Rematch will be primarily enjoyed by chess lovers, but the series is sprinkled with a massive dose of drama and intrigue to keep everyone hooked through all six episodes, observes Norma Godinho.
'Breaking the Internet' is a phrase used widely today.
When a cricketer gets married to a popular Bollywood actress, the Internet breaks. From the salacious to the silly, any news can break the Internet now.
But 29 years ago, the world was consumed by one and only one event that broke the Internet. It was a face-off between man and machine.
It was the first time then World Champion Garry Kasparov was challenged by IBM's Deep Blue in a showdown in Philadelphia, which crashed IBM servers as scores of people logged in.
Later, a rematch set in New York is the premise of the OTT series, Rematch.
Rematch is based on this history-defining rivalry between Kasparov and Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer all under the glare of the media, former players and chess afficionados.
The first episode opens with Kasparov speaking to an audience in San Francisco, 25 years after the famous duel in New York.
The curtain raiser introduces us to the protagonists, the antagonists and the grey personalities, with the primary focus being the first historic duel between the human and machine in February 1996, with Kasparov losing the first of the six-game series, marking the first victory by a computer against a reigning world champion under regular time controls.
The episode moves forward quickly with Kasparov winning the duel 4-2, stamping human dominance over machine.
Soon, an offer for a rematch is made by IBM, which Kasparov agrees to after turning down the offer twice.
From here on is where the series takes shape and a tiny sub plot underlining this event of epic proportions tells us that Kasparov has more to him than the straight-faced, stoic man he is known to be.
Staying true to the essence of the plot, the story beautifully personifies Deep Blue, showing us the machine through the lens of the machine's maker PC (Orion Lee) and Paul Nelson (Tom Austen), the chess champion.
Such is the time spent on the machine to produce all permutations and combinations for a winning move that in episode 2, Kasparov is stuck after a move by Deep Blue and tells his team after Game 1, 'I was taken aback by Deep Blue on Move 36. For a moment, it was playing like a human being.'
With each episode, the plot moves at a decent pace, effortlessly pulling in the audiences to the thrill of every game. The preparation that Kasparov puts in ahead of every game is remarkably captured.
Intensity and stress is writ large on Kasparov's face with each passing game.
The equation Kasparov shared with his mother, not only as a maternal figure but also as confidante and a friend, when needed, is well documented.
In one of the episodes, his mother asks Kasparov: 'Why did you agree to the rematch?'
Kasparov answers: 'I accepted the rematch because I was scared. If AI triumphs, what will become of chess? What will become of me?'
The casting is excellent.
Christian Cooke takes the audience along on this gripping ride as he embodies Kasparov, thinks like him, portraying his frustrations, vulnerabilities and his stoic-faced arrogance.
Sarah Bolger as Helen Brock, the R&D head at IBM, is top notch. She aces the role of a working woman who wears the pants in the house but is conflicted with the guilt of sidestepping her maternal role.
Cooke's easy relationship with Trine Dyrholm, who plays his mother, is not easily forgotten.
Kasparov's fondness for his agent Roger Laver, played by Aidan Quinn, deserves a mention.
The eventual friendship, and disagreements between PC and Nelson, as the heart and soul of Deep Blue over the course of the rematch in New York, is praiseworthy.
What the series also managed to put forth is that there was a lot on the line for IBM, for whom it was more than a game of chess.
Although Rematch will be primarily enjoyed by chess lovers, the series is sprinkled with a massive dose of drama and intrigue to keep everyone hooked through all six episodes.
Rematch streams on Lionsgate Play.
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