jinkies, jeepers, zoinks, ruhroh,.... f*** me the new Velma is a mess
Velma review: The mystery of how this was made
I've had shown many forms of things in the past where I have seen so many different entertainment projects of media that either may not be that great or can have their flaws that affect it that I would still give the benefit of a doubt about as a lot of time I go into something that I find the good in things, you will see this with some upcoming opinions and pieces I have from long form videos and reviews where even some more bad content I can find enjoyment from and move on with my day. However, there can be sometimes with some exceptions where I have seen things so bad that I actually get so annoyed by it and regret sitting through where even if there is the smallest of things I like, it becomes bombarded by everything else and one of those that has recently come into affect was released over a year ago and that of course is what I would see as one of the most insulting and worst tv shows of last year and this is of course with the animated series of Velma (I know there is probably worst like that Queen Cleopatra series or even The Idol, but I did not watch or know much on them to care). Now I have been meaning to do this review for the better part of a year now anyway but it is a case I did not have the energy to do so of talking on this show but it is a case that I felt if I push it aside much longer it is going to become an occurring thought in my head so I felt it is best to talk on it now.
It is hard to say what has not already been said about this series from the hundreds of videos that released on this series from its 2 episode premiere or even to the basis of the original teaser trailer back 3 months before the series began and I could sense that the internet may be in for something that will cause some major issues. So today I will be delving into a little different approach to the series where instead of separating it by my usual review format I have done for films and most case with Game reviews) I am going to be delving into more of going episode by episode, giving a brief rundown of what happens, what I find entertaining amongst everything else that is wrong with the show and see how could the show have been improved or fixed to be more entertaining, as well as giving the point of some of the usual review aspects of Story, Characters and presentation, so lets not waste much more time and lets delve into this mess (something tells me this will take a while)
The mystery of the series beginnings.
So for those that are unaware, this series is a planned spin off of the popular and beloved Hanna Barbera cartoon of Scooby Doo that was based on a group of older Pre-teens and their talking dog who go around the fictional town of Coolsville solving mysteries and finding the truth of some supernatural goings on that may just be someone in a mask. Now this series has become an iconic character in pop culture since their inception in the 1960s and have seen multitude of different reboots and updates to keep it relevant from classic films like Zombie Island, Alien Invaders, Witches Ghost that had a girl band that probably caused a sexual awakening to many people and even a crossover with Casper in Ghoul school, to series like the original, a few series with the most divisive character in the series (this may have changed that) with Scooby's cousin Scrappy, What's New Scooby Doo with still the best new remix of the theme and to many the best update with Mystery Incorporated. It also spawned a few forays into live action including 2 films from the early 2000s that were in some ways written or produced by the man that Gave us the Guardians of the Galaxy films and also provided the best version of Shaggy in the form of Matthew Lillard (bless that man, he was a perfect casting).
But what is to say about this new version, Well this idea was initially conceived about 5 years ago by the creators of this series of Actress Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy. Kaling may be known for her performance and writing on the US Office as Kelly Kapoor and for shows like The Mindy project and The Sex Lives of college girls, as well as being a lot of her projects being self inserts of herself (a point I will bring up later) and Grandy is known as a writer and producer for shows like The Office, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and SNL. These 2 decided to focus on the character of Velma as in more recent years she has become a lot more of a fan favourite and that Kaling herself always related to the character in her youth. Now at that point some were against it from the get go but I gave the benefit of the doubt at that point, but once more starts coming along, it started to get more and more concerning and more turned against it where some of it came from the first look image showing what Velma looks like and some other characters but I felt it really got concerning when they dropped the official teaser at New York Comic Con
you see the issues that sprung up was that they bring up the point about the changing of what made the appealing aspect of the original so annoying and then point out the criticisms with the added benefit of brand placement of the streamer that this series is on (the company in particular that about 2-3 months beforehand was criticized for cancelling finished films and shelving so much animated content on their streamer, a sentiment that has not changed from the company). Now the likes of this were just the worry that this was going to be the same element of the series or maybe it is just a small factor and they would not have to wait too long for that at all as the series while coming out in Mid January last year, they didn't release a full trailer until less then 24 hours before the show started airing and those concerns just became much worse from that point.
I could continue with the trailer but I have delved enough into the brief backstory of this series so lets get to talking about this mess.
A story of attempted mystery and trying to have a point
Now on the basis of this is that I am going to split this into the basis of a few aspects where I will rate it based on the outline of the story concept first and give that a score and then give a delving into the episode in a separate section. So in most other Scooby Doo series, they tend to be seeing the gang going off in their mystery machine to a spooky or non threatening looking location and solve a mystery that is caused by a spooky Spector and solve the mystery in some way, however this is a little bit more of a different perspective that is a bit like the plot of Mystery Begins but not as structured (but I'll get to that) but anyways here is a basic rundown of the plot:
"the series will be told from the perspective of Velma and how she was the one that formed the Mystery Inc and how they came together while she comes to terms with figuring out the mystery of her Mom's disappearance and a possible serial Killer murdering teens around the town"
Now the basis on this plot does not sound too bad at first glance with mainly on it being an origin and then giving some of the characters a little bit more of a backstory, but the way that it is presented just becomes very convoluted where one episode its the focus, the next it is rarely mentioned and then started to be tonally all over the place in terms of "personal stuff, my mom is gone and probably dead, Fred got small wee wee etc." to "someone is going around murdering people and we need to find out who" that at points you question why am I watching this and why was this made over much better options. Now I do not hate the concept of how they try to tell a story here but it could've been more of a focus on one or the other or just written better mainly but I will delve more into why when I talk on the episodes but overall it is not the worst thing ever but could've been fleshed out better
Story Score: 4-5
So..... About those characters
So there is a lot of characters that I can go through in this series from some of the townsfolk, to Velma's Dad and the parents of the other cast members but for the sake of purpose I am only keeping it to the Main cast cause the likes of one is a spoiler, one is a major dick and the others just feel put in with no sense of build to it and one that helps drive the plot in 1 or 2 episodes but that is really it and it is a case I do not have much to say on those other ones and rather focus on these characters inn general.
So firstly let me give one question and are asking, where is Scooby? Well he is not in this series at all and is the only form of a Scooby Doo project or series that does not have the actual character in it (besides maybe the weird Porn parodies that are sure to have been made about this IP but I rather not think there is some form of beastiality in those) and apparently it was the only reason they could make the series was that they could not use the talking dog, so I guess then what is the point when a more adult based Scooby Doo exists in the comics and Mystery Incorporated so its already not off to a great start. Now lets get into these other 4.
Velma
sha - I mean Norville
So now we move onto the character with the most noticeable change and that is with this shows version of Shaggy or as his actual name in all of the shows of Norville. Now this one has had the race swap and in most case lost a lot of the appeal of what made Shaggy a very popular character where he is not that stoner looking character with the shaggy hair and insatiable appetite where now he is a straight edge kid, who does not like drugs, reviews different snacks in livestreams, has some appeal with swords and for what becomes majorly clear from the first mention and appearance of him and even to the point of it being pointed to him that he is a....... SIMP!!!!! Yes it is clearly evident that Norville is a massive simp for Velma but she does not feel the same for him (well I'll talk on that later) and it is a case she shoots him down or just uses him to bounce off her issues and problems on him without any word in on it (a point in which I want to talk about later that I mentioned in a previous review about how they tackle a certain issue) and after a point I was not annoyed at the start but it got more and more annoying that he may have changed and then wiped all of that by the end of the finale when the concept he had of that building character and going against Velma had some potential and then it just poofed by the end of the following episode but I guess it was bound to happen with a show like this.
Daphne
Now we talk about a character that I feel like at least from the outcome of this messy ass show by the end of it is actually the one that did not overly annoy me the most and actually felt like there is some sense of decent development is with Daphne. Now like the other 2 she has also recieved a bit of a slight change in the form of a race swap where she is east Asian American in this series and while they give her the trait of the mean girl in certain elements, she is still tied into this with the likes of the relationship she'll have a bit with Velma (as it seem that everyone is in love with Velma in the Mystery Inc which brings the mystery as to why), she lives with her 2 cop moms who are.... eh, they're fine, not much to have a major impact and she has her own ordeal of wanting to know about her own parents as she is adopted by the 2 cops. She seems to be more different to the version from the original where she was most of the time the damsel in distress and in some degree at least is not insufferable for the most part and while their is point about it all that could be annoying, it is not as bad as the others.
Fred
And lastly we have Fred, oh boy what did they do to this guy. Now he is the only character that get the least amount of change where he looks exactly the same as the version from the original cartoon but the whole thing they make it out is that he is a brainless idiot that is also a late bloomer, acts like a child that can't do basic things and most of the time become the butt of jokes about how Fred has a small manhood (and they bring this up quite a bit in the first few episodes). the fact as well that they got Glen Howerton or Dennis Reynolds from its always Sunny in Philadelphia for this just feels like wasted potential, as he is quite a funny actor and they really give him nothing to do except act incompetent (which also feels weird that his dad is voiced by Frank Welker or the original voice actor for Fred and Scoob so it feels odd). They then reach a point around the middle of the season that they suddenly make him a feminist that feels really forced (and also leads to him falling for Velma) when he reads a certain book that I will delve into later in the episode breakdown (a breakdown on the episode and a breakdown on my life that I have on the daily) and is clearly a farcry from the version that is presented in the original series that they try and take elements from (mainly issues with his father and some other aspects from Mystery Incorporated) but I guess that is what happens when they want to make the focal series on the female character who in this one no one really likes at all.
So overall, the characters either have been bastardized, start off as tolerable but get annoying, don't appeal from the beginning to end or even the likes of one that actually turns out ok of the main group but 1 of 4 is not really a strong ideal at all when they could've delved into making these characters more likable and flesh them out instead of dumbing them down or making them disliked but have no idea who agreed to the ideas.
Characters score: 3
Presenting the world of Coolsville... I think
(this is my sleep paralysis, I thing I haven't seen since I have little proper sleep anymore)
As for characters, I guess that they are kind of distinguished that Fred and Daphne look close to their original counterparts and Velma is close and the same with Norville, Though most people would probably get confused if they had no idea that was supposed to be the same character from the other shows (which also becomes confusing given that his dad in the show has the same design as Shaggy in the original which just convolutes things). I know over the last year I have seen some alt designs for the characters that I think may have appealed a lot more of a new take but for what it is its fine with it being close to the old designs.
As for respect to source material.... its a very far stretch to the point that they will mock it a lot of the time in the show as being dumb, really not care about it or just make it a bit of a mess to the point that I wonder if this series started as a different mystery series and then just changed it to a Scooby Doo spin off but I have no idea and once again they want to make it a more mature adult version but it was proven already in the much better Mystery Incorporated series when this was trying to be more like Riverdale, a series that had potential but went on way too long very quickly and wish if they wanted to respect it, they should have done so or just leave this property alone, but I guess they wanted something to mock.
Presentation: 4
writing a story seems hard
This one is also I am giving not much of a focus on but it is a case that the writing for this series is really stretching it that it is all over the place and full of aspects that really does not know where it wants to go. As I mentioned in the basis about how the story can be very convoluted where one minute it is majorly focusing on a serial killer and Velma finding her Mom, to making it out like it does not matter and just focus on relationships, character flanderisation and in some sense trying to be hip with the kids and it just makes things really messy. A part of me feels like it was trying to appeal to a lot of people and mock or annoy others but seems to have missed on both when it seemed to have collectively been annoying everyone who watched it and the case of feeling that these characters do not feel like the versions we would normally see in the multiple series or films just really feels very messy whereas if they gave this a bit more time, made it a bit more structured and not putting in countless references to other properties or have the feeling like its a Family Guy cutaway gag or just a barrage of just jabs and insults that Velma throws out to everyone when the attention is not on her, it is just the case of this writing needed a bit more of a better structure and actually decent writing and not feel its forced with all the directions it goes and in most case could be way way better then the scattershot outcome it ended up feeling like.
Writing Score: 2.5-3
The episodes, the issues and what could've been fixed
Ok now usually at this point I would be delving into the pros and cons or concluding the review, but as I mentioned for this form of review on a tv show if I decide to do it all in one instead of weekly (which I may work into at some point in future show updates) where I will be delving into each episode and talk about what I like and dislike and how it may improve. Now I won't delve too long on most of them besides maybe the first and last this time around cause it is a case I remember them enough and am not in the mood for looking them up again to watch them (which I believe this series has yet to release or stream here in the UK/Ireland) and best give some of the pinpoint moments to discuss so lets get to it then
Episode 1
Episode 1 starts with self introduction by the main lead and the basis of being self aware of if its about Men on how they deal with being given even more power and that if its with women that they question what drove her to go crazy which I am pretty sure is not really how most of those origins go. It then cuts to the school in a locker room where a woman that turns out to be Daphne as she is disgusted by 2 roaches just having sex. We then cut to a group of girls (who may I remind in this series they are all supposedly 15/16) in a shower and again make an attempt at a 4th wall explanation about how most tv pilots have a lot more sex and nudity then most other episodes of a season and just feels weird of them mentioning this when they are underage in the series (though at least nothing is shown compared to Big Mouth that makes things a lot more worse), there is some rows, a hooded figure attacks her, makes a mention about race choice casting and then the figure is revealed to be Velma, soon after she finds a body in her locker and is accused of the killing (makes sense since she is in a full dark hoodie and brandishing a blunt weapon). She is taken to the police, we meet Daphne's Adopted moms, give her about 24 hours to find out who really caused it and then she is let go. We then meet Fred, make some cultural racism joke, Daphne shows up, tries to advance on Fred in public in a sexual manner. We then meet Velma's Dad and her new step mom who he got pregnant shortly after Mom went missing that leads to a weird creepy nude photoshoot and disturbing imagery. She gets a job that last all of one scene during a funeral for the murdered girl to a slow funeral version of My pony (the Magic Mike song), she goes outside finds Fred who is having Parental issues. Velma tells the story of her Mom and how she has "episodes" (essentially has an anxiety attack, and we'll get to this in a minute) when she tries to solve a mystery after her mom went missing believing she caused her disappearance.
Soon we meet Norville who keeps saying stuff about leaving her VM's (voicemails) and then she leaves, has another panic attack, shows a weird way to stop it and then the father explains that the mom hated it here and left and it seems to believe that (which makes me question isn't Velma supposed to be smart?), she does a glow up that lasts all but a minute and then has a possible hunch that her Moms last sighting was near Fred's House so Velma and Norville investigate. Now let me get to a point I alluded to in my review for Puss in Boots 2 and that is with the basis that this show has a terrible form of showing how to deal or help someone with an anxiety attack and that is the basis that Velma starts hallucinating and the way she snaps out of it is making Norville tell her his feelings for her ( a thing that does not work and is a really bad way to show that laughing at semblance of telling someone's feelings for someone is not a good thing or a way to stop an anxiety attack and just gives the other person worry and sense of anxiety to them and is really a terrible way to show to resolve it), anyway it somehow works, she comes across Fred and learns the truth that he has not gone through Puberty and looks like he is about to silence her with death but is shot in both legs and revealed it was to pay her to keep quiet about his secret. After Velma returns home and finds another body in her trash and the episode ends. So besides the 4th wall self aware humour and terrible way to deal with a panic attack (a staple that I experience on the daily lately and have other forms of better dealing with it), this series is not off to a good start and it can have massive room for improvement but I guess we'll see how it turns out.
Episode 1 score: 3
Episode 2
Now according the ratings boards, this is ranked as the lowest scoring episode of the series and I can understand that this does not have much of an improvement. So lets see in this episode starts with the police taking the body and realizing there is a killer on the loose with their suspected one being Fred being taken away (before getting his small member exposed to the public which technically could have most people on the register) and Velma's Dad taking the case for Fred. Now I think it was either episode one or this one has a terrible joke of Daphne and her clique confronting Velma in the bathroom and make a long and terrible joke of trying to give a saying while a toilet in a nearby stall keeps flushing (which I forgot to say the jokes in this are not that funny). Anyway Vel and Nor return to school and makes some terrible drug joke on 420 about it being for adults that still watch cartoons. She goes to Daphne to ask for a file on her Mom but will only give it to her for about $500. In the process discovers that Daphne is the schools drug dealer of "the Candy Man" (or in this case Candy Woman) and swindles her way into helping her to get the file from Daphne. While this is happening, Velma's Dad is trying to get Fred proven innocent and discover that he is too much of a childish person that can't cut a steak or wash himself without help so uses that to help which leads to him in a child like sailors outfit that leads to a joke about a certain Dictator. Meanwhile Norville is trying to help get the 500 for Velma and decides to sell his sword he has for that amount and then coarse her into dating him for the money (showing a bad way of manipulation and a form of the clear signs of Norville's simping for her), goes to sell it, does not get much and instead goes to sell his kidney for the money and leads to him stopping a wanted criminal accidentally.
Back to the other story, Velma tries selling drugs, does not work, Daphne fires her, they suddenly have a moment they get chased by Daphne's adopted moms and they escape. Velma learns about the case that Daphne is trying to find out who her own actual parents as well and can relate. She nearly sells her dad drugs and then he promises to give the $500 if he proves Fred's innocence which does not go well and through the power of mockery and Grey's Anatomy gets him put in jail so that does not go well. At the end of the episode Velma has another Panic attack and Daphne kisses her to stop it, Which I do not believe is a good thing to do at all (some level of stress and anxiety yes but panic attacks no) and that is where the episode ends. Most of the problems of this one is elements from the first and then just the messiness of the multiple stories at once that go nowhere most of the time so it just makes it a headache to sit through.
Episode 2 score: 2.5
Episode 3
Right most case this episode focuses on these things that for a few of things I am going to go through them quick, in the 3rd episode, Velma is questioning her sexuality for a good chunk of the episode and then the school makes all of the girls take a self defense course and the men get nothing and the girls go up against each other in a tournament where they will learn lessons and self defense...... and also a gun, this gives us a very disturbing image you see above, it leads to Daphne and Velma in the final, Velma reads insecurities of Daphne from her Diary and then gets hated by everyone and Daphne knocks her out. As for Norville he at first goes to the prison with Velma to talk to Fred about the last location of her mom, she gets kicked out for having a panic attack and assaulting a guard, Norville goes back fails at first and then uses his dad's counselors jacket to get some info out of him and meant to return to the prison for a group therapy session, fails to do so, causes a riot for some to escape and then Norville learns of a clue about someone from his family that may help in the overall case and that is about as much as I can remember, a majority of episode when not trying to make jokes or push for it to be relevant is really boring and thats most I can remember of the episode and is a case for a few of these.
Episode 3 score: 3
Episode 4
Episode 4 brings us the bases that starts with another girl being murdered and then the town full of old men saying the reason that they are targets is because all the women are not so ugly people are safe. It then leads to Velma making a statement about some sexist morals and then ends up with her trying to make a list of the 5 hottest girls to be protected by the government from this serial killer. She finds it difficult cause she hates everyone (well besides Daphne) and decided to get the help from a recently exonerated Fred cause he would know better. Velma then gives Fred a book known as The Feminine Mystique (an actual book released back in the early 60s that was about the strong movement of feminism) which Fred initially thinks it is a book about Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique from X-men which he then reads and see women's inner beauty inside and out too, which leads to Fred becoming a feminist and then falling for Velma at the end of the episode. Velma makes the 5 hottest more ugly or normal but it does not last, she makes herself.... something, her step mom goes into labor and then using the hot girls to clear a path for her to get her to the hospital. As on the other side was with Norville helping Daphne with finding some possible clues towards the locations of her real parents by the towns history of crystals and that is all I can remember of episode 4. Sure it has some annoying jokes and like the last episode was a fair bit boring and tries to make a message that kind of sticks about but its at a push passable.
Episode 4: 4-4.5
Episode 5
This episode comes to the affect that the planned school band sleepover gets cancelled due to a city wide curfew to stop the deaths of more hot girls and the likes as well is that Norville is unavailable as he has a new girlfriend in the form of Gigi (One of the girls labelled as hot from the list who around the time was being rumoured that this was the person as the stand in for Scooby in the show but that proved to be false) so she has to get Fred to help (who I also mention at this point became smitten by Velma and is now a feminist), they go to the library to find clues, she has another Panic attack and Fred has no idea what to do in this situation. in this process decides to have the band sleepoever at her place to have Norville there to help and then leads to some ordeal of a flute off, Norville being called out by the characters as being a Simp (not in a cryptic way, they literally tell him he is a Simp). Then the whole band group become feral as there is no food, they sneak out to get food for the band, the best scene happens in the show (Velma is hit by a car) ends up in a police car with Norville's parents that are into some..... weird shit and uses it as blackmail to get info about Norville's aunt or grandma. She spends a night in jail, the house is put back to normal and clean that's where the story ends for that episode. Also Daphne find her biological parents who are criminals and disguise themselves as Captain cavemen costumes and live in the closed off mines that feels a bit tacked on but at least had some progression then the actual plot. Overall another eh episode that could be at most passable (I know it sounds more fine to watch but trust me it is much of a forgettable show that I checked out a fair bit).
Episode 5: 4
Episode 6:
This episode starts with Velma talking to principal rogers to get information on her mother who was a doctor back in the 60s where she learns of a system she was assigned by the army to make to fight their greatest enemy of Meddling Kids and was known as Special COvert Operation Brain Initiative (or SCOOBI and leads to a joke so tacked on I question moral choices about watching this show). She could not find out the answer in the box without having hallucinations that she chocks up to having parental issues, mainly with her Father and they spend time but she is used just so that he can do work on Paternity leave. She soon goes to the Joneses House and discovers ms Roger's lab under the house where she finally stops her "episodes", her dad finally believes in her story and then this ends with her getting her classic shock phrase of "jinkies" being shoehorned into this episode. As for the only other story it ends the arc of Daphne's real parents as they want to use her as an insurance policy to escape town with a lot of diamonds before they are caught and arrested by her adopted mothers so it felt it just ended so quickly as if the writer were bored with the narrative. Overall episode was another passable one with stories that end abruptly and have little impact a lot of the time
Episode 6: 3.5-4
Episode 7
So this one has a focus of a fog dance and seems to be a case that no one cares about the serial killer anymore and that the only way you can do to this dance is if you have a date and suddenly Daphne is not in the mood for the likes of Velma. At this point she discovers a secret number on the piece of paper with Jinkies on it and discovers it is the number of the Killer and wanting to stop Daphne from being killed, decides to cross dress as a man and this episode is just full of really sexist jokes and other aspects that being a Man is so much easy that all they have to do is say they are awesome and everyone agrees (I am adlibbing cause I think it is close to that but I am not in the mood to look them up again). Anyway on the other side, Fred is being forced by his dad to become Fog King to stop his infatuation with Velma while also going up against Norville and Gigi. All of that goes nowhere, the four get chased by the killer, they make fun and mock the running through random doors and for wearing disguises like they would in the old series, making it a "remember the time joke again". Anyway the killer disappears, they get his phone, Norville and Gigi make up and Fred is kidnapped by the masked killer and the episode ends. I guess they tried with some form of commentary but it is so below the bar level of humour and jokes and then mocking the other versions of the show is really just unneeded (when again I bring up the whole wanting to respect the material mention from interviews they did) and just has some elements of the mystery that are at the beginning, suddenly become pointless for a good chunk and then pops up again in the last 5 mins and is just one of the worser episode.
episode 7: 3
Episode 8:3 episodes left
Right we are near the end of this and this episode has the most whiplash feeling, not in the form of the great 2014 film with J.K Simmons but rather jumps back and forth from earlier to present a bit too much and in too many forms of tangents with multitude of just title cards like I would do when separating the sections of my weekly series (or in general) and it makes the episode a mess. So how to describe is that they try and get into the killers phone and eventually figures with out with the most basic passcode and discover a photo of the woods. Velma gets Daphne (she does this by manipulating and gaslighting her by pretending to have a panic attack) and they go there by getting Norville to drop them to his cabin his family owns. unbeknownst to him cause he is a bit of an idiot that Gigi was trying to drop multiple hints at then end of the night for her and Norville to get Jiggy and that includes alone time at the cabin, this causes a fight, they storm off and in the process fall into a chasm and are all trapped by a rock. Now while that is happening Fred wakes up in some underground bunker and discovers the brains of the 3 girls in jars and that they can still communicate and then for some reason Fred gets turned on by it (didn't think we would get to this point in a show). anyway eventually they all end up in the same cavern, they rescue the brains and Fred (where Fred leaves the brains for dead in a cave in) and just as she is falling, surprise, surprise, her mom appears and saves her, they escape in a white van that has a distinct familiar shape to it and then ends up escaping with everyone and all seems to be over except they throw in one last curveball when they run out of ideas and that is her Mom has Amnesia (oh boy). So most of the first half is all over the place with how it is presents itself from talling things out of order with the Flashbacks and then it feels like it rushes to a conclusion but at least it is not jumping through multiple hoops with different stories so I will give it that.
Episode 8: 3.5
Episode 9:
So we go straight to the next episode where she is diagnosed with Amnesia and has 72 hours to help jog the memory or else they will be gone for good (which I am pretty sure is not an actual thing but have no clue). To do this she decides to put up a lie of all the things from the last 2 years from the likes of how the house looked back then, saying the child that her step mom had is hers with Norville and all that. She opens the gift as well her mom got her and it is a pair of shoes that I think are the ones she normally wear in the series or something. In the process she accuses mr Rogers of being the killer when finding the welder mask in his office and get the police on him which leads to a wrongful conviction and Norville finally snapping (a positive I will say for calling her out). On the other side, Daphne and Fred become outcasts at school for leaving the brains to die and soon work their way back to popularity by acting like they are back together up to their announced coupling at the diner that evening, which just so happens to bring everyone together where the truth comes out, tensions flair and then the killer is revealed to be..... her mom!!! So 2nd last episode can be a bit of tedium from the mcguffin of "character has amnesia" and "need to do such and such in an allotted time" and then just the basis of 2 average mid stories and just leaves to the end of a story to wrap up.
Episode 9: 3.5-4
Episode 10:
Finally it is the end of the show and this one bring the basis of the focus with Velma trying to prove her mom's innocence, try's to get help from Daphne, who does comes across an important element in the form of a pocket watch that is discovered to have been used by the real killer to hypnotize Velma's Mom and herself into believing her disappearance was her fault. While she is on her own with Fred and Daphne helping with the Jones company, she suddenly on the flay listens to Norville's voice recordings and suddenly becomes smitten with him (because of course she does). There is also a callback to the very first scene of again underage girls showering (even if they look older then they do) and eventually leads to her returning to the Jones house and to the lair under it. It soon leads to Velma, Daphne and Fred being captured by the real killer of Fred's Mom who was part of the group that tried to make the brain switch program and plans to switch Velma's brain with Fred's so that he will have a smart person's brain in his head (which seems to be a case she has not known much about her does she). However they escape, they confront her in the caves, norville shows up and then basically kills her mom where it ends with Norville in shock of killing someone, Daphne in disbelief at what happened (as well as being mad that Velma said someone elses name when they are in love) and then Velma does not care that she's happy to prove her Mom's innocence and starts twerking (I am not kidding with this) all of it ends and then they tease another killer by the sheriff being killed. In general a good twist that is just buried under so much of a damn mess of everything being thrown at once and then just a quick dash to the finish line but I do not care as this series is now done with
episode 10: 4
Conclusion
Now wrapping it all up in a conclusion, what had an idea of being an interesting series focusing on a now popular fan favourite character of a classic series seemed like a good idea in theory, in execution it fell apart by trying to make it seem more topical and trendy when it will date it fast, has characters that either have been flanderized, turn out ok and then just question why do we want to follow a main character that is so spiteful and have to follow them for a 10 episode series. Could this have been good, I feel yes, if it was a case where it was a form of the characters that were already established together as a group that had the tone of Mystery Incorporated but with a more darker adult tone then I feel it may have worked better to really give more character development to the characters of Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Velma in that tone where it is not massively changed and you can actually have some interesting development from the writing with some use of humor and even better establish relationships and emotions instead of baiting people into it and trying to be trendy when it doesn't work. I am sure that we will get a proper form of this one day hopefully to give them a better chance or from what I hear there is a 2nd season happening (yeah just end me now please) that they actually improve them and not bastardize them more but I have a feeling it isn't going to happen and we'll be having people going Jinkies, Jeeper, Zoinks, ruh roh and wondering where did it all go wrong.
Final Scores and Tally:
Story: 4-5
Story: 4-5
characters: 3
Presentation: 4
Writing: 2.5 - 3
episodes (collectively): 34-35.5 or 3.5
total: 17/50 or 18.5/50 or 34-37%
I hope you enjoyed this very long review of a show I have been putting off for a year at this point but I would like to know if you have watched this series what are your own thoughts on it in general, what did you like about it or did you hate it with a burning passion. Now if there is a season 2, I do not have the entire energy to do it unless this gets a lot of views on it and then maybe I'll consider it and torture myself with it (cause I have nothing else better to do) but we'll have to see if that ever happens. But as always I hope you all stay being wonderful people and have a great day everyday and I will see you's all in the next piece.
Take care, keep being you, signing off,
Sam H
Comments
Post a Comment