I recently read the novel on which this show is based, and had no idea there was an adaptation just coming out. I was a bit apprehensive but open-minded enough, I think. I already felt like an 8-episode TV show was maybe a bit too much, but, well, they didn't even finish the story, and they added a whole lot of convolution to pad out the runtime. This could have been a really wonderful two-hour movie. Longer isn't better, often, and one of the great things about Kindred (the book) is that it is such a tight, economical narrative.
I read through a few of the user reviews and I actually disagree with a few of the negative comments, while still finding the series to be a rather frustrating experience. Dana in the book doesn't always express her feelings about the things she's witnessing and, sometimes, taking part in. That's part of Butler's genius you see. She doesn't tell you what you are supposed to think. The makers of the show seem to be acknowledging that, but at the same time, don't respect the source material enough to keep it tight and compact. Most of the extra stuff they've added just isn't that great and feels like an attempt to add drama to a story that's intended to be very spare and direct. I understand fully that an adaptation should be free to do something that the source material didn't, but I found the book to be very impactful and powerful and while others who didn't read it might not have a problem with the show, it feels diminished by their attempt to make it "bigger". They obviously want a second season, too.
I think the first two episodes are mostly fine. The changes make some sense, as in the book, Butler throws you right in to Dana's vertigo and travel to the past right fromt eh start, which gives you the same feeling of displacement that she herself feels. The show didn't really want to do that, and so provided us some background: the kind of stuff Butler saved for later in the book, and it's done quite differently here as well, but in a way which I think could at least be made to work well. I noticed right off that the performances were good, and as usual with a modern show with some budget put into it, the acting quality remains solid throughout. Unfortunately, as is more often the case with today's genre TV, where things fall down is the writing. Episode three is where they really start diverting from Octavia Butler's story and, if it's not quite fair to say the wheels fall off, the wagon starts to feel unbalanced. Even though Butler's book is short and economical, it feels closer to the source of the pain (there being slavery in her own family's fairlyr ecent past) and relevant questions of identity and complicity than this overstuffed, lengthy TV narrative from 2022.
Nevertheless, the series is well-intentioned enough and has considerable tension. If you don't know the book, it probably won't bother you too much. But i have to stress that I'm not necessarily a stickler for novels over other story media and it just feels frustrating to me that the core of this sharp and poignant story is going to be lost in a sprawling drama series. The decisions to change the relationship of the two leads, add in more family ties and so many other characters in general, create some unintentionally goofy drama with Dana's neighbour -- all of it just feels like justification for making this longer, and in my opinion that kind of sucks. It's unfortunately the nature of television to try and hook viewers in and keep them watching week after week, or bingeing if they prefer. And I guess right there we've found the reason I consider myself more of a movie person. A successful TV show from the uS never "wants to" end, and an unsuccessful one might be cancelled before it ends. And by "success" here, of course, I mean profitable.
I read through a few of the user reviews and I actually disagree with a few of the negative comments, while still finding the series to be a rather frustrating experience. Dana in the book doesn't always express her feelings about the things she's witnessing and, sometimes, taking part in. That's part of Butler's genius you see. She doesn't tell you what you are supposed to think. The makers of the show seem to be acknowledging that, but at the same time, don't respect the source material enough to keep it tight and compact. Most of the extra stuff they've added just isn't that great and feels like an attempt to add drama to a story that's intended to be very spare and direct. I understand fully that an adaptation should be free to do something that the source material didn't, but I found the book to be very impactful and powerful and while others who didn't read it might not have a problem with the show, it feels diminished by their attempt to make it "bigger". They obviously want a second season, too.
I think the first two episodes are mostly fine. The changes make some sense, as in the book, Butler throws you right in to Dana's vertigo and travel to the past right fromt eh start, which gives you the same feeling of displacement that she herself feels. The show didn't really want to do that, and so provided us some background: the kind of stuff Butler saved for later in the book, and it's done quite differently here as well, but in a way which I think could at least be made to work well. I noticed right off that the performances were good, and as usual with a modern show with some budget put into it, the acting quality remains solid throughout. Unfortunately, as is more often the case with today's genre TV, where things fall down is the writing. Episode three is where they really start diverting from Octavia Butler's story and, if it's not quite fair to say the wheels fall off, the wagon starts to feel unbalanced. Even though Butler's book is short and economical, it feels closer to the source of the pain (there being slavery in her own family's fairlyr ecent past) and relevant questions of identity and complicity than this overstuffed, lengthy TV narrative from 2022.
Nevertheless, the series is well-intentioned enough and has considerable tension. If you don't know the book, it probably won't bother you too much. But i have to stress that I'm not necessarily a stickler for novels over other story media and it just feels frustrating to me that the core of this sharp and poignant story is going to be lost in a sprawling drama series. The decisions to change the relationship of the two leads, add in more family ties and so many other characters in general, create some unintentionally goofy drama with Dana's neighbour -- all of it just feels like justification for making this longer, and in my opinion that kind of sucks. It's unfortunately the nature of television to try and hook viewers in and keep them watching week after week, or bingeing if they prefer. And I guess right there we've found the reason I consider myself more of a movie person. A successful TV show from the uS never "wants to" end, and an unsuccessful one might be cancelled before it ends. And by "success" here, of course, I mean profitable.
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