What This Show Actually Is
The series premiered on Apple TV+ in 2023. It's adapted from Sequoia Nagamatsu's short story collection. Each episode is self-contained, following different characters through various crises involving memory loss, disease, and isolation. The title comes from a line in one of the stories about not knowing how deep the darkness goes until you're already in it. You need an Apple TV+ subscription to watch it. There is no standalone download option through legitimate channels. The show is tied to their ecosystem. If you already have the subscription, it's available immediately in the app. No wait. No additional purchase required beyond the monthly fee, which at the time of writing runs about $9.99 a month in the US, though pricing varies by region and promotional offers exist. There are eight episodes. They don't share characters or a continuous plot. Episode one deals with a mother whose adult son returns with a degenerative condition. Episode four follows a couple in quarantine during an outbreak. Episode six is set in a hospice. They're all grounded in emotional realism rather than spectacle. That's what makes it work, honestly. Some viewers went in expecting a traditional horror or sci-fi show and left confused. It's neither. It's quieter than that.
I watched it on a Sunday evening when I had nothing else scheduled. Not a complaint, just context for why I'm saying this. The performances are strong across the board. Awkwafina carries the second episode effectively. Harriet Walter appears in one of the most restrained scenes I've seen this year. The production design is unobtrusive. It doesn't call attention to itself, which is unusual for Apple TV+ originals that tend to overvalue gloss. My issue? The pacing drags in the middle episodes. Episodes three and five feel underdeveloped compared to the surrounding ones. You can tell they were adapting shorter source material and stretching it further than necessary. I'd recommend binging episodes one through two, then taking a break before tackling the rest. The final two episodes land better.
Technical Notes for Viewers
The show is mixed in Dolby Atmos and available in 4K HDR on compatible devices. I've noticed some variance in audio mixing between episodes. The first and last episodes have cleaner dialogue tracks. A couple of the middle episodes bury voices under ambient sound, which is probably an artistic choice but worth knowing if you're watching on a system without a good soundbar or center channel. Subtitles are available in multiple languages. The English captions are accurate, which is something I don't always take for granted with streaming platforms.
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Should You Watch It?
If you've already got Apple TV+ and haven't watched anything else on it yet, yes. If you're subscribing specifically for this, I'd say wait for a trial period or see if your carrier offers it bundled. It's not long enough to justify a full month for most people, but it's also not structured to hold your attention if you're scrolling through your phone the entire time. It asks for engagement. The source material by Nagamatsu is worth reading if you finish the series and want more. Several episodes pull directly from specific stories, though they adapt them loosely. The book is structured around interconnected themes rather than characters, which the show mirrors in its own way.
