I loved the pilot - there was a lot in there. I love the cast (which is 80% non-white), I love the world building and the slightly futuristic setting, I love that there are complicated, imperfect characters heading it up. I love that there's a wide range of body types represented. I love that one of the writers created the character so that his son would have someone of his own race to look up to. I love that instead of a conlang for the Hairies race, the writers got permission to use a Northern NSW language.
It has a feel similar to Fringe, I think? There's medical/science stuff, there's spiritual/supernatural stuff, there's complicated social stuff, there's intense family stuff.
From an Aussie point of view, I think it was really clever with a lot of topical issues without being ham fisted: our treatment of refugees, the gentrification of urban communities of colour (the Zone is basically Redfern, I think), voyeuristic journalism/.
There are three (four? five?) potentially prominent female characters, but they didn't have as much to do in the pilot as Koen and Waruu (Koen is the one who gets the powers, Waruu is his brother) - I'm hopeful that they'll have more to do, or at least two of them do. You wouldn't cast actors of that calibre (Deborah Mailman and Frances O'Connor) and not give them good roles. I HOPE.
It is a story of a boy getting superpowers, it's true. And yeah, a child gets shot in a bungled police raid. If it helps, it's not glamorised - it's presented as horrible and clumsy and a failure of the system. There's also (so far) no visible queer presence. But overall, I think the wins outweigh the fails in this one.
I'm really looking forward to the next episode. (Can you tell?)
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Date: 2016-06-09 12:01 am (UTC)I loved the pilot - there was a lot in there. I love the cast (which is 80% non-white), I love the world building and the slightly futuristic setting, I love that there are complicated, imperfect characters heading it up. I love that there's a wide range of body types represented. I love that one of the writers created the character so that his son would have someone of his own race to look up to. I love that instead of a conlang for the Hairies race, the writers got permission to use a Northern NSW language.
It has a feel similar to Fringe, I think? There's medical/science stuff, there's spiritual/supernatural stuff, there's complicated social stuff, there's intense family stuff.
From an Aussie point of view, I think it was really clever with a lot of topical issues without being ham fisted: our treatment of refugees, the gentrification of urban communities of colour (the Zone is basically Redfern, I think), voyeuristic journalism/.
There are three (four? five?) potentially prominent female characters, but they didn't have as much to do in the pilot as Koen and Waruu (Koen is the one who gets the powers, Waruu is his brother) - I'm hopeful that they'll have more to do, or at least two of them do. You wouldn't cast actors of that calibre (Deborah Mailman and Frances O'Connor) and not give them good roles. I HOPE.
It is a story of a boy getting superpowers, it's true. And yeah, a child gets shot in a bungled police raid. If it helps, it's not glamorised - it's presented as horrible and clumsy and a failure of the system. There's also (so far) no visible queer presence. But overall, I think the wins outweigh the fails in this one.
I'm really looking forward to the next episode. (Can you tell?)