Micah Bloomberg, Eli Horowitz, and Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot, who also directed the first season) created this mystery thriller about the secretive Geist Group, a company that purportedly helps soldiers transition to civilian life. The first season revolves around counselor Heidi Bergman (Julia Roberts), who’s also a Geist Group administrator working with Walter Cruz (Stephan James), who served four tours of duty. The unconventional treatment erases soldiers’ memories, and the story itself jumps between 2018 when Bergman is working with Cruz, and 2022, when Bergman is living with her mother and waitressing … with … wait for it … no memory of the soldiers she worked with at the Geist Group.
With the mystery set up, the series skips back and forth though time as we learn more about the Geist Group’s unorthodox treatment regimen and Bergman’s new life as she’s being questioned by a Defense Department investigator looking into old complaints about Bergman’s former employer.
It’s an engrossing drama and marks Roberts’ small-screen debut. Instead of her dazzling smile and rom-com personality, she’s a frazzled cog in a corporate machine with a hidden agenda. The direction by Esmail is pretty amazing for a TV show, with engrossing tracking shots and unusual camera angles, and the acting is uniformly excellent! This is a must-watch series, and a second season—minus Roberts—has just begun. (Ten 30 min. episodes)
—Glen Starkey
This article appears in May 21-28, 2020.