It’s hard to think of a character in The Perfect Couple more outright unlikable than Thomas Winbury (Jack Reynor). As the family instigator who delights in mocking his brothers, defending his ill-fated investments in crypto, and cheating on Dakota Fanning‘s Abby, Jack Reynor memorably delivers a loathsome portrayal of the eldest Winbury son, which makes it all the more impressive that Reynor actually played a much more responsible sibling in a very different kind of family drama. Literal worlds away from Reynor’s prodigal role in Netflix’s latest whodunit, the actor’s performance in Prime Video’s The Peripheral demonstrates Reynor’s range with his notable turn as haunted Marine veteran Burton Fisher, showcasing the performer’s talent for blending grit with a healthy dose of cynicism in the process.
Based on the book of the same name by William Gibson and executive produced by Westworld creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, The Peripheral Season 1 premiered in October 2022 before subsequently having its Season 2 renewal reversed, but this cancellation didn’t come before The Peripheral left a positive impression. Of particular note were the short-lived sci-fi series’ leads, with Reynor playing the brother of Chloë Grace Moretz‘s virtual reality savant, Flynne Fisher, in one of the latter’s most underrated roles. With plenty of futuristic action sequences and world-ending stakes, the fantastical series is certainly a departure from Reynor’s more humorous turn in Netflix’s murder mystery, but The Peripheral is nonetheless a must-see for anyone interested in the actor’s varied Hollywood history.
What Is ‘The Peripheral’ About?
While the series eventually embodies an incredibly intricate premise, The Peripheral begins on the ground level by giving audiences a glimpse into the personal trials of the Fisher family. Both Fisher siblings struggle to take care of their sick mother (Melinda Page Hamilton) while beating video games to pay for her medication in the town of Canton, North Carolina, in 2032. In a depressing resemblance to his Netflix character, these caretaking efforts are hampered by the fact that Reynor’s Burton is caught stealing pills from his mother’s bedside, though this reliance is implied to result from his trauma as a Marine rather than the self-destructive glee practiced by Thomas Winbury in The Perfect Couple. Burton soon makes it up to Flynne by offering to let her test-run an experimental VR headset sent to them by a mysterious company, one which promises to pay enough to keep their family funded for months.
Rather than send Flynne into a normal game, however, this headset soon jettisons Moretz’s character into the digital ride of her life, catching her in a web of future intrigue when it is revealed the headset actually uploads Moretz’s consciousness into an android body in the year 2100 called a Peripheral. The Peripheral’s exact timeline only grows more intricate from here, revealing that the Fishers live in a branched-off version of the past called a stub timeline, which results in an ever-expanding cast of characters colliding in both past, present, and future. In 2100, where three great powers — the Research Institute, the Metropolitan Police, and the Klept — dominate a post-apocalyptic society, Flynne is helped by the charming Wilf Netherton (Gary Carr), an associate of a high-ranking Klept aristocrat who tries to keep her out of the hands of the RI’s cold Cherise Nuland (T’Nia Miller). Back in 2032, however, the Fishers are also forced to face a vast array of emerging threats.
Jack Reynor Is a Haunted Protector in Prime Video’s ‘The Peripheral’
It’s in this beginning time period that Reynor’s Burton is given the greatest opportunity to shine. After Flynne’s first test drives of the headset result in her future enemies setting a cross-timeline bounty on her head, Burton instantly transforms from nonchalant sibling back into the trained killer of his military days. In line with The Peripheral’s sci-fi focus, Burton’s ability to defend his sister is greatly helped by his use of haptics, a neural network permanently implanted in Burton and his fellow veterans’ bodies during their days in the military to boost unit cohesion. Using this technology, Burton is not only able to rally his friends to defend the Fishers from a highly-trained mercenary team, but he also defends his sister in both timelines and grows into one of the most powerful men in Clanton.
Reynor’s performance during his character’s subtle ascent is likewise a blend of grim practicality and reserved concern. The irreverence Reynor portrays so well in The Perfect Couple is never completely absent from the actor’s characterization in The Peripheral, though the chip on Burton’s shoulder can mainly be attributed to the horrors he witnessed while fighting in the series’ Texas Outback War of 2028. Subsequently, Reynor plays Burton’s tactical, pragmatic personality with deadly earnestness, urging Flynne to immediately take out Clanton’s resident strongman, Corbell Pickett (Louis Herthum), when they learn the RI has recruited him to take them out. Reynor also balances his character’s colder side with several vulnerable moments, especially during his scenes with Conner Penske (Eli Goree), a former member of Burton’s squad whose battlefield injury has left the entire team with an inescapable sense of guilt.
In particular, Burton’s recruitment of Conner at the end of Episode 2 marks an intimate moment between the two, as the veterans discuss how it feels to be pitied by society and feeling like a failure as a friend, but Reynor’s best moment in Prime’s cancelled TV series easily takes place during Burton’s confrontation with Pickett in Episode 3. Offering the kingpin a weekly bribe in exchange for the Fishers’ safety, Burton uses the moment to levy the show’s most dramatic threat, giving Reynor a chance to showcase his character’s inner turmoil and decisiveness at once. Between recounting how he once beat a man to death because his haptics connected him to another of the stranger’s victims and putting Picket in the crosshairs of a sniper, Reynor establishes himself as a layered character who can even challenge Clanton’s most influential adversary.
Jack Reynor Delivers One of His Most Understated Performances in ‘The Peripheral’
What really sells Reynor’s portrayal, however, is the actor’s methodology. Almost never in The Peripheral does Burton appear overly emotional or unnecessarily sentimental, with Reynor’s restrained, callous mannerisms speaking to a man who has had his emotions appropriated by technology in service to America’s futuristic military. As a result, Reynor opts not to portray the same level of vulnerability he put forth in other projects like Midsommar, though ultimately this more reserved performance works well within The Peripheral’s narrative frame. Burton is both believable as a former soldier and exhilarating in his action-packed scenes battling assassins like Bob O’Connell (Ned Dennehy) while also training inside his own Peripheral in Episode 7, highlighting the character’s ethical ambiguity by having him excel at the kind of fighting that also plagues his personality.
Unfortunately, Burton’s role in The Peripheral’s finale is somewhat overshadowed by Conner’s own contribution to the series’ ending, as the latter ultimately steps up to inspire Flynne to outmaneuver Cherise. Wishing that real life could feature resets like video games, Conner’s words lead to Flynne creating another stub timeline into which she escapes, along with valuable data that could give the RI control of the world if Cherise locates her. The exact logic of this switch and its accompanying terminology can be confusing, but without a Season 2 for The Peripheral on the way, Jack Reynor fans can still enjoy this underrated sci-fi gem for showcasing his ability to portray a much more heroic brother and delivering one of the actor’s most high-profile leading performances.
The Peripheral is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
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