Swamp Thing (DC Direct, Season 1)
Feb. 24th, 2020 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroCDC doctor Abigail Arcane is called back to her hometown in the swamps of Illinois because a mysterious “green flu” is sickening the residents. When a visiting scientist named Alec Holland starts investigating a mutagen being dumped in the swamps and is shot and blown up for is trouble, Abby also finds herself investigating the “swamp thing” that arose in his wake.
Like Doom Patrol, this material works as a dark, scary and violent TV show. I was expecting the early Vertigo Swamp Thing recurring cast (Abby, Matt Cable, Woodrue, Sunderland, etc.); the early introduction of characters like Madame Xanadu and Blue Devil was an unexpected bonus. They do a decent job establishing a wide and diverse cast (including race-lifting some characters from the comics). The majority of this story is an adaptation of Alan Moore’s seminal work with the character, mixed in with much better development of a supporting cast and leaving out Batman. (And I forgive them for leaving out Abby’s traditional white-streaked hair, but just barely.)
Unfortunately, they start strong but end poorly. Apparently the episode order was cut from 13 to 10 during production, and that shows in the pacing: The revelations in episode 7 feel more like a halfway point or mid-season break than the two-thirds mark. Lots of threads get randomly left hanging and the final episode feels like they stitched together pieces from several scripts and possibly some scenes they’d already filmed. But even before that, I got concerned: The revelation that Sunderland was Matt Cable’s father, in addition to being kinda stupid, is also weakened by the fact that Matt’s actor clearly did not have two white parents. For that matter, patients of the Green Flu, Susie especially, are shown to have some kind of psychic connection with Alec. When the doctors stop treating the plague and it apparently goes into remission, this ability is dropped completely. (It would have been handy when Susie gets possessed an episode later.)
Also, I realize that it’s standard TV practice to let you see actor’s faces, but Abby gives a speech in the first episode about caregivers always wearing masks and gloves, and then not only never wears a mask, but keeps her hair down 100% of the time. (Isolation curtains are generally just set dressing; main characters in street clothes walk through them constantly.)
But seriously, in the last two episodes: Harlan, Abby’s best friend at the CDC is “disappeared” by the Conclave (who apparently control the CDC) and that’s the last we hear of him. Dan Cassidy becomes the Blue Devil...and then gleefully leaves town. Maria clearly had an entire arc removed, jumping straight from being committed by Avery to being totally bugshit seeing ghosts again in the space of a few hours. Avery kills the sheriff and dumps her in the swamp in a scene that was clearly intended to end with her being rescued by Swamp Thing...but instead I guess she just dies. Matt drives drunk and gets into an accident (in the comics this killed him, then he was possessed by evil, then he dies for good and becomes a dream-raven in a different series), but he recovers quickly just in time for Woodrue to kill him in the stinger. Also, they set up a Matt/Abby/Alec love triangle and they just...dropped it. They hint to Abby’s past before she came to live with the Sunderlands (her mother’s death and some mysterious evil who I assume was meant to be her uncle Anton Arcane), but do nothing with it. The Sunderlands’ daughter was killed a decade earlier by something in the swamp that’s never followed up on. They introduce the Rot, but skip several perfectly good opportunities for someone to become its agent. (Woodrue, as a supernatural villain, is clearly an alternate point of view within the Green or a corruption thereof. He’s not “the darkness” in the swamps.) A mysterious bearded man appears to advise Swamp Thing for one episode (playing a role originally held by John Constantine; he’s apparently supposed to be the Phantom Stranger and the same guy who Cassidy made his deal with) and then is never seen again. Avery is revealed to have the green flu in his final scene, but that’s it for him.
And most importantly: Alec never once referred to as a “muck-encrusted mockery of a man”.
Overall: This had a good start and a lot of promise, but it doesn’t pay off. The final episode was called “Loose Ends” and that’s very fitting. The visual effects are generally excellent, though—if you like supernatural horror and are willing to accept plot holes, you could watch if for the plant-based dismemberment.
Like Doom Patrol, this material works as a dark, scary and violent TV show. I was expecting the early Vertigo Swamp Thing recurring cast (Abby, Matt Cable, Woodrue, Sunderland, etc.); the early introduction of characters like Madame Xanadu and Blue Devil was an unexpected bonus. They do a decent job establishing a wide and diverse cast (including race-lifting some characters from the comics). The majority of this story is an adaptation of Alan Moore’s seminal work with the character, mixed in with much better development of a supporting cast and leaving out Batman. (And I forgive them for leaving out Abby’s traditional white-streaked hair, but just barely.)
Unfortunately, they start strong but end poorly. Apparently the episode order was cut from 13 to 10 during production, and that shows in the pacing: The revelations in episode 7 feel more like a halfway point or mid-season break than the two-thirds mark. Lots of threads get randomly left hanging and the final episode feels like they stitched together pieces from several scripts and possibly some scenes they’d already filmed. But even before that, I got concerned: The revelation that Sunderland was Matt Cable’s father, in addition to being kinda stupid, is also weakened by the fact that Matt’s actor clearly did not have two white parents. For that matter, patients of the Green Flu, Susie especially, are shown to have some kind of psychic connection with Alec. When the doctors stop treating the plague and it apparently goes into remission, this ability is dropped completely. (It would have been handy when Susie gets possessed an episode later.)
Also, I realize that it’s standard TV practice to let you see actor’s faces, but Abby gives a speech in the first episode about caregivers always wearing masks and gloves, and then not only never wears a mask, but keeps her hair down 100% of the time. (Isolation curtains are generally just set dressing; main characters in street clothes walk through them constantly.)
But seriously, in the last two episodes: Harlan, Abby’s best friend at the CDC is “disappeared” by the Conclave (who apparently control the CDC) and that’s the last we hear of him. Dan Cassidy becomes the Blue Devil...and then gleefully leaves town. Maria clearly had an entire arc removed, jumping straight from being committed by Avery to being totally bugshit seeing ghosts again in the space of a few hours. Avery kills the sheriff and dumps her in the swamp in a scene that was clearly intended to end with her being rescued by Swamp Thing...but instead I guess she just dies. Matt drives drunk and gets into an accident (in the comics this killed him, then he was possessed by evil, then he dies for good and becomes a dream-raven in a different series), but he recovers quickly just in time for Woodrue to kill him in the stinger. Also, they set up a Matt/Abby/Alec love triangle and they just...dropped it. They hint to Abby’s past before she came to live with the Sunderlands (her mother’s death and some mysterious evil who I assume was meant to be her uncle Anton Arcane), but do nothing with it. The Sunderlands’ daughter was killed a decade earlier by something in the swamp that’s never followed up on. They introduce the Rot, but skip several perfectly good opportunities for someone to become its agent. (Woodrue, as a supernatural villain, is clearly an alternate point of view within the Green or a corruption thereof. He’s not “the darkness” in the swamps.) A mysterious bearded man appears to advise Swamp Thing for one episode (playing a role originally held by John Constantine; he’s apparently supposed to be the Phantom Stranger and the same guy who Cassidy made his deal with) and then is never seen again. Avery is revealed to have the green flu in his final scene, but that’s it for him.
And most importantly: Alec never once referred to as a “muck-encrusted mockery of a man”.
Overall: This had a good start and a lot of promise, but it doesn’t pay off. The final episode was called “Loose Ends” and that’s very fitting. The visual effects are generally excellent, though—if you like supernatural horror and are willing to accept plot holes, you could watch if for the plant-based dismemberment.
