Inhumans (2017-Present)

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.