Inhumans Season 1 - Review and Thoughts
By BlueEcho 1 Comments
This past weekend marked the end of the first and supposedly last season of Inhumans. From the start the series had a number of criticisms, and many of them were well founded, even as it turned out, were some of the criticisms from those being overly harsh on the trailer. Here is a break down of my own opinion of where the series went right and went wrong (there will be some spoilers):
Cast
The cast was a mixed bag of good casting, bad casting, good performances and bad performances. One of the most compelling and well acted was Anson Mount as Black Bolt. He was probably the best acted character in the series, or at least the closest to what we might have to expect from the comics. His frustration at his inability to speak was well conveyed, and he did a good job acting in the role of being somewhat regal, while also struggling to find a place for his people.
The two sisters, Medusa and Crystal, portrayed by Serinda Swan and Isabelle Cornish, were probably the two most underutilized characters in the series. The decision to cut off Medusa's hair made the character not very consistent with the comics version, as the character despite a superpower that is considered bizarre, is still a powerhouse at times. Crystal was also somewhat wasted, most of the time acting only as a means to get Lockjaw to teleport people from one place to another.
Ken Leung and Eme Ikwuakor had more difficult roles to portray, as their comic versions (Karnak and Gorgon) were mostly only ever supporting characters in the comics. With a more prominent role here and with plot lines that made little sense at times, the characters were most often an unnecessary distraction.
The worst and most distracting part of the series was Iwan Rheon as Maximus. Neither the character nor the actor were helped by the writing, but the over-the-top portrayal of the character did not help things.
Special Effects
Despite the criticism, there were some good special effects in this series, though effectively only in one regard. The impression of watching this series was that they had a budget for special effects, blew it all on animated Lockjaw in CGI and then ran out of it for more practical effects. When Crystal used her powers, it was fairly generic looking. Medusa's hair was well portrayed in the first episode, but then it was cut off, seemingly as much for the reason of saving money on special effects as it was necessary for the plot. Gorgon's hooves looked mostly only comical, and Karnak's ability to analyze events was interesting though under utilized.
Perhaps the biggest letdown was that we never got to see Black Bolt let loose even a little bit. He really only used his power three times from what I can recall, and one of those was a clip that was recycled numerous times through the series, once again giving the impression of saving on special effects.
Dialogue
If there was a failure in the show though, it did not come from the special effects as some beloved movies have some poor special effects. The main problem came from the writing, and it was so poorly done at times, that both the dialogue and the plot deserve equally for the failure of the story.
The dialogue can be best summed up by Maximus, who is given mouthfuls of evil phrases to say, that make them sound to be the most dire of statements that one could think to make a character utter, at least until the next line of dialogue. He is clearly a megalomaniac in his speech and actions, that it becomes hard to believe that anyone in Attilan would have supported his rebellion beyond the first day.
The dialogue at times for most of the other characters was not much better, but was not as bad as was handed to Iwan to read for Maximus.
Plot
The introduction of the characters to Hawaii was interesting, as it insulated them from the rest of the Marvel universe, at one time providing a solid reason for why Captain America never shows up, and equally giving them their own small world to grow inside of.
The fact that the characters were thrown apart in the first issue was perhaps the first and most grave mistake of the series. Each of the main heroes makes allies in their attempts to reunite with the others, though the connections are pretty weird. Gorgon meets some surfers on a beach, who decide that they will fight to the death for him, despite not knowing who he is? Lockjaw is hit by a truck, and Crystal falls in love for a short time with the guy that almost killed her dog? Karnak falls in love with a drug dealer? The interactions were stupid, and made it seem like the writers knew that they had to kill time in the series before Maximus' scheme could be dealt with.
The handling of space was weird as well, as we never really get an impression how a group of people mostly just wandering around Hawaii could find each other. Equally in Attilan which is a strange area, the characters just come and go, and are only ever challenged by guards when it works for the plot. Attilan seems to be a city built of only three rooms, which makes it surprising that the characters can't ever seem to confront one another, especially considering that one side has a teleporting dog.
Continuity
Despite the fact that continuity is not necessarily such a big deal in this series, it invariably ties itself into the bigger Marvel universe in an unfortunate way. First of all it bears mentioning that the series never utilized Easter Eggs in an effective way, and while it was a letdown for those wanting to see how the series fits into the greater picture, it was not a necessity. What was a bigger problem was the ending, which came exactly one week after Thor Ragnarok was released in theaters. The same end state is presented for both Ragnarok and Attilan, with characters saying something to the effect of "Ragnarok/Attilan is not a bunch of buildings, it is the people". The people then watch as their home crumbles behind them, only to be faced with a new and powerful threat.
Despite the fact that Marvel Studios does such a good job of continuing the narrative between its series and even its tv shows, this seemed like a rare mistake on their part, giving two stories the same ending.
Synopsis
When Daredevil came out on Netflix, no one was quite sure how it would fare, and so there was some uncertainty beforehand about whether it would be renewed or not, or if it would just stand alone as a one-shot. The same idea could seemingly apply to Inhumans, but the performance of the show was evidently not enough to warrant a second season.
There are a few unanswered questions at the end of the series, and specifically what the great threat was that Black Bolt referred to. Seeing as Marvel phase 2 is building up to a big throwdown with Thanos, it could mean that, and really this could be the best outcome for the characters in this series, not to be relegated to a below average television show, but to throw them on the big screen with their other heroic counterparts, even if it is just a cameo. Avengers: Infinity War is going to be a busy movie, with all the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy showing up, but it would be interesting to see if they could work in Black Bolt, Medusa and Crystal with an actual CGI budget behind them. The actors are strong enough to portray the characters, it just seems like they never really got a chance.
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