Ad Vitam, is a Netflix Original series set in the future. Episode 1 starts out on the birthday of the "elder", the "elder" is the oldest living person. Its her 169th birthday and the whole world celebrates this day. The reason this woman is 169 is because in this futuristic world people don't die because of old age, in fact, death has been cured. And because death is cured, suicide is the main problem in this society. After the celebration for the elder has died down a bit we are taken to a beach where there are many bodies of teenagers floating in the water. This is when we meet one of our main characters Darius. Darius is a 119 year old man who is a criminal investigator. He investigates the scene the next morning and sees a tattoo on one of the bodies that links the body to a suicide cult. This suicide cult had done something similar to the scene that Darius is investigating. 10 years ago there was a mass suicide at a stadium. After going to the victims home and searching his room Darius and his partner, Lesky, find pills. The pills lead Darius to find Kenji a dealer of sorts, Kenji simply says that the reason he gave the victim the pills was because the victim wanted to forget. Darius then remembers that there was a survivor from 10 years ago. We now might our second main character Christa. Christa has been at a Psychiatric Center for those 10 years. Darius talks with Christa and they come to an agreement that Christa will try and make contact with the suicide cult she was apart of. This process leads Christa to a cult that doesn't believe they should regenerate. Christa is invited by the cult leader to watch a member of that cult "reach enlightenment", which is the nice way of saying die. After the member "reaches enlightenment" it seems to me that it is customary for everyone to hug each other. When this happens Christa is pulled into a hug and her tattoo that ties her to the suicide cult is revealed to the cult leader. The cult leader then has Christa beat up outside where they met. Darius being able to see and hear everything that's happening to Christa rushes to her aid. He gets there after the beating is finished and rushes Christa to the hospital. The episode ends with Christa receiving a text from the suicide cult that she was trying to make contact with.
As I explained before the technology in this world is very advanced. Genetic engineering is the focus of the show because as stated before these people of the future have cured death. This affects the culture of this world in a very interesting way. The way this is represented is at the beginning. While Darius and Lesky search the victims room, Angus Singh, a counselor of death talks with the victims mother to try and get her to understand that her son is gone and is never coming back. It is hard for her to grasp that her son is really dead and isn't coming back because she isn't accustomed to people dying, because death has been "cured".
The way that these people of the future have cured death was through "regeneration". The way the show makes "regeneration" possible is through a bath of sorts. If you lived in this world and wished to "regenerate", you would get into a casket like chamber that is filled with water. Before you submerge in the water, you take off all of your clothes and you put a mouth piece that looks similar to a scuba divers mouth piece in your mouth and then you completely submerge your whole body into the casket. While you are submerged, a bright white light will flash and the chamber will hum. This "regeneration bath" cures diseases, and old age essentially making you immortal. The only thing that can kill you is, severe accidents, and you committing suicide.
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