strong history of work makesCommand Zfeel somewhat disappointing by comparison. The jokes aren’t bad, and the construction of everything is full of potential, but it’s not fully realized in the way one would hope. Each episode concludes with recommendations from Soderbergh, which are equal parts silly as they seem to be serious, representing the push and pull the series finds itself in.
When the story then folds back in on itself and pulls the rug out from under what is going on ever so slightly, there is a hint of self-reflexiveness that would have been interesting to sit with for a bit longer. It almost seems to imply that Soderbergh was not taking this all that seriously, and that it was almost a narrative exercise more than anything, though there are also many instances where he does adopt a more wholehearted approach.Command Zmakes for a uniquely comedic cocktail with charming enough albeit lightly sketched characters trying to save the world with the help of a washing machine. If only life and the challenges we currently face were also so simple.
