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Reviews5
jossej's rating
(Skip to the Numbers if You Want my review the paragraph below is more like my introduction)
First, I turned this on fully expecting to turn it off because it came out in the 90s and while I watched Buffy as a kid, looking back I can't re-watch the series because it is too goofy. This show is extremely well written.
For further context, I really, REALLY wanted to like the Vampire Diaries, a show often on the 'You May Also Like....' but did not like it because of the annoying love triangles and bad writing. It was too exaggerated, too silly.
You may want to know, isn't the premise of this silly? Yes, yes it is but I am a fan of how you execute your story, I could care less about originality. And this show was just really, really well written. For the first two seasons. Season 3 it kind of goes down hill. And there were maybe three-four episodes that were cringy bad.
What This Show Does Right 1)Being a Teenager on the cusp of adulthood is a great plotpoint because you can have your dramatic flair without it being silly. And they incorporate it all in a manner that isn't unbelievable. These are young adults navigating life and struggling to make sense of difficult situations. They are learning how to be responsible so naturally we have good conflict written in as they make mistakes and learn from them. We can watch them evolve into different people. Adults are less likely to change but these are 'formative years' for a reason.
2)Like J.K. Rowling, the setting-high school-is great because you already have a contained universe which allows for the focus on character growth. Not knowing anything (think Harry Potter) creates interest because you want to know what-and where--these aliens came from (just as Harry Potter wants to know about his parents/wizardry)
3)The Sexual Tension and chemistry between the actors is very tangible. It all flows, especially between the other couple, Michael and Maria. And we have a lot of it because when you're young, it isn't exactly easy finding a place to uh, explore your raging hormones when you have parents and school interfering so you have to uh, be creative, if anyone reading this can remember.
4)I think this show shines in the area of character development and growth. The characters all grow and are different at the end. We aren't TOLD necessarily what is person is like, we watch them, and as the audience, draw our own conclusion of where they are headed, although naturally the characters will discuss some actions of some people because of the impact. Naturally they are going to discuss relationships.
5)No PSA's. Thank god.
Issues: The Third season for me saw a drop off in content and writing.
There were a few episodes that were just...cringey. Like the episode(s) where they go to NYC.
Opinion: I liked the main characters--there are like six or seven total--but for whatever reason, (this is just personal preference) I really enjoyed the relationship between Maria and Michael. I thought that the two created a nice balance between Liz and Max because Maria and Michael were more direct and more emotional, but overall, I thought that there relationship was more fierce however I thought Liz and Max's story was also excellent. I did wish that the former had more on screen time and I was frustrated by the decision to downplay Michael's intelligence because early on we learn that he essentially is very smart and even may have a photographic memory (he can quote obscure literature no problem down to the page) but I just thought that maybe they thought it might distract from Max who was supposed to be the smart one, the grounded one, the wise one (making his mistakes all the more epic when they occurred, while Michael, who was always making mistakes, had a bigger impact when he did something 'right').
Conclusion: Most tv dramas aren't fantastic. And even more love story-teen dramas are not great. But this show is really very good, I think.
First, I turned this on fully expecting to turn it off because it came out in the 90s and while I watched Buffy as a kid, looking back I can't re-watch the series because it is too goofy. This show is extremely well written.
For further context, I really, REALLY wanted to like the Vampire Diaries, a show often on the 'You May Also Like....' but did not like it because of the annoying love triangles and bad writing. It was too exaggerated, too silly.
You may want to know, isn't the premise of this silly? Yes, yes it is but I am a fan of how you execute your story, I could care less about originality. And this show was just really, really well written. For the first two seasons. Season 3 it kind of goes down hill. And there were maybe three-four episodes that were cringy bad.
What This Show Does Right 1)Being a Teenager on the cusp of adulthood is a great plotpoint because you can have your dramatic flair without it being silly. And they incorporate it all in a manner that isn't unbelievable. These are young adults navigating life and struggling to make sense of difficult situations. They are learning how to be responsible so naturally we have good conflict written in as they make mistakes and learn from them. We can watch them evolve into different people. Adults are less likely to change but these are 'formative years' for a reason.
2)Like J.K. Rowling, the setting-high school-is great because you already have a contained universe which allows for the focus on character growth. Not knowing anything (think Harry Potter) creates interest because you want to know what-and where--these aliens came from (just as Harry Potter wants to know about his parents/wizardry)
3)The Sexual Tension and chemistry between the actors is very tangible. It all flows, especially between the other couple, Michael and Maria. And we have a lot of it because when you're young, it isn't exactly easy finding a place to uh, explore your raging hormones when you have parents and school interfering so you have to uh, be creative, if anyone reading this can remember.
4)I think this show shines in the area of character development and growth. The characters all grow and are different at the end. We aren't TOLD necessarily what is person is like, we watch them, and as the audience, draw our own conclusion of where they are headed, although naturally the characters will discuss some actions of some people because of the impact. Naturally they are going to discuss relationships.
5)No PSA's. Thank god.
Issues: The Third season for me saw a drop off in content and writing.
There were a few episodes that were just...cringey. Like the episode(s) where they go to NYC.
Opinion: I liked the main characters--there are like six or seven total--but for whatever reason, (this is just personal preference) I really enjoyed the relationship between Maria and Michael. I thought that the two created a nice balance between Liz and Max because Maria and Michael were more direct and more emotional, but overall, I thought that there relationship was more fierce however I thought Liz and Max's story was also excellent. I did wish that the former had more on screen time and I was frustrated by the decision to downplay Michael's intelligence because early on we learn that he essentially is very smart and even may have a photographic memory (he can quote obscure literature no problem down to the page) but I just thought that maybe they thought it might distract from Max who was supposed to be the smart one, the grounded one, the wise one (making his mistakes all the more epic when they occurred, while Michael, who was always making mistakes, had a bigger impact when he did something 'right').
Conclusion: Most tv dramas aren't fantastic. And even more love story-teen dramas are not great. But this show is really very good, I think.
On it's own, this show suffers from a lack of good writing. Watching it felt like the writers decided to update the original not by changing anything other than making us know that the time period has changed, achieved through the incredibly unsubtle inclusion of political and social commentary.
Nothing came across as functionally normal. I often find that people don't manifest their anger in such direct ways--it is extremely obvious that the female lead is unhappy about how she is being treated--more often than not people normalize everything and it comes out differently--people seem to only directly discuss their feelings on being marginalized unless you directly ask them or they won't discuss it all people who talk about it this way are sort of like the way professors in a sociology class point out all the problems and then you have a group discussion--it just felt very unreal and more like a college classroom discussion or news debate.
In contrast, the original series featured aliens who were just like you and me and acted like you and me because they just happened to be people who were alilens--a thematic element of the original series was that it doesn't matter, you are who you are, and you decide, and are responsible, for what happens in your life. It rejects victimization and encouraged empowerment. In a much more subtle manner.
With so much rich subject material, it still boggles my mind that the writers bungled this. If you have seen a movie like Moonlight, watched The Thing or Stranger Things, the writing is so good, and we are SHOWN things through actions, choices, etc, but this show TELLS us things, making it boring, uninteresting, and flat. I've seen cartoons written better than this.
So as you can read, my criticism is the writing. It is so bad. If you are going to feed an audience something, don't try to serve us something fresh and great when what we are getting is garbage.
As an aside, I do think the original is better, and I am watching it concurrently with this. I was a kid when the original came out. I was actually really surprised by how great the original is. I was told that it was done by the same person who wrote Friday Night Lights and Parenthood.
Nothing came across as functionally normal. I often find that people don't manifest their anger in such direct ways--it is extremely obvious that the female lead is unhappy about how she is being treated--more often than not people normalize everything and it comes out differently--people seem to only directly discuss their feelings on being marginalized unless you directly ask them or they won't discuss it all people who talk about it this way are sort of like the way professors in a sociology class point out all the problems and then you have a group discussion--it just felt very unreal and more like a college classroom discussion or news debate.
In contrast, the original series featured aliens who were just like you and me and acted like you and me because they just happened to be people who were alilens--a thematic element of the original series was that it doesn't matter, you are who you are, and you decide, and are responsible, for what happens in your life. It rejects victimization and encouraged empowerment. In a much more subtle manner.
With so much rich subject material, it still boggles my mind that the writers bungled this. If you have seen a movie like Moonlight, watched The Thing or Stranger Things, the writing is so good, and we are SHOWN things through actions, choices, etc, but this show TELLS us things, making it boring, uninteresting, and flat. I've seen cartoons written better than this.
So as you can read, my criticism is the writing. It is so bad. If you are going to feed an audience something, don't try to serve us something fresh and great when what we are getting is garbage.
As an aside, I do think the original is better, and I am watching it concurrently with this. I was a kid when the original came out. I was actually really surprised by how great the original is. I was told that it was done by the same person who wrote Friday Night Lights and Parenthood.
I wrote both an article and a much longer review for mydramalist.
I don't think this show is for people who want action or more epic-ness like Eternal Love. This is a historical love story with meticulous attention to detail, character development, and growth. All the characters are important. It is filmed beautifully.
A lot of viewers have compared it to nirvana in fire in terms of quality. Others to masterpiece BBC pieces like Jane Eyre. It is incredibly done. I say give it ten episodes, if you don't like it, then maybe it isn't for you, but if it isn't your type don't give it a bad review--I only give dramas that aren't my 'type' a bad review if they do a poor job executing whatever plot device/trope/type of story they are trying to deliver.
I don't think this show is for people who want action or more epic-ness like Eternal Love. This is a historical love story with meticulous attention to detail, character development, and growth. All the characters are important. It is filmed beautifully.
A lot of viewers have compared it to nirvana in fire in terms of quality. Others to masterpiece BBC pieces like Jane Eyre. It is incredibly done. I say give it ten episodes, if you don't like it, then maybe it isn't for you, but if it isn't your type don't give it a bad review--I only give dramas that aren't my 'type' a bad review if they do a poor job executing whatever plot device/trope/type of story they are trying to deliver.