I'm halfway through episode 4. There's a lot of mediocre melodrama, so-so visual effects, network TV-level production design, lame keyboard music, and cardboard thin characters. Not the prestige drama I was expecting. Another job well done, D&D!
Through five episodes, I think my problems with this show mirror those of the latter seasons of GoT. There’s a highlight reel quality to the plotting that feels like it’s undercutting character development and immersion into the world. And the violence, while impactful, seems to lean on B-movie spectacle instead of attempting to deliver real emotional impact by making you care about the characters on anymore than a superficial level. It’s “Oh, kids exist on this boat so I should care!” instead of spending time with these people and coming to care about them in some form because they feel like actual people instead of cardboard cutouts. Here, they’re just the bad guys so they deserve what’s coming to them. And the less than stellar effects work only intensify that (lack of) feeling.
There’s an overall cheapness to the proceedings and seeing the same red flags we saw with the last two seasons of GoT with D&D at the helm makes me wonder what might’ve been under different hands. The ceiling for this show feels like it’s B+ at best.
Ensign9 wrote:Through five episodes, I think my problems with this show mirror those of the latter seasons of GoT. There’s a highlight reel quality to the plotting that feels like it’s undercutting character development and immersion into the world. And the violence, while impactful, seems to lean on B-movie spectacle instead of attempting to deliver real emotional impact by making you care about the characters on anymore than a superficial level. It’s “Oh, kids exist on this boat so I should care!” instead of spending time with these people and coming to care about them in some form because they feel like actual people instead of cardboard cutouts. Here, they’re just the bad guys so they deserve what’s coming to them. And the less than stellar effects work only intensify that (lack of) feeling.
There’s an overall cheapness to the proceedings and seeing the same red flags we saw with the last two seasons of GoT with D&D at the helm makes me wonder what might’ve been under different hands. The ceiling for this show feels like it’s B+ at best.
Ensign9 wrote:Through five episodes, I think my problems with this show mirror those of the latter seasons of GoT. There’s a highlight reel quality to the plotting that feels like it’s undercutting character development and immersion into the world. And the violence, while impactful, seems to lean on B-movie spectacle instead of attempting to deliver real emotional impact by making you care about the characters on anymore than a superficial level. It’s “Oh, kids exist on this boat so I should care!” instead of spending time with these people and coming to care about them in some form because they feel like actual people instead of cardboard cutouts. Here, they’re just the bad guys so they deserve what’s coming to them. And the less than stellar effects work only intensify that (lack of) feeling.
There’s an overall cheapness to the proceedings and seeing the same red flags we saw with the last two seasons of GoT with D&D at the helm makes me wonder what might’ve been under different hands. The ceiling for this show feels like it’s B+ at best.
I think the special effects have been cool.
They are Lost quality, which was perfectly fine and above average back in the mid-2000s on network TV.
Finally started this… the “western” scenes from the first two are poorly written and acted. Jin in particular is awful. The scenes in China are pretty compelling though so I’ll stick for now
3 & 4 are better, Jin is 50% less c-wordy, though still an extreme Mary Su. I like the direction they are taking Benedict Wong’s character. Overall still feels rushed and jumpy and could benefit hugely from a bit more time spent on the science given how critical that is to the story
The clock effect is too reminiscent of “24” as well