That “-Present”
in the heading is all but a formality – to my knowledge, Inhumans hasn’t been officially canceled, but I’m guessing it’s
only a matter of time. Iron Fist already showed that Marvel’s
TV shows aren’t guaranteed knockouts, and Inhumans,
a bland 8-episode mess, unfortunately proves that Iron Fist wasn’t a one-off (I feel compelled to point out that
Scott Buck is the creator for both shows, and that’s the last word I’ll say on Iron Fist today.) A few spoilers.
On
Attilan, the secret lunar city that’s home to a society of Inhumans, a seismic
shift is taking place. Maximus, the
non-powered brother of King Black Bolt, has rocked the royal family with a
coup, looking to overturn the caste system that prizes Inhumans over
humans. As Maximus seizes control of the
city, Black Bolt, his wife Medusa, and the rest of the non-usurping royal
family find themselves on Earth, scattered across a Hawaiian island and
desperate to regroup, return, and retake Attilan.
I like
the Inhumans on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,
even though it’s clear how cribbed the themes of their narrative are from X-Men (a by-product of Marvel previously
having had film rights to Inhumans but not mutants?), but I do not like this
series. Despite its short length, I
stuck with its first (only?) season for precisely two reasons: my completist nature and Ken Leung. It’s somehow boring and overwrought at the
same time, it makes dumb storytelling choices, and for a show about people with
superpowers, it features way too many action scenes wherein people are just
punching each other – on that note, I get that Medusa’s prehensile hair had to
be a bitch to CGI on a TV budget, but why take away a major character’s access
to her powers in the pilot? Overall, it’s just aggressively “eh,” by
turns uninspiring, cheesy, and stupid.
As for
the cast, I’m alternately unimpressed and sympathetic. Anson Mount’s Black Bolt (whose voice
contains tremendous, uncontrollable power and is therefore almost always
silent) is a total miss; a silent character needs to have a really compelling presence,
and most of the time, Mount just looks constipated. I like Serinda Swan as Medusa a little
better, although her character’s arc leaves a lot to be desired. A few familiar faces make me wonder what they
did to deserve being stuck in a series like this. Iwan Rheon plays Maximus, and after his turn
as Ramsay on Game of Thrones, casting
him as a villain is basically an automatic spoiler. I’m guessing the Hawaii setting is at least
in part responsible for the presence of a couple of Lost alum – Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond!) in a fairly thankless role
as a human scientist and Ken Leung (Miles!) as Karnak, who easily manages to be
the most interesting of the Inhumans despite not having much good material to
work with, either.
At least
I’ve since had Thor: Ragnarok, The Punisher, and the new season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with which to cleanse my palate, as well as the
promise of Black Panther getting closer
everyday.
Warnings
Comic
book violence and thematic elements.
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