Executive produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, which might explain how this show made it past a clumsy and scattered (but intriguing) first season. That's the second-strangest thing about the show-besides perhaps the concept of American colonies doing an abrupt about-face on witchcraft after the trials, at the height of Puritanism, because witches helped fend off the British.
The strangest thing about the series, to me, is that it is a book adaptation with no book. (I was very surprised to learn this halfway through the first season.) It has every sign of a well-established franchise leaning on existing fans for its survival. The world-building is very detailed and rich, but has that "too much info to bother explaining" feeling of book adaptations. Most of the time it works, but often it does raise questions the show hasn't answered yet, if it ever will. As an avid reader it frustrates me to know I can't buy the series and start delving into it on my own for that context I'm wondering about.
The first season is interesting enough to make it through what is probably a restrictive budget that shows itself occasionally in casting and random things like hairdressing. It reminds me a bit of The Vampire Diaries in that it tries to cram too much dialogue and too many fast-paced events into a 42min runtime. Watching more than a couple episodes at a time left me exhausted. There is a bit too much nonsensical teen angst for me, considering they're all implied to be 18+ in a military academy, but 'tis the genre, right? I knew what I was getting into.
The second season tightened up most of my complaints, and the writing pays off as some pretty decent character development takes place amongst all the primary cast. For fantasy, the special effects really are not that bad, considering some of the budget issues the rest of the show had. The show handles LGBT characters well, and the cast is very diverse. It tackles showing what a matriarchal society might look like in modern times, good and bad, which is fascinating to see involving the patriarchal institution that is the US military. To see the ultimate boy's club flipped on its head so boldly and matter-of-factly is really something, especially in a teen fantasy show!
All in all, this weird, wild show deserves a watch for those that enjoy this genre. I'll be waiting for a third season to see what else they come up with. And a book or two, for Pete's sake.
The strangest thing about the series, to me, is that it is a book adaptation with no book. (I was very surprised to learn this halfway through the first season.) It has every sign of a well-established franchise leaning on existing fans for its survival. The world-building is very detailed and rich, but has that "too much info to bother explaining" feeling of book adaptations. Most of the time it works, but often it does raise questions the show hasn't answered yet, if it ever will. As an avid reader it frustrates me to know I can't buy the series and start delving into it on my own for that context I'm wondering about.
The first season is interesting enough to make it through what is probably a restrictive budget that shows itself occasionally in casting and random things like hairdressing. It reminds me a bit of The Vampire Diaries in that it tries to cram too much dialogue and too many fast-paced events into a 42min runtime. Watching more than a couple episodes at a time left me exhausted. There is a bit too much nonsensical teen angst for me, considering they're all implied to be 18+ in a military academy, but 'tis the genre, right? I knew what I was getting into.
The second season tightened up most of my complaints, and the writing pays off as some pretty decent character development takes place amongst all the primary cast. For fantasy, the special effects really are not that bad, considering some of the budget issues the rest of the show had. The show handles LGBT characters well, and the cast is very diverse. It tackles showing what a matriarchal society might look like in modern times, good and bad, which is fascinating to see involving the patriarchal institution that is the US military. To see the ultimate boy's club flipped on its head so boldly and matter-of-factly is really something, especially in a teen fantasy show!
All in all, this weird, wild show deserves a watch for those that enjoy this genre. I'll be waiting for a third season to see what else they come up with. And a book or two, for Pete's sake.