This is one of the most subtle and bittersweet fiction I've ever seen to talk about modern masculinity, aging, self image, desire, family and friends as middle aged people... It's disguised as a dark comedy whodunit, and it is a rather good one for what it''s worth, but it has so much more to offer.

(Maybe you need to be about 40+ to appreciate some aspects, but I don't see that as a flaw...)

@tolham wrote:
There's a difference between slow burn and clunky pacing, and this show was more on the clunky side. 

I'm going to get ahead of things and say this show should have been a movie. As we know from the show's description, "one of them ends up dead". The premise of the show is how-they-done-it. I'm not watching 6 more hour-long slow clunky episodes just to find out the final twist.

And you missed a lot because this show is so much more than a whodunit. You fell for the red herring...

Was there a prize for most derivative uninteresting character design when they made this? Same with set design, everything looks as bland and unimaginative as the story. Terrible start....

@bebop-cola wrote:
Most of that was clearly generative AI speak. The dashes are a dead giveaway.

Also that didn't address my question at all. The meaning of the words and how they are relevant to the episode I can understand myself. But why choose specifically the words of Smith/Powers? Are the showrunners known fans of Smith or Powers? Have there been until now a host of other nods towards classic scifi authors on the show that I may have missed?