Kids
Jane
Jane, David and their monkey friend Greybeard use their imaginations and adventurous spirits to try and help endangered animals in each episode of Jane.
Have you ever wondered what it would look like if video game mechanics applied to real life?
For instance, many video games bring the player’s character back to life if they’re killed, allowing the player to replay a fight over and over again until they win. But how would it affect a person—both their physical and mental wellbeing—if that were real?
Or what if we could go on quests and earn virtual rewards, just like the characters we play in games, by donning a pair of VR glasses?
Prime Video gives us the answer to these questions and more in the new show Secret Level. Each episode in this anthology series tells us a story set in a different video game.
A world-conquering king is finally humbled when he visits the island of Aeternum from Amazon Games’ New World, where nobody (including him) ever dies. The dragon Tiamat (from Dungeons & Dragons) takes form after a team of adventurers helps lift a curse from a cleric. The human operator of one of Armored Core’s mechs learns there are more out there like him—only to decide he likes being alone.
These stories are certainly an interesting take on entertainment that many gamers will be familiar with. However, much like the games they’re based on, most of these stories aren’t suitable for all ages.
Many episodes of Secret Level get pretty gruesome and gory. Limbs are severed, heads are crushed and bodies torn asunder. Language takes an uptick in some episodes, too, with multiple uses of the f-word and more.
And the game that a given episode is based upon is no indicator of its appropriateness either. The classic arcade game Pac-Man takes a dark turn, reimagining the pixelated yellow dot as a horrific creature that consumes all in her path on her quest to escape a labyrinth.
If that doesn’t give you an idea of what to expect from this Black Mirror-esque series, I’m not sure what will.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
A team of adventurers helps to lift a curse from Solon, a man they encountered on the road.
Solon is covered in tattoos that seemingly embody his curse and also mark him for sacrifice. When the spell is lifted, so are the tattoos. We learn the curse is imbued with the spirit of Tiamat, a mythical, five-headed dragon. She whispers to Solon when he carries the curse, even causing him to see things. But when the curse is transferred to another dragon, she’s able to possess that creature and kill him. She then uses his corpse to take on her own form, crawling out of his chest.
Characters wield weapons (both physical and magical). One character appears to be a sort of corpse that wields ice magic and rides on the back of a giant bat. Another is a kind of werewolf. Solon gets stabbed by several icicles while protecting one of the adventurers, though he survives. He stabs one of his comrades after his curse causes him to hallucinate.
Someone utters, “Gods!” as a curse.
A woman says she used to seek out violence but eventually made the choice to be a hero instead, even if it isn’t always easy.
King Aelstrom of the Northern Shores sails to conquer new lands, only to find an island that is unconquerable.
After Aelstrom’s army is killed in a devastating storm, he lands on the island of Aeternum, where, he learns, nobody can die. However, Aelstrom egotistically believes his survival is due to his destiny to rule. And in trying to conquer the island, Aelstrom is defeated dozens of times by Aeternum’s king (and once by a woman he tries to subjugate). These deaths are rather gory and imaginative, but Aelstrom is resurrected on the beach each time it occurs.
Aelstrom is condescending to everyone, including his servant, Scaevola, a one-armed man who saved him from drowning yet only seeks friendship in return. Aelstrom mocks Scaevola relentlessly. However, his experience on Aeternum eventually humbles him, allowing him to become a much kinder person.
Aelstrom calls one person a “whore’s whelp” and another a “wench.” He mistakes a woman for a boy. Aelstrom attempts to invoke dark magic to defeat Aeternum’s king, but it is useless against the man. Aelstrom removes his shirt for a fight, telling Scaevola to let people “admire their new king.”
We hear uses of “a–” and “d–mit.”
A swordsman tries to escape a labyrinth with the help of a floating golden orb.
The swordsman first gains consciousness after being expelled from a sort of incubation tube. He has no memories, but the golden orb informs him that in this world, he must eat or be eaten. She guides him to a sword, which he then uses to slay a variety of man-eating, horrifying creatures and plants on his journey (which he then consumes).
Glowing “ghosts” haunt the labyrinth, but these are later revealed to just be another type of monster. The swordsman attempts to kill one, but he’s quickly defeated. Before the man dies, another creature eats him in a gruesome scene. And we learn a character is brutally going through swordsman after swordsman in an attempt to escape the labyrinth.
Someone vomits. The swordsman isn’t wearing clothing when we first see him, but he’s not quite human or naked either, and he soon dons a cloak.
A machine operator struggles with his existence, since he has no family, friends or community.
Different government entities use Cores, machines operated from within by drug-augmented humans, to fight for livable territory on an uninhabitable world. When a machine is destroyed, so is the human inside. The story’s protagonist is the last Core operator for his people. However, he has become addicted to the drugs that help him operate the machines, and he only lives for the next mission, feeling no connection with his fellow man.
Someone uses a Core to crush the skull of another’s human operator. We see other Cores destroyed. The protagonist nearly starts a bar brawl, jumpy from drug withdrawals. He’s shoved to the ground after stealing someone’s lit cigarette. Scars from previous battles cover the protagonist’s body.
People drink and smoke. The protagonist inserts an IV that pumps Core drugs into his system, giving him a high and also making his reflexes faster.
An unidentified voice in the protagonist’s head tells him that he should find a community, because humans don’t do well in isolation. But even after finding someone like himself, he decides he would rather be alone with the voice.
We hear a dozen uses of the f-word, as well as the s-word, “a–hole” and “h—.” Jesus’ name is also abused once.
O, a delivery biker, breaks all protocols to deliver a mysterious package containing a sentient creature.
O uses a Buddibot, a sort of robot that puts useful information on the display glasses O wears. When she decides to help the creature (called the Conduit), her Buddibot blocks her vision by putting warnings all over the display. She finally throws the glasses aside, violating her contract and allowing the Buddibot to kill her.
O narrowly escapes a horde of Buddibots when the Conduit uses its powers to transform her bike into various forms of transportation (sort of like a video game come to life). Armed authorities and different creatures try to stop O from delivering the Conduit, attacking her along the way.
O snatches a guy’s soda while riding through traffic. We hear three uses of the s-word and one of “b–tard.” A lone f-word is mostly drowned out by city noises.
The whole episode serves as a commentary on how video gamers waste their time and money on intangible rewards.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Jane, David and their monkey friend Greybeard use their imaginations and adventurous spirits to try and help endangered animals in each episode of Jane.
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