Post by rberman on Jul 31, 2020 14:15:28 GMT -5
Joe Hill's horror series Locke and Key is the most interesting comic book I've read this year, so I was interested to see what Netfllix would do with it. Season One has ten episodes and adapts many of the key moments in the original 36 issues, with some re-arranging. The overall effect is to make the Locke family substantially more empathetic toward each other and sympathetic toward viewers. The show is much stingier than the comic book about bringing new magic keys into the story, doubtless to reserve some for the second season that Netflix has announced is coming.
The notion of a traitor in the heroes' inner circle was a major source of dramatic tension in the comic book but is almost completely absent from the first season of the TV version. In its place, a whole lot of teen drama tropes get rehashed, like "two boys like the same girl" and "mean rich girl at school" and "teens throw a keg party" and "trying to sneak beer out of the convenience store." There are quite a few instances of "How did they know that?" and "Would they have really let that happen?" along the way.
The show clearly aspires to "Stranger Things" levels of teen suspense/adventure. It does pretty well in snappy dialogue, but overall this one easily rates "Book > movie."
The notion of a traitor in the heroes' inner circle was a major source of dramatic tension in the comic book but is almost completely absent from the first season of the TV version. In its place, a whole lot of teen drama tropes get rehashed, like "two boys like the same girl" and "mean rich girl at school" and "teens throw a keg party" and "trying to sneak beer out of the convenience store." There are quite a few instances of "How did they know that?" and "Would they have really let that happen?" along the way.
The show clearly aspires to "Stranger Things" levels of teen suspense/adventure. It does pretty well in snappy dialogue, but overall this one easily rates "Book > movie."
