I have heard about the making of this series some time ago, but then I read news that it was cancelled only after premiering its 1st episode. Then I lose interest as I thought what's the point of watching only 1 episode. Turned out though that the rest of the episodes were still shown which made me intrigued and wanted to give it a try. Well anyway, I just completed the whole season few days ago and will share more below.
Brief Story Line
A CDC doctor Abigail Arcane (Crystal Reed - Ghostland, Teen Wolf TV series etc) was called to investigate some infectious disease spreading in her old hometown of Marais. She later met with a biologist named Alec Holland (Andy Bean - It Chapter Two, Power TV series etc) who claimed he knew more about the reason for the disease which was related to the swamp in that area. Abby also reacquainted with her old school friends Liz (Maria Sten) who now became part time bartender and reporter, and also with Matt Cable (Henderson Wade) who had become deputy in the Sheriff department under Marais' Sheriff Lucilia (Jennifer Beals - Flashdance, The L Word TV series etc).
It would appear that there was indeed something in the swamp and after an incident, Alec was somehow transformed into a creature later on referred to as Swamp Thing (Derek Mears - Friday the 13th 2009 version etc). Things became complicated when the town's richest couple Avery (Will Patton - Halloween 2018 version etc) and Maria Sunderland (Virginia Madsen - Candyman, Sideways etc) assigned a famous bio-geneticist Jason Woodrue (Kevin Durand - Take Point, Legion etc) to investigate the possible mutagen in the swamp which might endanger Swamp Thing.
So what would happen to Alec, Abby and the Marais people? Find them all in this dark superhero with a bit of horror series.
End of Brief Story Line
This series was actually surprisingly good and entertaining for me. It was dark like the usual DC comics adaptation in movies or series but the part that surprised me the most was the horror feel with several jump scare scenes. It was enhanced by the fact that a lot of scenes were shown in the swamp during night plus the loud sound effect during the action sequence. The story itself was generally OK with the early part providing us introduction of the characters and how Swamp Thing appeared, although as the story progressed, there was a mystical feel which I personally did not really like.
I enjoyed the performance of the lead characters Crystal Reed as Abby Arcane and Andy Bean as Alec Holland. Their chemistry was pretty nice to see and provided me a Beauty and the Beast vibe. I did not realize that Swamp Thing was portrayed by another person until I check more details on the cast but I thought he was awesome. The rest of the cast were pretty average to me and I felt there were too many of them for a short series to leave a great impression. In fact I thought few of them should have been categorized as guest stars rather than main cast, such as the characters Liz or Xanadu (Jeryl Prescot). I felt that Ian Ziering (original Beverly Hills 90210 series) might be more suitable as part of the main cast, seeing his role was quite important. But I did like Will Patton whom I thought was just perfect as this shady businessman of the small town.
The action sequence here were not as much as I would have hoped for but whenever shown, they were quite amazing. The violence though might be a bit disturbing for some people, and it even surprised me a bit. There were also some disturbing horrifying supernatural-ish scenes so audience should be prepared for it. Btw, I noticed the name James Wan as one of the executive producers which probably explained the strong horror sense in this series.
The first and only season consisted of 10 episodes with my favorites the pilot episode, the 7th episode (which was the best to my opinion) and the 9th episode. Strangely enough, the final episode was a bit too slow paced for me and did not provide me the spectacular finale I had hoped for. There was an interesting mid end-credit scene in the series finale, so do not be too quick switching off. And that scene really made me sad as I would not be able to see the continuation of this interesting series. Oh I was also a bit hopeful there would be some crossover with other DC Universe series but unfortunately there was none.
Overall I thought this was an interesting series. A different kind of superhero with a Beauty and the Beast sense plus some horror feel. It's too bad there would not be any second season so it's understandable if people might not be interested in watching the series due to no proper conclusion. But if you are fans of this unique character from DC comics and if you probably have seen either the movie or series adaptation back in the 90s, then you should definitely watch this one at least to bring back the memory or to make comparison.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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