“Ad Lucem” dropped its final two episodes earlier this week. To find out my initial thoughts on the first four episodes, check out this Pre(View) here. Does the 9 episode socio-political thriller stick the landing with its idea of physical vs virtual connection, or does it fall short? Find out with this review of “Ad Lucem.”

“Ad Lucem” tries to tackle too many issues at once that it fells disjointed. There were a few moments that came out of nowhere when the plot wanted to shift. Some felt like retcons, like Chris Pine’s character being a lawyer and head of security. A dual position at a big tech company that seems like a conflict of interest in some ways. Speaking of Dominic, the whole lovable uncle I got from Pine was shattered as that fun uncle turned out to be a bitter and hateful one in the span of no more than 10 minutes at the end of episode. When he unloads his frustrations on Phil, most of my sympathies for him were lost. This small retcon of Dominic doesn’t resolve itself until the epilogue, and he’s barely present in the episodes between his outburst and his redemption of sorts.

Ad Lucem Review: More moments of Disconnect

It seems every main character has an ulterior motive or, at the very least, a fluid motivation that can shift to something else on the drop of a dime. It gets to the point where you can’t tell people’s motivation until the plot demands it. Think silver age Superman and his unlimited and wacky powers, but played serious. Because we truly don’t know a lot about the characters—the female ones in particular—the story feels both feministic and misogynistic at the same time. It all depends on how you define the terms.

We learn about Miranda’s past in episode three and we find her motivation for starting the company. In the present, let’s just say she’s as cutthroat as Vincent’s character. Then there’s Phil. Phil becomes the protagonist after the writers introduce the character of Francis. Not gonna spoil anything, but her backstory while tragic, only works because of the reveal that happens after. The twist works brilliantly and I was literally saying “Holy Shit” to myself multiple times when out in public as the moment happened. Thinking about it a bit more and I realized Miranda’s past felt like an addition to move the plot forward and had little to do with her character up until that point.

Protagonists as Musical Chairs

The shifting focus from three different characters dilutes the overall focus on human connection, and what that really means in a digital world. As stated in the Pre(View), Chris Pine plays a character not usually in his range of a comedic straight man like Kirk or Edgin from “Star Trek” (2009) and “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” Dominic’s lash out at Phil is just as bad as Vincent, perhaps worse.

There are a lot of great moments in this audio drama from QCODE. But even with a stellar cast, the core idea of connection is split so many different ways where there’s no stance taken. It’s not sure what it wants to be or the message it wants to convey.

7.5/10- Stars