(TV SERIES) Helstrom Season 1 - Very Dark with Some Supernatural Element Series Adapted from Marvel Comics

I wanted to try something different during the weekend and I chose this series as it was adapted from Marvel comics, albeit not characters that I was familiar with. And was this as interesting as the premise suggested in the brief synopsis? Let's find out, shall we?

Brief Story Line

Daimon Helstrom (Tom Austen - The Royals TV series etc) was working as an anthropology professor with a side job of doing exorcisms as requested by the Catholic church. Daimon was usually accompanied by a young Nun in training named Gabriella Rosetti (Ariana Guerra) who was encouraged to work together by Dr. Louise Hastings (June Carryl) the head of psychiatric hospital where Daimon's mother Victoria (Elizabeth Marvel - Homeland TV series etc) was institutionalized.

During his childhood years, Daimon was separated with his younger sister Ana Helstrom (Sydney Lemmon) who had been in and out of foster home after a huge incident involving their serial killer father. This resulted to a constraint relationship between the two. Ana now worked as an antiquities collector with her partner Chris (Alain Uy) while also doing something illegal on the side. She was also close with a mysterious person called Caretaker (Robert Wisdom - The Wire TV series etc) who seemed to know a lot about fighting demons.

When demons seemed to start wreaking havoc and Victoria's condition worsened after being possessed more 20 years, Daimon and Ana had to put their differences and together fight the new threats. So how would the story proceed? Find them all in this series.

End of Brief Story Line

As I said earlier that I was unfamiliar with the characters, I did not know what to expect from the people in the series. At first when I saw the character Daimon who was called in for exorcism, I was surprised with the similarity with another series that I just completed a week ago Evil, but while that one dealt a bit on the religious side of things, this one was more on the supernatural element and obviously power that Daimon had. If you have not read the comics like I did, then it would be best if I let you see it by yourself. And then when we were introduced with Ana, the contrast between these two characters were appealing to watch and her power was also something that made me intrigued.  

The story itself revolved around the struggle Daimon and Ana had with their own very dark past and the fact their father was demonic serial killer, not to mention their mother's "unique" condition. And to make things further complicated, there was also the moral aspect Gabriella had to face plus the additional side story of Louise, Caretaker and Chris Yen who personally I thought was kind of a breath of fresh air in this otherwise gloomy series. 

Watching the entire 10 episodes of the first season (by the time I write this post, there was no news yet whether there will be a second season. though personally I thought it would be a real pity if it is not renewed, especially after that awesome ending), I was quite entertained by it. However, it somehow never captivated me the way I thought it would be. There was some darkness in here plus some piece of action and decent special effects but it was not enough to make me felt really invested in it. Of all those episodes, only the 6th that to me was totally awesome. The episodes prior that seemed like going nowhere, while the rest were less intense, although I did enjoy the finale.

This series was an adaptation of comic from Marvel but it was said to be a standalone and not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I understand the series creator took a different approach compared to the cheerful and light tone that other movies and series in MCU had. This one was darker with strong supernatural element. It did not even have the standard Marvel flipping pages in the beginning either. What actually surprised me was the critics rating was quite low, which meant they did not really enjoy the series, whereas I may not have been as critical as them since I was still entertained by the series even if it's not to the maximum.

Overall this was an intriguing series, a different, darker gloomier type from the rich library of Marvel comics, though not necessarily the best one. It has its appeal especially for those who like this kind of genre and probably good to watch too during the Halloween season. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars