Rick Dakan’s Geek Mafia: Mile Zero fell a little flat for me. While I wasn’t particularly high on the first Geek Mafia, it was passable. The sequel really lost what little geekiness there was in the original. The result was a tedious game of keeping track of a number of confidence schemes, played out by a cast of fairly thin grifter characters.
Paul, Chloe, and Bee, the remnants of a Crew formerly based out of Silicon Valley have moved to Key West, Florida. There they’re trying to reestablish themselves as a profitable con artist collective. Obviously, the different setting requires different tactics, and the reduced population makes the overall upside, and fun, a lot smaller. This aspect of their relocation seems to be chafing Paul and Chloe’s romantic relationship.
Enter Winston, Chloe’s mentor in The Life of Crews, who shows up unannounced in Key West. At Winston’s urging, a number of other leaders of large national/international crews are about to descend upon the adult playground. Plans to take The Life to the next level are brewing.
Things really get ignited after a murder takes place, throwing negotiations amongst the various leaders out of whack. Various double crosses and treacheries take place, as Paul and Chloe take up the task of solving the mystery. They also have to address the bigger picture of their fragile relationship and what role they might have if these big schemes actually hatch. Plus old ghosts from Silicon Valley rear their ugly head.
Too bad Geek Mafia: Mile Zero didn’t live up to the setup.
My first beef with Geek Mafia: Mile Zero is the lack of real exciting geekiness. Dakan doesn’t push into sci-fi by inventing new technology. Nor is there any creative extrapolation of present or near term capabilities. The tech used to pull of their scams seems pretty pedestrian to me. An average episode of Mission Impossible (TV or movie, take your pick) is more exciting in this aspect.
Secondly, after Paul and Chloe, the characters become fairly uninteresting and indistinguishable. You never really get much backstory on any of them , there’s way too many, and the plot doesn’t really allow anyone to stand out.
Finally, the plot? Well, let’s just say it’s a bit convoluted. To no good end.
I bought Geek Mafia: Mile Zero on the good graces of Geek Mafia. You won’t hurt yourself reading Geek Mafia: Mile Zero, but you’ve probably got better things you could be doing with your time.