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I'd be curious to hear what people who haven't read the book think of this.

This was such a frustrating viewing experience for anyone who has read and loved the iconic graphic novel. They had the whole story there... LAID OUT IN STORYBOARD... and they decided they needed to add in more tension while making it less straightforward and much more generic.

It has flashes of true greatness... e.g. the magnificent last scene of the season goes a long way toward redeeming the rest of it. But this scene only lasts about 30 seconds, it's only the 1/3 mark of the story, and it was a mystifying creative choice to add in a bunch of stuff that wasn't in the book just so they could drag out the story for longer.

Production value is high, cinematography is very compelling in parts, acting is solid. But overall it feels like a distinctly missed opportunity to make something truly great and lasting. I'd love to get the creative team behind it in a room and collectively shake them by the shoulders to ask them wtf they were thinking. At least it has been renewed already for a 2nd season... I will say that the S2 is set up to be quite a bit better than the draggy and running-in-place S1.

3dender wrote: ↑07 May 2025 11:44 am I'd be curious to hear what people who haven't read the book think of this.

This was such a frustrating viewing experience for anyone who has read and loved the iconic graphic novel. They had the whole story there... LAID OUT IN STORYBOARD... and they decided they needed to add in more tension while making it less straightforward and much more generic.

It has flashes of true greatness... e.g. the magnificent last scene of the season goes a long way toward redeeming the rest of it. But this scene only lasts about 30 seconds, it's only the 1/3 mark of the story, and it was a mystifying creative choice to add in a bunch of stuff that wasn't in the book just so they could drag out the story for longer.

Production value is high, cinematography is very compelling in parts, acting is solid. But overall it feels like a distinctly missed opportunity to make something truly great and lasting. I'd love to get the creative team behind it in a room and collectively shake them by the shoulders to ask them wtf they were thinking. At least it has been renewed already for a 2nd season... I will say that the S2 is set up to be quite a bit better than the draggy and running-in-place S1.

Fully agree with this statement. I was excited after the first episode for another great tv show. Then after the next couple episodes, found myself not paying attention much and on my phone.

Glad to hear season 2 is set up to be much more exciting.

cardinalsfever44 wrote: ↑08 May 2025 19:33 pm

3dender wrote: ↑07 May 2025 11:44 am I'd be curious to hear what people who haven't read the book think of this.

This was such a frustrating viewing experience for anyone who has read and loved the iconic graphic novel. They had the whole story there... LAID OUT IN STORYBOARD... and they decided they needed to add in more tension while making it less straightforward and much more generic.

It has flashes of true greatness... e.g. the magnificent last scene of the season goes a long way toward redeeming the rest of it. But this scene only lasts about 30 seconds, it's only the 1/3 mark of the story, and it was a mystifying creative choice to add in a bunch of stuff that wasn't in the book just so they could drag out the story for longer.

Production value is high, cinematography is very compelling in parts, acting is solid. But overall it feels like a distinctly missed opportunity to make something truly great and lasting. I'd love to get the creative team behind it in a room and collectively shake them by the shoulders to ask them wtf they were thinking. At least it has been renewed already for a 2nd season... I will say that the S2 is set up to be quite a bit better than the draggy and running-in-place S1.

Fully agree with this statement. I was excited after the first episode for another great tv show. Then after the next couple episodes, found myself not paying attention much and on my phone.

Glad to hear season 2 is set up to be much more exciting.

In a 6 episode season based on an iconic, established, fast-paced scifi story, they for some reason decided to use episodes 2-4 to add in a bunch of original, non-scifi sidequests before continuing with the actual story in episodes 5-6. It's a truly bizarre showrunning decision when you're trying to introduce a beloved story to a wider audience.

Spoiler

The book begins at Juan Salvo's house, same card game. The whole family is together so there is no daughter search. There is just him exploring the city with Fava, and gradually coming across the scifi elements one by one.

The mind-controlled humans are also much more obvious in the book, and they don't have the ability to blend in. Juan's daughter does not just randomly show up as mind-controlled.

As best I can tell, all of this was done to add in needless tension to an already very tense and fast-paced story, and moreover the way they went about it made it much more confusing than the actual story, because the elements do not appear to completely add up.