Bodies Complete S01 720p WEB-DL x265
(this review is after viewing five of eight episodes) There's definitely an interesting idea here and the source material may even be top notch (I've not read it). But sadly the execution is execrable. For every intriguing mystery and interesting idea, there are at least five terrible choices in direction, dialogue, editing or even simple decision making. Nothing feels authentic in any of the four timelines and the characters are a generic mixed bag of modern clichés who serve no other purpose but to move the convoluted plot forward. Despite being perpetually put through the mill, you just don't really care for any of them because they don't feel like real people operating in a real world. The fault here lies entirely with the showrunner, who seems to be intent on recreating a late-70s/early-80s children's sci-fi TV show, like Chocky or Children of the Stones. But with more violence and swearing and less tension or sense of character development. Honestly, some of the dialogue and performances are CITV Dramarama-level. I don't blame the actors, they've clearly just been horribly directed and blocked. Plus the editing is practically schizophrenic. Constantly cutting between shots for no good reason. Just shoot a dialogue scene FFS. We don't need to cut to a shot from above then under the desk and then from the perspective of the cupboard. It's almost as if they're trying to make an actually fairly simple time travel plot appear more complex than it really is... I won't bother to recount said plot here, as I'm sure many others will cover it in depth elsewhere. Suffice to say, even when watching whilst ill in bed today and not paying 100% attention, every "twist" was telegraphed from literally decades away. You'll also quickly lose count of how many times your eyes roll at the way characters behave and the decisions they make. Not to mention how certain set pieces unfold. One chase sequence in particular is completely preposterous. Bodies desperately wants to be Dark, but it can't get close to the high watermark set by that German headwrecker and instead flounders around in its own shallows. Which is a shame, as there is a fantastic series in buried here. You'll just spend the whole time wishing someone else, anyone else really, had made it instead.
- Jacob Fortune-Lloyd
- Shira Haas
- Amaka Okafor