Season 1 - 9 episodes (2019 July 26)
Created by: Eric Kripke, Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Starring: Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
In a world where super heroes are commonplace, they are syndicated, monetized, and marketed by a company called Vought International. Privilege and power have corrupted the super heroes who abuse their powers. A clandestine group of normal human vigilantes arise to counter them.
Verdict
I love the premise. It's a deconstruction of super heroes and the series does a great job with pacing episodes and the overall arc. Super heroes have the celebrity and influence that puts them above everyone else. In this world that power went to their heads. They are above the law and know that. It can be over the top and crude, but that feeds the narrative. Hero worship is misplaced.
There are large questions in play at the end of the first season that aren't resolved, but they are secondary to the main plot.
Watch it.
Review
Based on the comic by the same name, this has already been renewed for a second season.
This premise feels accurate. Super heroes cross boundaries. They are celebrities, influential, and not unlike entertainers. Of course they can also be corrupt. That kind of power gives them ample opportunity for exactly that. The supes in this world are beyond corrupt.
The Seven - Starlight, A-Train, The Deep, Queen Maeve, Black Noir, Homelander, Translucent |
Starlight discovers that being a super hero is about public image and increasing your following. The other supes aren't the paragons she revered as a child. Her first interaction with another supe is The Deep who is every male in power thinking he's owed something. Supes are drunk on power, unstoppable and uncontrollable. The Deep is the punching bag of The Seven, the least powerful and frequently inept.
Homelander and his fans. |
Karl Urban play Billy Butcher. |
The pacing is great, slowing revealing more information each episode while providing plenty of surprises. Black Noir is one of The Seven that doesn't get much screen time and never speaks. With the tone of this show I was expecting some sort of joke with that, but it never appeared. I did like the Homelander tells Noir he's doing a great job when we've seen him do nothing.
I'm excited for season two. With the prevalence of super hero movies and the cookie cutter plots, this was a welcome subversion.
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