calvinc1203

The first 3 seasons were amazing; I'd always stay up to binge watch it (although the murder/incident every season feels excessive/unnecessary).

Just when I thought the plots were getting dragged on, they wrapped it up somewhat nicely at the end of Season 3, and then Season 4 welcomed some nice new faces. I kind of liked the feeling of fresh start and new direction of this season, and finally found a point to include my significant other (since the first 3 were so tightly connected). It feels more sleek & racy without overdoing, but the aesthetics start to become even more of a focus, and when it ended there was no resolution to anything.

Season 4 felt incomplete and relied on Season 5 to pick up the pieces, except they blew everything up further and forced some random & unfortunate ends to characters we love. By this point the formula where something severe has to happen to get police involved is already tiresome-We care more about the relationships and the drama.

What's disappointing isn't just the way Season 5 haphazardly tightened loose ends, it's the shock of starting Season 6 just to realize that those were the "actual" endings with practically no explanation.

At this point ALL of the original cast is gone, and we're left with more and more annoying & plasticky characters...

S1-3 (8/10*) S4 (7/10*) S5 (6/10*)

I only give it 1 star to balance the hired robots & simpletons that gave it 9 & 10.

I'm not a book reader, but I can still tell when an adaptation is good (His Dark Materials & The Boys for example), but this is just okay (I gave it a 6 originally). My initial complains were mostly about the special effects--Honestly, it looks cheap and not "magical" enough, as some video games have produced better weaving threads & wind effects--and the costumes being too "new" (color & texture) i.e. Not believable.

As the story progresses, I noticed more and more American Horror Story style of "nip the plots in the bud with something quick & convenient" technique, and certain things seem to serve only a small purpose or nothing at all, as if these devices were written by a student to meet the minimum requirements for a project, which resulted in few good moments and many anti-climatic ends, not to mention the odd focus on teen drama (which is apparently not from the book).

I was shocked to find out the first season covers the first 3 books; I even blamed the books for the lack of story. "See? This is why I don't read! All these superfluous words and details amounts to so little!" I was even wondering why these books garnered so many fans, and how did the writer have such a long & successful career. Boy was I wrong! After reading a good chunk of the popular reviews, I was left disgruntled. How dare they butcher the characters & plots, and douse in capitalistic gains, over the dead body of Robert Jordan?? If it has too much to cover in 8 episodes, how about cut a book out? It's the simplest math as math can be! 14 books in 8 seasons? 2 books per season with one extra to spare!!

I feel like this would've been a much better show had it been produced by the people in the U. K. as (time and time again) Hollywood has shown to disrespect literary integrity, urging fans to wait for a BBC remake.