Nobody claims to know what Command Z That is, even the people who made it. It’s best described as a web series available direct from director Steven Soderbergh website after a $7.99 charitable donation, Command Z includes eight episodes of varying lengths. (It was also announced just days before its release, around the same time full circle — a more traditional television series directed by Soderbergh — debuted on Max). A second, secret Soderbergh, would you? What a miracle!
With a Fan proclaims that the show “came out of Steven Soderbergh’s ass.” Command Z looks mostly like an experimental web series revolving around three humans in the future who have been commissioned by Michael Cera’s disembodied boss to go back in time to improve their present. And that’s it. Mostly. It’s also a bizarre PSA, a comedic appeal to viewers to see the problems in our world as solvable and get involved in solving those problems — and maybe watch more movies.
A given episode lasts between eight and 20 minutes (about 90 minutes total) and revolves around Jamie (JJ Maley), Sam (Roy Wood Jr.) and Emma (Chloe Radcliffe), three people who work for the AI version of Kearning Fealty (Michael Cera), a long-dead billionaire who has a time machine in the basement that looks like a dryer. Turn on the dryer, drink some disgusting brown liquid, put on a helmet and Jamie, Sam or Emma can send their consciousness back in time to influence the minds of select people, which Fealty says makes the world a better place will do.
Consequently, the problems that Kearning sends his staff to fix are also real problems that presumed American audiences (and beyond) are also facing, from climate change to social media and beyond. The team identifies someone who will do something terrible in the present of 2023, like a Wall Street tycoon played by Liev Schreiber, and enters the mind of someone who can influence him to make a better decision – like a dog.
It’s an odd experience, more sketch show than proper comedy (the casting of comedians like Wood Jr. and Radcliffe helps with that), and not particularly satisfying. It doesn’t take long to see Command Z for what it is, which is an odd attempt to raise money for a good cause (viz child help and the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research) from one of our most adventurous filmmakers, hopefully reminding viewers that small differences matter and that making them is easy.
Still Command ZFor all its lack of subtlety, however, he is also concerned with provoking the viewer to think about how art interacts with the world around it. Each episode ends with three movie recommendations related to the episode’s theme, and choices range from blockbusters to cult classics to family movies (one recommends a climate change episode, for example). Soylent Green, Day after tomorrowAnd Ice Age: The Meltdown).
The implication seems to be that, yes, Command Z is about as subtle as an ocean liner, yet we are surrounded by art that engages with the world around us. Being open to acknowledging that might be the first step in engaging with the world instead of seeing it decay.
Every episode of Command Z ends in success as the trio completes every mission assigned to them. But according to their AI boss, their efforts result in only a tiny result of actual change, typically less than a percentage point. That’s perhaps its most worthwhile insight, even more so than any of the other hot topics it tries to woo viewers with Command Z has to offer: a reminder that small victories are still worth striving for, as long as we trust others to make their own small efforts in the common cause of a fairer world. Maybe you didn’t need a weird web series to know this, but if you know someone who does, it might be worth it.
