Inhuman Series

[Gris]

The project has bounced so much that it feels quite iffy and truth be told the first picture shown doesn't help much.

[Dhark]

While I'm mildly curious to see how they fit this into existing MCU continuity.. I'm also of the notion that this promotional shot is having an adverse effect on my hype.

[takewithfood]

Ouch. That... that is not a good start. I'm guessing from left to right we have Gorgon, Karnak, Black Bolt, Medusa, Krystal, and Maximus.

My first thought was "Wow, those are some bad costumes and one really bad wig." My second thought was "WTF is Iwan Rheon doing in this? He's an actual actor." And after that it was just a lot of cringing.

I mean I'll check it out, it always has potential, but.. yikes.

~TWF

[takewithfood]

Well, there's a trailer:



~TWF

[Gris]

It looks slightly less awful than I thought, but it not only still seems to be pretty cheap, it also has the laziest plot known to mankind.

[takewithfood]

That was exactly my take on it, too. They did a terrible job of explaining to the audience that Black Bolt can't speak without basically rupturing a planet. They kinda hint at it but it isn't clear and I doubt people who are new to the character understood. Instead he kinda just looks constipated most of the time, and I swear they intentionally made it look like he blew up a cop car by farting a little at the end.

Who knows, could be watchable. A shame it isn't tying in to Agents.

~TWF

[Gris]

About the tying into Agents, considering how the previous season ended, sometimes I wonder if the show runners and producers talk to each other at all, because it sometimes seem like they live in a vacuum.

[takewithfood]

So Inhumans is wrapping up its 2-week theatrical run of its first 2 episodes, and the reviews are brutal. It's currently sitting at 7% fresh at RT, and looks as though it will settle at around 40% at Metacritic. I don't think that's going to shock anyone here.

Starting to feel glad it isn't officially tying-in with Agents.

[Gris]

It looks really, really awful, but that's to expect from a project that has been handled like that. I guess I'll see the first one once available out of morbid curiosity, but I'm not looking to it.

[GPMC]

Watched the first two episodes today.
Luckily it was a lot less catastrophic then I thought it'd be.
Wouldn't say it's "good" just yet, but at least kind of watchable with some possible potential.

Also they managed the "terrible wig" kind of well.
So my judgement so far.. worst case didn't happen, and might even become something halfway decent.

[Gris]

Watched the first one this afternoon. I don't want to go to great lengths explaining how I felt and spoiler tagging it. Saying that even if it was available I didn't bother with the second one should be enough.

[takewithfood]

Just finished the first episode. It's atrocious and deserving of it's abysmal ratings. It is a complete mess almost from end to end, and if I went into detail this post would be 10,000+ words. Instead I'm going to try to limit myself to two grievances.

1. Holy Jesus those sets and costumes. I don't think I have ever seen more lifeless, meaningless sets and costumes. Everyone wears the same thing all the time, every room is large, greige, and barren, like the tacky lobby of a corporate skyscraper. We're even given sweeping outdoor shots of Attilan, despite it being nothing but bland poured concrete. We never see anyone actually live, we just see people going about in full costume, standing and talking, sitting and talking, or walking and talking. There is no impression at all that this is a real city, that it's inhabitants are real people with lives, families, interests, jobs, hobbies, aspirations, struggles, or anything remotely relatable. Absolutely everything about the look of the show is a disaster.

2. Double holy Jesus, so many unearned moments. A show often lives or dies by the big, epic moments where the story or a character's arc pivots dramatically, but these moments have to be earned. You have to set them up, build the moment; you can't just skip right to the payoff. Darth Vader's famous "No, I am your father!" line is so iconic because they built it up over two whole movies; you can't just shove that shit in the first 10 minutes of A New Hope and stuff the scene full of cheesy orchestral music in a desperate attempt to inform the audience of just how epic the moment really is! I won't go into spoilers, but there are four or five moments that are played as though they're huge, dramatic, epic turning points, which fall 100% flat because there was almost no set up. I felt like I was watching the season finale of a 26 episode arc, not the first half of the first episode! (Here's a wonderful short video essay that touches on what I mean.)

Ugh, I get chills thinking of how poorly executed this was. I actually have a new appreciation for what the Agents of SHIELD writers have been able to pull off despite all the executive meddling they've been forced to endure.

In an attempt to even this rant out, I'm going to try to find some positive things to say:

- Black Bolt is actually likeable in a few scenes. His behaviour is inexplicable most of the time, but there's at least some charisma there.

- Lockjaw looked okay in a lost of scenes, to my surprise. He looked stupid in the trailer but he somehow fits the show and is pretty cute.

- Iwan Rheon is wasted in this show, but he's still not bad despite having almost nothing to work with. His accent is decent, even if it makes the fact that they all speak perfect English even more obvious. (And if they all speak English, why doesn't Bolt use a real sign language? I'm fluent in ASL and his sign language was painfully unrealistic.)

- So much of this takes place during the day, which is a refreshing change from so many shows that use nighttime scenes as a cheap way to create a "cool" or dramatic feel. Supergirl does this really well, too.

I'll probably keep watching, though entirely out of morbid fascination. I can see why people might legitimately enjoy this - it has a story, sort of, it has super powers, a little action, some special effects - but in terms of quality it's just horrifically executed.

[takewithfood]

So I've actually watched a couple more episodes (3 & 4) and the show does improve. The big, unearned moments are toned down, perhaps because these episodes weren't made for a theatrical release, and the majority of the show takes place on Earth, instantly improves the set and most of the costumes. The acting is still really uneven, but some strong efforts from a few actors help overcome what is otherwise still pretty bad dialogue.

Don't get me wrong, it's still really bad. Most of the characters are still brutally underdeveloped and I don't care at all for their storylines, and the editing and directing are still pretty bad, but it did get better. Some people might even find it watchable.

[vjcsmoke]

LOL. I'm watching it for the funsies. This show actually inspired me to make a character for the Inhumans campaign.

I did think the costumes were bad. There is no flair to them. Karnak and Gorgon look like homeless people instead of royalty.

The only one with a decent costume is Blackbolt, but he had to change out of it once he got to Earth.

The most relatable character is probably Crystal? She was all cooped up in Attilan, but finally starts to enjoy a taste of freedom on earth and she meets someone she can be 'normal' around.

Too bad it seems like the action will likely switch back to Attilan now that the Inhuman family has reunited. I expect them to bring the fight to Maximus this time!

I don't think he deserves mercy, but this season will be be over so soon unless he comes up with some wrinkle to save himself!

[GPMC]

Well, on earth Karnak and Gorgon kind of are homeless people, ;-) so it fits.