Black Summer is a zombie apocalypse series. There will never be another TV series about zombies except that it will be compared to "The Walking Dead." TWD set the standard for a zombie serial. So, it goes without saying that I was going to compare Black Summer to TWD, whether I did it wittingly or unwittingly.
Well, you know a show is good when you binge watch it. I knocked out this 8 episode season in two days. Black Summer is pretty much TWD at the beginning again. There's chaos and pandemonium, alliances and divisions just as you would expect. Many of the characters are compelling and their language is not checked by having to be on cable TV. There was a lot I liked about this show, there were some things I didn't like, and some things I thought happened too rapidly.
I liked the characters the show followed which is the most important thing. I even liked the various situations they found themselves in. They give very little information about each character which means... Oh Joy!... not a lot of time spent on boring expositions. They give just enough information to pique your curiosity, decide if you want to swipe left or right on the character, and whether you want them to live or die. Yaayuh! But that means that some characters remain a bit of a mystery throughout. No problem, I can decide if I like him/her or not as we go.
I didn't like how everyone pretends they've never heard of zombies. What do I mean by that? Well, the term zombies, living dead, walking dead, etc. Is never used. The furthest they would go was to call them "infected." But come on. This movie is taking place in modern day America; not one of them has seen a movie, show, or book about zombies??? With that ignorance comes ignorance on how to kill the somnambulus beings. No one can figure out that it takes a head shot to kill the zombies hence the tremendous waste of energy and ammunition trying to neutralize the living dead. The head shots that did occur were by happenstance. It just frustrated me to no end to see people wasting dozens of rounds shooting these deadheads in the torso.
Frustration aside--and it was a big one--I liked the show. The characters had clear goals early on and sought out to achieve them. You saw the good, the bad, and the ugly just as you really would. There was intelligent planning as well as stark stupidity. Plus, I like the camera shots. It reminded me a bit of "Children of Men" with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore when they had long uncut shots of action as if they were an embedded cameraman. I like those close-up, long, uncut shots just following the action. It makes everything so much more visceral and real. Black Summer has staying power. Flaws and all, I'm hooked.
Well, you know a show is good when you binge watch it. I knocked out this 8 episode season in two days. Black Summer is pretty much TWD at the beginning again. There's chaos and pandemonium, alliances and divisions just as you would expect. Many of the characters are compelling and their language is not checked by having to be on cable TV. There was a lot I liked about this show, there were some things I didn't like, and some things I thought happened too rapidly.
I liked the characters the show followed which is the most important thing. I even liked the various situations they found themselves in. They give very little information about each character which means... Oh Joy!... not a lot of time spent on boring expositions. They give just enough information to pique your curiosity, decide if you want to swipe left or right on the character, and whether you want them to live or die. Yaayuh! But that means that some characters remain a bit of a mystery throughout. No problem, I can decide if I like him/her or not as we go.
I didn't like how everyone pretends they've never heard of zombies. What do I mean by that? Well, the term zombies, living dead, walking dead, etc. Is never used. The furthest they would go was to call them "infected." But come on. This movie is taking place in modern day America; not one of them has seen a movie, show, or book about zombies??? With that ignorance comes ignorance on how to kill the somnambulus beings. No one can figure out that it takes a head shot to kill the zombies hence the tremendous waste of energy and ammunition trying to neutralize the living dead. The head shots that did occur were by happenstance. It just frustrated me to no end to see people wasting dozens of rounds shooting these deadheads in the torso.
Frustration aside--and it was a big one--I liked the show. The characters had clear goals early on and sought out to achieve them. You saw the good, the bad, and the ugly just as you really would. There was intelligent planning as well as stark stupidity. Plus, I like the camera shots. It reminded me a bit of "Children of Men" with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore when they had long uncut shots of action as if they were an embedded cameraman. I like those close-up, long, uncut shots just following the action. It makes everything so much more visceral and real. Black Summer has staying power. Flaws and all, I'm hooked.