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Shadowhunters
Jan. 13th, 2016 09:39 pmI watched the first two episodes of Shadowhunters, based on Cassandra Clare's books. I know a lot of people I know have issues with Clare, which seem justified from the bits I know, but I was pretty into the original Mortal Instruments trilogy for a while (didn't care much for the 4th book, and never followed up on it or read the spinoff stuff as a result) before I knew any of that, and enjoyed the movie from a couple years ago.
The plot (at least at this point...the books, at least, take some interesting and slightly different turns) is relatively stand supernatural YA far. Heroine stumbles into otherworldly stuff, meets hot otherworldly warrior and they make googoo eyes, heroine discovers she actually has a special genetic connection to the otherworldly stuff, HIJINKS. (Please note that this is not an objection. I have shelves full of these things.)
The series is a new version as opposed to picking up where the movie left off, which is probably for the best in the long run, but I imagine is a bit odd to anyone who "met" the series with the movie. The first episode was really awkward and had odd pacing and most of the actors didn't seem to really feel it. The second episode was still cheesy, but a lot better overall. They seem to be plowing through their version of the plot of the first book as quickly as they can. I'm not sure if they plan to slow down, or are getting a lot of the book canon out of the way so they can do their own thing. Maybe both.
Aside from knowing Katherine McNamara was cast as Clary (I've liked her for a while, so it's nice to see her in a protagonist role) and that Harry Shum, Jr. was cast as Magnus, I didn't really know much about the cast, beyond having heard that several characters who were white in the book were being played by POC actors. Cyrus from Nikita showing up as Luke was a very nice surprise, and Angsty Vampire Boyfriend from Vampire Academy as Jace was a bit startling, but if the actor has decided that this is his niche, then more power to him.
I can't say I was blown away, but I enjoyed the episodes. And while there are iffy things, it's nice to have a new urban fantasy show where I don't feel I have to either handwave or try to get past problematic stuff every few minutes to appreciate the things I do like.
In other news, iZombie came back for one episode before going on hiatus again until February? Supergirl kinda did the same thing, though with a shorter break. Weird.
The plot (at least at this point...the books, at least, take some interesting and slightly different turns) is relatively stand supernatural YA far. Heroine stumbles into otherworldly stuff, meets hot otherworldly warrior and they make googoo eyes, heroine discovers she actually has a special genetic connection to the otherworldly stuff, HIJINKS. (Please note that this is not an objection. I have shelves full of these things.)
The series is a new version as opposed to picking up where the movie left off, which is probably for the best in the long run, but I imagine is a bit odd to anyone who "met" the series with the movie. The first episode was really awkward and had odd pacing and most of the actors didn't seem to really feel it. The second episode was still cheesy, but a lot better overall. They seem to be plowing through their version of the plot of the first book as quickly as they can. I'm not sure if they plan to slow down, or are getting a lot of the book canon out of the way so they can do their own thing. Maybe both.
Aside from knowing Katherine McNamara was cast as Clary (I've liked her for a while, so it's nice to see her in a protagonist role) and that Harry Shum, Jr. was cast as Magnus, I didn't really know much about the cast, beyond having heard that several characters who were white in the book were being played by POC actors. Cyrus from Nikita showing up as Luke was a very nice surprise, and Angsty Vampire Boyfriend from Vampire Academy as Jace was a bit startling, but if the actor has decided that this is his niche, then more power to him.
I can't say I was blown away, but I enjoyed the episodes. And while there are iffy things, it's nice to have a new urban fantasy show where I don't feel I have to either handwave or try to get past problematic stuff every few minutes to appreciate the things I do like.
In other news, iZombie came back for one episode before going on hiatus again until February? Supergirl kinda did the same thing, though with a shorter break. Weird.