Silicon Valley Legal Drama ‘Cupertino’ Is a Breathless, Whip-Smart Tour of AI Insanity From Robert and Michelle King: TV Review

On its face, the CBS drama “Cupertino” is a reversion to type for creators Robert and Michelle King. After dipping a toe into the supernatural with “Evil,” a kind of “X-Files” riff set inside the Catholic Church, the married couple behind “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight” are back on factual terra firma with another legal procedural staffed by New York theater actors. It’s nice to see Jackie Hoffman back in judges’ robes! But in just a couple of episodes, it’s clear that star Mike Colter isn’t the only carryover from the “Evil” set. In shifting the proceedings from Chicago to Silicon Valley amid the artificial intelligence boom, “Cupertino” runs headfirst into questions that are straight-up spiritual. Can a machine have a soul, or even free will? Should an algorithm rule us impartially, like a god? Who is culpable for the sins of a computer? “It’s software, not Satan,” an expert tries to argue on the stand. That’s about when I started looking for Andrea Martin’s steely nun to walk onscreen while waving a crucifix. Of course, the Kings have long had a keen eye for distilling and (just barely) heightening the absurdities of modern life. A full decade ago, the too-ahead-of-its-time “BrainDead” spent its single season spinning our devolving political discourse as a covert zombie apocalypse; “The Good Fight” was the only satire of the (first) Trump era to make truth and fiction equally strange. “Cupertino” is as fast-paced and funny as these predecessors, but beneath all the wheeling and dealing is a steady sincerity. The Kings have some deep, probing questions about what a few highly capitalized innovators are unleashing on the rest of the world. They’re not questions science and logic proofs alone can answer. Popular on Variety Their chosen protagonists are up to the task. Colter’s Michael Price, an attorney we meet while being unfairly defenestrated from the AI startup where he was co-founder and in-house counsel, brings the legal experience — and a motivating chip on his shoulder courtesy of a successful, controlling dad he’s still trying to outrun. But Olivia Siffre (Rachel Keller of “Fargo” and “Tokyo Vice”), the entry-level associate fired at the same time as Michael in retaliation for sexual harassment, is an observant Christian whose religion sticks out like a sore thumb in the largely secular South Bay Area. (“Consciousness is a divine endowment given by God’s breath,” she says, whatever the most up-to-date LLM would have you believe.) When Michael and Olivia team up to launch a fledgling firm, both of their backgrounds inform its approach. “During the gold rush, don’t sue the gold mine,” one of Michael’s colleagues cautions him. But he sees the uphill battle of suing major corporations differently — not as altruism, but as opportunity. In a flood, he notes, “You don’t sell water. You sell the life jackets.” Michael’s vision is to position the new firm as a David taking on the Goliath of seemingly infinite venture capital. (Bible metaphors! See what I mean about the religion angle?) No Kings protagonist, including and especially members of the clergy, is a saint, and Michael and Olivia are no exceptions. They may share some AI skepticism, but their strategy is a business plan, not a moral crusade, and they’ll switch sides in the middle of an oral argument if they have to. To make this scheme a reality, the duo team up with another underdog: Natalia Boutella (Busy Philipps), a MacKenzie Scott-type divorcée who has cash to invest, an axe to grind and a law degree gathering dust she just might put to use. Completing the team is investigator Christy (Ella Stiller, slotting neatly into the Sarah Steele slot from “The Good Fight”), a townie whose family connections to the region far predate the tech boom. There’s some mild irony in the scion of a Hollywood dynasty playing a salt-of-the-earth local; Stiller is nonetheless a convincingly tenacious bulldog. Besides, entertainment is just as under threat from AI as any other industry. How much power can a last name have when staring down the potential apocalypse? The cases Michael, Olivia and their colleagues take on read like a laundry list of ripped-from-the-headlines topics for dinner party debates. Artificial general intelligence, internal dissent around safety protocols, rationalists and radical offshoots like the Zizians, AI psychosis, prediction markets and human “trainers” are all direct or implied inspirations for various subplots. So quickly does “Cupertino” rip through material that I’m almost worried the writers could run dry — or I would be, if reality weren’t generating new potential stories by the day. Besides, the brisk clip of “Cupertino” is part of how the show reflects its subjects. In a world where so-called frontier labs are barreling toward an end result they can barely understand, there’s no reason for a tech drama to take its sweet time. Michael and Olivia’s firm is, of course, a start-up in its own right. They value short-term plays for quick infusions of cash over yearslong suits, and in a recurring bit, each win affords a new room in their mostly empty, very much under construction office. But even in the 10 episodes sent to critics, “Cupertino” has the confidence of a much more established show. Already, there are recurring characters outside the main cast whose appearances I eagerly anticipate — chief among them Renée Elise Goldsberry as Michael’s ex and frequent legal foe. (Though the “Girls5Eva” reunion with Philipps is just as enjoyable as the chemistry with Colter.) I can’t say “Cupertino” makes me feel better about the state of the world, but it built a version of reality that’s both recognizable and a pleasure to spend time in. In the show’s surprisingly religious parlance, it’s a miracle. “Cupertino” will premiere on CBS and Paramount+ on Oct. 8 at 10 p.m. ET, with remaining episodes airing weekly on Thursdays.