Inhumans;  Behold the .... Inhumans, Season 1 Episode 1, Review

Review by Paul Fiander
​​When Marvel decided to sideline the X-Men within the comic's sphere due to their lack of control of the movie rights it was a bit of a shock. Admittedly due to their size and complexity they were never going to go the same way as the Fantastic Four , thankfully. Marvel did though need a replacement and that came in the shape of the Inhumans.
Now I will admit I was skeptical with the move to begin with but found myself enjoying the main Inhumans run as well as a few side titles with Karnak being the standout among those. Due to this I had rather high hopes when I saw that Marvel TV was producing a TV show based on these rather odd mix of characters. Then the cherry for the pie was announced with the Bastard of Bolton himself Iwan Rheon playing the sinister Maximus. There was however a stumbling block in the shape of ABC.

To this point the true gems in the Marvel TV sphere have come from the Netflix partnership. The grit shows like Jessica Jones and Daredevil have brought to the world of Superheroics have been nothing short of astounding. This compares to the more light hearted Agents of Shield. A show which started off slowly and did have its time in the sun due to its Captain America; The Winter Soldier crossover but honestly never really grabbed me.
Still I went into the first episode with a dollop of optimism despite the lackluster reviews.
Firstly the positives, the main actors feel generally right for their roles. Rheon does a good job as Maximus mixing a conniving attitude to his performance with a rather shaky (at times) American accent. It confuses why he needs to speak this way. His only sibling the King of Attilan Black Bolt can't speak due to the destructive force of his voice. So surely keeping his accent more manageable would have been a better choice. Black Bolt himself is played by Anson Mount an actor I know mostly thanks to his role as Ben in the Brittney Spears vehicle Crossroads. Here though he loses his guitar and instead has to act through action his expressions and hands alone. In this I think he comes across rather well, his expressions are powerful and you really believe his distress when it appears. I also like the main themes of the show with a plotted coup that would not feel out of place in a real life empire of old.
Picture
ANSON MOUNT, IWAN RHEON © 2017 Marvel & Subs. All rights reserved.
Picture
ISABELLE CORNISH, LOCKJAW © 2017 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
​Now to the down side in her role as Medusa Serinda Swan actually walks the line between regal and menacing quite well she is unfortunately let down by the characters main power her hair. The effects that make it move are actually pretty convincing but the rest of the time it looks like a wig breaking the effect of the character and detracting from any scene Medusa is in. I’m not entirely sure what I expected sentient hair to look like but I wanted something more realistic. This is only the start of the effects woe with the rather fake looking buildings on Attilan and worst of the pride of the Inhumans Lockjaw looking good while present but let down by a poor teleportation effect that even the Original Star Trek chuckles at.

Despite these flaws I will be watching future episodes. There seems like an interesting story and I hope that the acting and plot can match the premise that I have fondly enjoyed in the comics. The only issue being so far reviews for future episodes are not looking promising.

Watched on Sky One on Wednesday the 25th of October 2017

MARVEL’S INHUMANS - The Inhumans, a race of superhumans with diverse and singularly unique powers, were first introduced in Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1965. Since that time, they have grown in prominence and become some of the most popular and iconic characters in the Marvel Universe.