S01.E01: Some Dark God Waits

[Bort]

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Philo investigates Unseelie Jack, a mysterious assailant with a grudge against the fae. Vignette Stonemoss barely escapes Tirnanoc with her life and arrives in The Burgue looking for a fresh start. Imogen Spurnrose meets her new neighbor. In Parliament, the fight over the critch heats up.

Airdate: Friday, August 30, 2019

[2727]

This didn't exactly enthrall me and I sighed a couple of times at silly plot devices, but I'm going to press on.

[Enigma X]

I am in the middle of moving across country and won’t be able to watch until some time next week. I want to watch now. ☹️

[thuganomics85]

It was an alright pilot, I guess.  Kind of slow at times and a few silly moments, but enough to keep me watching.  Granted, I'm a sucker for fantasy/sci-fi, so you really have to drop the ball for me to tap out early.

Can't say either Orlando Bloom or Cara Delevingne have ever impressed me too much as actors, but they were passable here.  I'll always have fondness for Bloom due to Legolas and Will Turner, but he admittedly can't step too far outside his wheelhouse.  As for Delevingne, she does have charisma, even if she has limited range and can't dive into anything too deep (her attempts at crying here kind of toed the line into cringe territory.)

Hope we get more of the Chancellor and his wife soon, because Jared Harris (really need to make time for Chernobyl) and Indira Varma are the best.

I feel bad, but every time I ever see Tamzin Merchant, I remember that she was the original Daenerys in the unaired Game of Thrones pilot, and how much it must sting for her to miss out on what would have likely been a big stepping stone for her.  Granted, I wouldn't want to live in a world where no one heard of Emilia Clarke though!

This being Amazon/streaming service and TV-MA, I knew there was going to be at least some fae sex!

I have a bad feeling that Vignette's friend is a dead woman walking.

Hopefully the Vignette/Philo thing won't be too obnoxious, since that is likely the series biggest selling point.  Of course, something is likely going to go down with them and the other woman Philo has an on/off relationship with.

[I-Kare]

8 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Hopefully the Vignette/Philo thing won't be too obnoxious, since that is likely the series biggest selling point.  Of course, something is likely going to go down with them and the other woman Philo has an on/off relationship with.

I already ship Philo with Portia Fyfe (the on/off) instead of Vignette. 

[WatchrTina]

On 8/30/2019 at 12:36 AM, thuganomics85 said:

I'm a sucker for fantasy/sci-fi, so you really have to drop the ball for me to tap out early.

Ditto.  So I'll be tuning in for more.  I think, given all that the first episode had to accomplish in terms of world-building, it did a pretty good job of setting up the various conflicts.  And I'll give them credit for two successful bait-and-switches.  

First, I assumed the guy breaking sculls with a hammer was going to be this season's big bad and that the cops would be chasing him all season long.  Basically I was expecting Ripper Street with fae folk.  That's pretty much what we got but the the guy with the hammer is already gone and he essentially offered up his death-by-suicide as testimony that something else -- something MUCH worse -- has awoken.  (The last scene made me think of the quote, "In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.")

Second, I assumed that the lead couple were both mistaken about the other being dead and that we were in for a touching reunion.  NOPE.  

The foolish young man who may have been ruined by the shipwreck and his desperate-for-a-husband sister (the pair with the surprising new neighbor) are . . . a couple of jerks I'm totally prepared to hate.  So maybe THEY'LL surprise me too.  I hope so.  They guy who plays the brother did a great job playing the deplorable fop, Bonnie Prince Charlie, in Outlander so I'd love for him to get a chance to play a character who is NOT a complete wanker.

And now for my rant:  WHY IS EVERY SCENE SO DAMN DARK?  I could barely see what was going on about half the time.  I'm afraid this is one of those shows that I can only watch after the sun sets (I have a full wall of windows in my TV room and the blinds only defuse the light) or I'll have to watch it on my iMac (which does a MUCH better job go handling night-time scenes than my TV.)

Edited August 31, 2019 by WatchrTina

[Writing Wrongs]

I love the Dickensian style. The sets and clothes. Ever since True Blood though, I've developed a disdain for things fae. I'll see how it goes.

[go4luca]

19 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Hope we get more of the Chancellor and his wife soon, because Jared Harris (really need to make time for Chernobyl) and Indira Varma are the best.

I feel bad, but every time I ever see Tamzin Merchant, I remember that she was the original Daenerys in the unaired Game of Thrones pilot, and how much it must sting for her...

DO make time for Chernobyl.  Both the series and Jared Harris are most excellent.  In fact, the entire cast is incredible.  Knowing the Chernobyl disaster actually happened, I'm still in recovery mode from that series.

I'm a die hard GOT fan (read all the books as well) but never knew that tid-bit about Emilia not being the original Daenerys (must have been living under a rock), so thanks for the interesting back story.  😎

7 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

They guy who plays the brother did a great job playing the deplorable fop, Bonnie Prince Charlie, in Outlander so I'd love for him to get a chance to play a character who is NOT a complete wanker.

And now for my rant:  WHY IS EVERY SCENE SO DAMN DARK?  I could barely see what was going on about half the time. 

As soon as I heard Andrew Gower's voice I knew he was Outlander's Prince Charlie.  I'm right there with you hoping he isn't a wanker this time around.

As for the dark scenes, at least for me it's not as bad as the GOT Winterfell Knight King battle.  FTLOG that was out of control dark and frustrating as hell.  Especially when you've waited over a decade to see it come to fruition.

2 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

I love the Dickensian style. The sets and clothes.   Ever since True Blood though, I've developed a disdain for things fae. I'll see how it goes.

I enjoy anything fae so that's initially what drew me to this series.  So far I'm enjoying the Industrial age, steampunk spin and overall look of the Burgue.  One of Carnival Row's Art Directors for upcoming episodes is Frank Walsh who's worked on a number of well known productions (GOT, Chronicles of Narnia and Inception to name a few).  It will be interesting to see more of this world as the series unfolds.

Edited August 31, 2019 by go4luca
typo

[Athena5217]

I am liking this fantasy world so far. It has a little bit of a steampunk feel to it.  I like that there are different crutch species.

i am more interested in the world than Orlando Bloom’s character so hopefully he gets more interesting.   

[SeanC]

23 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Can't say either Orlando Bloom or Cara Delevingne have ever impressed me too much as actors, but they were passable here.  I'll always have fondness for Bloom due to Legolas and Will Turner, but he admittedly can't step too far outside his wheelhouse.  As for Delevingne, she does have charisma, even if she has limited range and can't dive into anything too deep (her attempts at crying here kind of toed the line into cringe territory.)

I thought Delevingne was pretty good here.  In the past I've generally thought she had more talent than most of her acting roles let her show, and considering that so far this is a role with zero levity to it, her dramatic acting for me was convincing.  Bloom has been handed what is, at least thus far, a pretty stock character, and did okay with it, but not anything we haven't seen before.  The wrinkle of him seemingly having intentionally abandoned Vignette (uh, questionable naming choice there) is potentially intriguing and not what you'd necessarily expect for a protagonist, but I expect there'll be some more sympathetic reason for it in future episodes.

I quite like the setting, which is nicely realized, though the names of the two human countries are a bit off to me ("The Pact" and "The Republic of the Burgue").

[mjc570]

I watched this episode but am not going to continue - the parallels with the anti-immigrant hysteria in the US is just too depressing.  Aside from that, I thought there just wasn't a whole lot of suspense here   and I don't know if it was the writing or the acting, it just wasn't enough to keep me interested (and I say that as a HUGE scifi/fantasy fan with very low expectations).  Still, I give Amazon credit for trying.  

[TaurusRose]

Orlando Bloom (I’ll always love him because of Legolas), fantasy with the emphasis on fae folk and I am in. I’d heard the bit about Tamzin and GoT before and personally I think they made the right choice with Emilia. Tamzin seems too much of a lightweight when it comes to what was required of Daenerys. I don’t know Cara Delevingne and can’t recall seeing her in anything prior to this. Indira Varna always seems to play sketchy women so I’m not expecting her to break character here. Looking forward to the Philo/Vignette backstory despite the silly names.

[tennisgurl]

Even my pilot standards there was a LOT going on here, setting up this whole world, the main characters, their history, the jack the ripper serial killer/beater, the tensions between the fae and the humans, and the monster living in the sewer. I cant say the show grabbed me right away with super intensity, but I liked it well enough to keep watching, and I am really intrigued by this world. I always love the idea of putting traditional fantasy creatures in different time periods than we might expect (as in not some kind of medieval European style setting) and the sort of Steampunk mixed with fantasy stuff seems like, if nothing else, will be a real treat for the visuals alone. I am a big world building geek, and I cant wait to  explore this world more. You can tell that Amazon put a ton of money into this, it looks really great, the effects and sets and costumes are all really creative and wonderful to look at. Plus, I am just a big fantasy lover, so I will give just about anything that scratches my fantasy itch a solid try.

Adding in some other mysteries like some kind of Eldritch horror is probably a good thing, because the whole "supernatural creature as metaphor for persecuted minority" thing, while not a bad idea in and of itself, is not exactly the hottest of hot takes. If they want longevity as a series, they need some more going on to keep from just repeating the same story beats. 

I love Jared Harris so its great to see him here, and I have always had a soft spot for Orlando Bloom, so its fun to see him back in the fantasy world. The man looks great in period clothes!

Edited September 2, 2019 by tennisgurl

[WatchrTina]

15 hours ago, taurusrose said:

I don’t know Cara Delevingne and can’t recall seeing her in anything prior to this.

I have a soft spot for Cara Delevingne because she has had some remarkably bad luck when it comes to her movie choices.  She has had roles in a couple of SciFi/Fantasy movies that (through no fault of hers) some fans of the source material have hated with the white-hot passion of a thousand suns.  Case in point:  Suicide Squad.  I liked it so much I paid to see it a second time in a theater.  I am, apparently, in a minority there.  Most people posting online seemed to hate that movie.  And I mean they HATED it.  I was genuinely startled by the online rancor toward that film.  Cara also starred in "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", which I was totally planning to see until the low score on Rotten Tomatoes and the excoriating online reviews I read scared me away.  So I would be happy to see Cara shine in a Sci/Fi Fantasy project that is well-regarded.  It's too early to tell what the consensus of opinion will be on THIS project but I have my fingers crossed for her.  I liked it.  But then, I liked Suicide Squad.

Edited September 2, 2019 by WatchrTina

[iMonrey]

I have never heard of Cara Delevingne before, but she reminds me a little of Emma Watson.

This show is weird. The sound effect used for the beating of the wings is creepily insect-like. There's just something vaguely unsettling about the whole thing. 

I'm not sure I have a handle on a lot of the jargon. I have a basic grasp of the premise and background but who are these humanoids with the rams horns coming out of their heads? What are they called and where are they from?

Edited September 2, 2019 by iMonrey

[SeanC]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I have a basic grasp of the premise and background but who are these humanoids with the rams horns coming out of their heads? What are they called and where are they from?

They're called "Pucks".  I gather they're from the same general magical region that all the other creatures are from.

[LucidDreamer]

I notice quite a bit of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream referencing, from a mention of Titania, the "Puck" designation for some of the immigrants, and -- most amusing of all -- Orlando Bloom's character's name. "Philostrate" -- really? 

Makes me wonder if the being in the tunnel is going to turn out to be either a monstrous form of Oberon or a Caliban-like character. 

And although not from the same play, an "Imogen" and "Portia" showed up too. 

Edited September 2, 2019 by LucidDreamer

[WatchrTina]

6 hours ago, SeanC said:

They're called "Pucks".  I gather they're from the same general magical region that all the other creatures are from.

I think "Puck" is slang or a derogatory term in the context of the show and their actual species is "faun", which comes from the Roman pantheon (a.k.a. a "satyr" in the Greek pantheon.)  The Greek god Pan was a faun/satyr.  They have two legs like a goat (complete with hooves), a humanoid torso & head, and then horns like a goat.  If memory serves, in mythology fauns were randy little bastards with a penchant for seducing and/or raping women.  So it's ironic that the fauns in THIS show turn out to religious fanatics with penchant for self-mortification of the flesh.

Edited September 3, 2019 by WatchrTina

[iMonrey]

Quote

I think "Puck" is slang or a derogatory term in the context of the show and their actual species is "faun", which comes from the Roman pantheon (a.k.a. a "satyr" in the Greek pantheon.) 

I think that's correct because  in a later episode Imogen refers to their cook as a faun.

[blackwing]

On 8/31/2019 at 8:55 PM, mjc570 said:

I watched this episode but am not going to continue - the parallels with the anti-immigrant hysteria in the US is just too depressing.  Aside from that, I thought there just wasn't a whole lot of suspense here   and I don't know if it was the writing or the acting, it just wasn't enough to keep me interested (and I say that as a HUGE scifi/fantasy fan with very low expectations).  Still, I give Amazon credit for trying.  

I'm only about 15 minutes in and I tend to agree, I'm not caring for the injection of modern day politics.  I thought a fantasy show would be escapist entertainment.  There's too many characters and too many place names and I'm hopelessly confused so far.  I'm prob going to have to rewatch or look for a good episode summary.

[iMonrey]

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I watched this episode but am not going to continue - the parallels with the anti-immigrant hysteria in the US is just too depressing.

I suppose that might depend on how deeply one is affected by that particular topic but I don't find the show particularly preachy or didactic about it. Prejudice is not unique to 2019 American politics. It's been a fact of life since the dawn of mankind. 

[Scarlett45]

I saw episode one last night and enjoyed it so far. Pilots are difficult with so much world building going on, but I’ll stick around. 

[ferjy]

On 8/30/2019 at 9:50 AM, I-Kare said:

I already ship Philo with Portia Fyfe (the on/off) instead of Vignette. 

Me too. They have much better chemistry together. 

[ferjy]

On 9/3/2019 at 1:08 PM, iMonrey said:

I think that's correct because  in a later episode Imogen refers to their cook as a faun.

I wondered if the cook and the neighbor were the same species. The cook didn’t seem to have the heavy legs the neighbor had, unless that’s because she’s a female. 

[Swartz]

I really enjoyed this first ep.   I'm generally not into fantasy shows but if they are good enough they keep my attention.

Not sold on the chemistry between the 2 leads so hopefully, that improves with more story 

[Haleth]

Is this series not based on a book?  As detailed as the show is I would swear there must be some other source material. 

[scarynikki12]

1 hour ago, Haleth said:

Is this series not based on a book?  As detailed as the show is I would swear there must be some other source material.  

That's why it took a while to actually get made. Travis Beacham came up with the idea in film school fifteen or so years ago and it almost became a movie a few times but the studios backed out because it's not based on a pre-existing story. Everyone who read his initial script liked it, and it was on the 2005 Black List so it had support. It was more about waiting to see which studio would actually go all the way and let it get made.

[maczero]

On 9/2/2019 at 8:46 PM, WatchrTina said:

I think "Puck" is slang or a derogatory term in the context of the show and their actual species is "faun", which comes from the Roman pantheon (a.k.a. a "satyr" in the Greek pantheon.)  The Greek god Pan was a faun/satyr.  They have two legs like a goat (complete with hooves), a humanoid torso & head, and then horns like a goat.  If memory serves, in mythology fauns were randy little bastards with a penchant for seducing and/or raping women.  So it's ironic that the fauns in THIS show turn out to religious fanatics with penchant for self-mortification of the flesh.

I thought they were satyrs as well and puck might be a derogatory term.  So is "pix" short for pixie and is that a derogatory term for fairy?

[spaceghostess]

On 9/8/2019 at 10:30 PM, maczero said:

I thought they were satyrs as well and puck might be a derogatory term.  So is "pix" short for pixie and is that a derogatory term for fairy?

Yup!

The pilot hooked me with Jared Harris, Indira Varma, and Orlando Bloom (for the pretty); steampunk; and nasty, mysterious killings. It gives me a bit of Penny Dreadful (Original Recipe) feels, but I can't at this point imagine it mesmerizing me like PD did.

[shrewd.buddha]

On 9/4/2019 at 3:16 PM, blackwing said:

I'm only about 15 minutes in and I tend to agree, I'm not caring for the injection of modern day politics.  I thought a fantasy show would be escapist entertainment. 

Racism, sexism, all forms of bigotry, fear mongering towards immigrants - and - the mandatory whore house. 
This felt like a swing-and-a-miss attempt to copy the look and feel of Game of Thrones (but with faeries). 

I was surprised they wrapped up the fae serial killer story line so quickly. 

Impressive visuals, but the acting felt overwrought and I wasn't buying what the lead actors were trying to sell .. especially their epic love for one another. 

[Affogato]

On 8/30/2019 at 2:27 PM, WatchrTina said:

And now for my rant:  WHY IS EVERY SCENE SO DAMN DARK?  I could barely see what was going on about half the time.  I'm afraid this is one of those shows that I can only watch after the sun sets (I have a full wall of windows in my TV room and the blinds only defuse the light) or I'll have to watch it on my iMac (which does a MUCH better job go handling night-time scenes than my TV.)

I’m having problems on my iphone, which showed some of the dark episodes of got well enough. It is horribly dark.