Inhumans
The critics seem to be hitting this hard, but I can’t see why. It’s seems to be as good as any Marvel show that’s not on Netflix. The only complaint I have is the CGI on the dog Lockjaw, and it still comes of as endearing.
I think part of the critical panning came from the Imax run of the first episode. It was just good enough for TV, but I doubt it would have looked very good on an Imax screen, and that is where the early reviews came from. The visuals of the series are not what is turning me off to it, though. I have problems with it from a fan perspective.
First of those problems for me is with Medusa losing her hair. I was enjoying the show until that point, but they totally lost me when Maximus was able to cut her hair off with a perfectly normal electric razor, while Medusa was made helpless by a couple of guys holding her arms. Just no. Medusa's hair is as strong as steel, no ordinary blade, much less electric clippers, is going to do the trick. Her prehensile hair would be far less powerful if anyone with a blade could simply cut through it. Also, even when her hair is cut off occasionally in the comics, she still has control over it. She controls it with a psychic field, or some equally powerful plot device. Finally, Medusa also has super strength, owing to that psychic field, so she isn't going to be easily held down by a couple of guys holding her arms. Not only that, but her hair was free the entire time. Of course, I know that they cut her hair off because it was just too difficult/costly to animate it properly, but that is more of an argument for not turning Inhumans into a TV series to begin with. It should have been left as a feature length film. But, if you are going to go this route, do what they have already done in the comics, have her hair fall out because of a disease, which conveniently suppresses her other powers as well.
Medusa aside, the series is not that great at showing/explaining the powers that the major Inhumans have. I doubt that very many people who have only seen the series thus far could say much about the powers that Maximus, Triton, Karnak, or Crystal actually possess. With Maximus, that is probably not a big deal, as part of the Inhumans story has always been that Maximus was very good at concealing his powers, which are all about mentally manipulating others. On the other hand, cluing the audience into this would go a long way toward explaining how he was able to pull off the coup against Black Bolt so easily. The other Inhumans don't have to catch on to it, but the audience should be aware. Triton has very little screen time in the first episode, so that is probably not that big of deal either, as he is basically just the Inhumans version of Aquaman (minus the ability to control marine animals), or Namor (minus the quasi-evil intent). Crystal's power is elemental manipulation, but I don't see how anyone would come to that conclusion, given how they depicted her powers in the premier. Karnak, however, I am not sure what to think. In the first scene where he used his power, I thought it was pretty cool how they depicted it, he is a master tactician with the ability to see the flaws in any opponent or plan (as it relates to combat). When I told my wife that I thought it was a cool depiction of his power, her response was that she thought his power was the ability to rewind time. Unfortunately, I think a lot of viewers would have come to the same conclusion.
I will probably give it another episode, or two, to see if it gets any better, but I mostly checked out on that first episode when they cut Medusa's hair off.
