S01.E01: Out of the Deep Woods

[Quickbeam]

I’m just a casual viewer who caught this after my other shows ended their seasons. I love fantasy but not so much that centered on kids……anyhoo, I thought this was excellent. I don’t know anything about the source material. It’s a dystopian world where there was an illness and then hybrid children born, seemingly at the same time. The main character is a deer/human hybrid boy who goes on walkabout with his father (an always competent Will Forte). Dad dies, the deer boy takes off with a tall stranger.

I found this first episode really quick paced and fun watching. The kid is very winsome and a decent actor. The tall stranger was something I was worried about due to the “magical Negro” trope so I am hoping the part surpasses the narrow space Black characters are given. 
 

So far, I’ll definitely keep watching.

[AimingforYoko]

3 hours ago, Quickbeam said:

The tall stranger was something I was worried about due to the “magical Negro” trope

If you watched the opening montage closely you saw him on a TV being introduced as a LSU football player.

[AnimeMania]

Wow, that episode seemed to go on forever. The episode might have been better if they showed us a little of what the world was devolving into as the years went by. Since they appear to be out in the middle of nowhere the changes might not hit home as hard as a big city. No internet means the end on civilization as we know it.

[Anela]

The openings remind me of shows like Pushing Daisies.  Quirky, and then dark.  
the little boy is cute, and I think I remember Big Man from another show.  
 

[Brynnjk]

I clicked on this with no idea what to expect.  The young actor playing Gus is doing a wonderful job, very charming.  And kudos to the ear movement.  I'm in the middle of the 3rd ep right now and I'm enjoying it all so far.  Though I'd love to see more of Aimee (is that her name), the woman at the zoo.  So far I'm intrigued and interested.  

[Haleth]

Is no one watching this?  Gus is adorable and I’m enjoying the show. 

[Mindthinkr]

I’m watching. On E5. Not seeing many people post about it.  

[Black Knight]

I just finished the pilot. I'm definitely interested enough to continue to the second episode.

I'm not clear about whether the hybrid thing is just appearance or if it extends to abilities as well. Gus took longer being able to jump to that rock in the stream than I'd expect of a deer, but could he have done that run at the end to catch up with Big Man if he only had human abilities? I'm not sure about the hearing; they made a point of loud noises like gunshots bothering him, but humans have their hearing damaged by such things, and wear ear protection when at shooting ranges or other noisy places. I was born profoundly deaf, and my hearing aids automatically tone down too-loud sounds, so I'm not the person to be able to judge whether a loud noise bothered him more than it would a 100% human child with typical hearing.

I wonder about the doctor. They spent a little too much time on him if it was just to set up the introduction of the hybrid babies. Maybe he is involved with the Preserve. As someone who used to watch The Walking Dead, I have an automatic negative reaction - I immediately thought "Terminus!!" But this is more of a YA show, I think, so perhaps it's actually a good place for Gus to go. (If there is source material, I have zero familiarity with it.)

[Mindthinkr]

7 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I wonder about the doctor.

I did too, but his role becomes very apparent later in the series. I really don’t want to say more and spoil anything for you. 
 

Yes, the hybrids had some of the characteristics of the animals they appeared like. Enhanced hearing, smell, and also like a human child they had to learn how to use their bodies. Hence why Gus couldn’t gracefully jump the stream rocks at an earlier age. Happy viewing. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

When the trailer for this auto played when I logged into Netflix, I thought it was going to be about the hybrids after they had all grown up and how they adapted to society and how the world adapted to them. At the end of this episode I realized I got suckered into watching a show about a 10 year old boy hybrid and was disappointed, but strangely I kept watching (finished episode 4). I'll keep watching if only for the oddity of it all.

One thing I did find strange is the warning placed in the PG-14 notification that pops up. Usually this will contain stuff like, brief nudity, smoking, vulgar language or something similar, but this was the first time I ever saw "fear".  We now have to warn people that fear is being depicted in a show? Is this because it is geared toward very young kids?

I mean I can see a parent wanting to shield a child from nudity, smoking, swearing etc, but fear? "Sorry honey, I know you want to watch this show, but people are afraid in it, I don't want you see that" ????

[Black Knight]

I think it's meant to indicate that the show may inspire fear in children, not that fear is depicted onscreen (though obviously it is). In other words, a clunky way to say "scary scenes".

There are definitely a few things that happen that I can see many parents considering too scary for a child under 14. It's easy to glance at this show and think it must be a kids' show because of the cutesy main kid and fairytale trappings, but that TV-14 rating is earned.

[Hanahope]

Just started this last night.  of course, the theme of a global pandemic sure hit close to home.  I have to think the hybrids came after the virus, because when the show had the doctor seeing the hybrid babies, it looked like that just happened, that all of a sudden these babies developed these attributes, not something that occurred a day or two prior (these were clearly not babies that had "just been born" an hour or so before), yet the doctor had been seeing early signs of the virus for at least several days, maybe a week?  I suppose you could say the babies developed/changed in utero with the coming of the virus, and were dormant a few days before manifesting.  But I'll certainly accept they are connected, especially since the hybrids are immune.

I get that Gus is cute and all, but part of me wishes he were just a tad older to be at least a little more mature.  i suppose if he were, he might have thought better he could survive on his own, and the point of the story is getting him out of the woods and traveling with Big Man.   Gus' father did ok, but clearly Gus needed more training (especially where fire is concerned).  

It was interesting that the two poachers were surprised Gus could speak.  I guess so many babies are abandoned due to parent death that they somehow grow up not learning how to speak?

 

 

[Paloma]

On 8/31/2021 at 10:12 AM, Hanahope said:

It was interesting that the two poachers were surprised Gus could speak.  I guess so many babies are abandoned due to parent death that they somehow grow up not learning how to speak?

I didn't think of that reason, and it's likely to be true in some cases (though I would expect that abandoned babies would probably die in most cases). But I thought the reason for their surprise was that the poachers and other people think of hybrid children as animals and therefore unable to speak.