Science Fiction or Dark Fantasy? Alter Ego is not suitable for sensitive viewers, but it is fascinating television. Science fiction is indeed a popular genre, but it is rarely, if not never, produced in the Dutch-speaking area. This will change in 2023. First came the Arcadia series, followed by Alter Ego. The makers have already proven that you don't need sky-high CGI budgets to tell an exciting story, as long as the content and the performance of the actors are up to standard.
Alter Ego is not set in a distant future or in a futuristic city, but in the rather gray and dark Brussels. The headquarters of BNP Paribas Fortis serves as the backdrop for the fictional Salvator Bank.
The series has a particularly slow pace, but it is not boring and at appropriate moments the screenwriters provide a cliffhanger that keeps you watching. Because of the pace, it is initially difficult to persevere, especially during the first two episodes. The viewer is presented with a lot of information with little context, so that the picture of what is going on is only formed piecemeal. So this is not a series that you can follow while slumped on your sofa with a beer, but one that requires you to think carefully about what you see.
Anyone who reads the brief content might suspect that it is a thriller or horror series, but even more than science fiction, this is also about death, the grieving process and how a mother, relatives or a loved one deals with it.
A young twenty-something journalist Gilles (Ward Kerremans, Billie vs Benjamin) lost his girlfriend and soulmate Romy a few years ago in mysterious circumstances. Officially, the police have solved the case, but Gilles doubts the outcome. He still struggles with that loss. During a report of a bloody robbery, he notices a red-haired boy in the audience. Gilles recognizes him, because the boy was also seen on webcam images taken in Romy's bedroom the day she died. Gilles goes to investigate, much against the wishes of Romy's mother (Karlijn Sileghem, Katarakt). His quest takes him to the doors of the Salvator Bank, and the hidden world they hold.
Ward Kerremans may play the leading role, but it is Karlijn Sileghem's performance that carries this series. Newcomer Taeke Nicolaï also does an excellent job, but we cannot elaborate on her role to avoid spoilers. In addition, a top cast with Wouter Hendrickx, (Storm Lara) Viv Van Dingenen, (De Twaalf) Zineb Fallouk (Mocro Maffia), Michael Pas (Assizes) and Koen De Bouw (Twee Zomers).
The makers describe their work as Dark Fantasy, which I can agree with. This series is dark, very dark. Be sure to keep watching until the very last minute, because only then will the whole story become clear. And that ending will not leave you unmoved.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
