If this was a networked TV show and not PSN exclusive, it would probably get canceled halfway through the first season. And rightfully so.
The premise is interesting as it was in the original comics way back in 2000 but they didn't do much with it now for this show. After watching this first season I just can't say that it was a good show. Most of the time it was a mess of good and bad. As I said already, story is interesting and can yield interesting plots but it was just handled poorly with cheesy acting, weird editing and stupid non sequitur dialogs and monologues that most of the time go nowhere and are there just as a obligatory placeholder speech. Though I am going to give it a bit of slack because there are few really good speeches, but just a few.
The acting is colorful, from really bad to overacting. Susan Heyward was at times, totally giving her A game but then, Copley also half the time was looking like he's drunk and just reading the lines from a page. Don't get me wrong, I love Sharlto as an actor, he's good, it's just this show isn't and you can see that reflects in actors, sets and screen writing. Eddie Izzard was kinda OK, whatever, he also didn't give a damn and was there only to give us speech after speech. Same goes for Michelle Forbes and others.
I would like to say that the acting is the only bad thing and that I could blame directing for it but there's more, sorry. SONY somehow accomplished to make this show look like it was shot in 2000-2001. The visual effects are mostly cheap and even laughable at times, flying and stunts are just as transparent, especially the flying bit that looked way better even in Superman The Movie, almost 40 years ago.
Same thing for "edgy and cool" clothing and music of youngsters here, it just looks stupid, costumes are on "Mystery Men cheap cosplay" level. Yes, I know it has to be a bit silly and selfaware.... but it isn't because the established tone of the show is messed up and quasi-serious. There are all this stuff that show tries to make you care about but you just don't give a damn.
So I covered bumpy acting, crappy visuals and unblossomed story. Now - the characters. There isn't a single one that I liked. They are mostly generic or out of touch with youth or something like that. Lead duo of Walker and Deena are just the worst. Walker is class AAA a-hole and Deena is the caring and righteous one, but we just don't care for her because she gives us no reason to do so. Rest of the Powers division are generic bunch of cop like guys and girls. Wolf is a soliloquy walking machine, Retro Girl is generic superhero that tries to look deep, Johnny Royale is generic bad guy with a good heart and we actually don't know why he does what he does, what's his goal. Then there's Calista, generic troubled teen that we should cheer/care for but we don't because she's an a-hole as well. Simons is maybe the most likable character here but he's in the role of background-ish second hand man to Royale. Zora should represent probably the mirror image of Calista but she doesn't because they don't actually share any screen time and she falls flat as just an average MTV-like superhero that's "like, cool, modern and hip".
Aaaand then there are Chaotic Chic duo of Chic and Krispin. Oh man, did I loathe both of them. There's just something about generic portrayal of moronic teens that makes my blood pressure goes up. They try to be this propaganda spewing, anti establishment, high horse freedom internet keyboard warriors that are also cool and urban with all those graffiti and what not. Wait, I actually get it now, they are basically extremist hippies, pharmaceutical lab fire-bombers, that's why I don't like them.
I'm aware that bunch of this stuff is "critique of society, superpowered people ethos and such and self satire of some of the clichés and how public image is blah blah", that the focus is more on characters and their struggle. But it's so badly portrayed that it became all that it was criticizing. Whole mindset of the show is pretty shallow, it's almost as this was written by an angsty teen that realized that there's more to the world than his backyard. So as far as satire goes here, it doesn't work.
Ugh, I wasted so much time to write here and tell you why this shows sucks but it also helped me to get some better perspective about it. So yeah, not recommended. If they don't bail on this show, maybe the second season would be better, but I'm probably not coming back to check that out.
The premise is interesting as it was in the original comics way back in 2000 but they didn't do much with it now for this show. After watching this first season I just can't say that it was a good show. Most of the time it was a mess of good and bad. As I said already, story is interesting and can yield interesting plots but it was just handled poorly with cheesy acting, weird editing and stupid non sequitur dialogs and monologues that most of the time go nowhere and are there just as a obligatory placeholder speech. Though I am going to give it a bit of slack because there are few really good speeches, but just a few.
The acting is colorful, from really bad to overacting. Susan Heyward was at times, totally giving her A game but then, Copley also half the time was looking like he's drunk and just reading the lines from a page. Don't get me wrong, I love Sharlto as an actor, he's good, it's just this show isn't and you can see that reflects in actors, sets and screen writing. Eddie Izzard was kinda OK, whatever, he also didn't give a damn and was there only to give us speech after speech. Same goes for Michelle Forbes and others.
I would like to say that the acting is the only bad thing and that I could blame directing for it but there's more, sorry. SONY somehow accomplished to make this show look like it was shot in 2000-2001. The visual effects are mostly cheap and even laughable at times, flying and stunts are just as transparent, especially the flying bit that looked way better even in Superman The Movie, almost 40 years ago.
Same thing for "edgy and cool" clothing and music of youngsters here, it just looks stupid, costumes are on "Mystery Men cheap cosplay" level. Yes, I know it has to be a bit silly and selfaware.... but it isn't because the established tone of the show is messed up and quasi-serious. There are all this stuff that show tries to make you care about but you just don't give a damn.
So I covered bumpy acting, crappy visuals and unblossomed story. Now - the characters. There isn't a single one that I liked. They are mostly generic or out of touch with youth or something like that. Lead duo of Walker and Deena are just the worst. Walker is class AAA a-hole and Deena is the caring and righteous one, but we just don't care for her because she gives us no reason to do so. Rest of the Powers division are generic bunch of cop like guys and girls. Wolf is a soliloquy walking machine, Retro Girl is generic superhero that tries to look deep, Johnny Royale is generic bad guy with a good heart and we actually don't know why he does what he does, what's his goal. Then there's Calista, generic troubled teen that we should cheer/care for but we don't because she's an a-hole as well. Simons is maybe the most likable character here but he's in the role of background-ish second hand man to Royale. Zora should represent probably the mirror image of Calista but she doesn't because they don't actually share any screen time and she falls flat as just an average MTV-like superhero that's "like, cool, modern and hip".
Aaaand then there are Chaotic Chic duo of Chic and Krispin. Oh man, did I loathe both of them. There's just something about generic portrayal of moronic teens that makes my blood pressure goes up. They try to be this propaganda spewing, anti establishment, high horse freedom internet keyboard warriors that are also cool and urban with all those graffiti and what not. Wait, I actually get it now, they are basically extremist hippies, pharmaceutical lab fire-bombers, that's why I don't like them.
I'm aware that bunch of this stuff is "critique of society, superpowered people ethos and such and self satire of some of the clichés and how public image is blah blah", that the focus is more on characters and their struggle. But it's so badly portrayed that it became all that it was criticizing. Whole mindset of the show is pretty shallow, it's almost as this was written by an angsty teen that realized that there's more to the world than his backyard. So as far as satire goes here, it doesn't work.
Ugh, I wasted so much time to write here and tell you why this shows sucks but it also helped me to get some better perspective about it. So yeah, not recommended. If they don't bail on this show, maybe the second season would be better, but I'm probably not coming back to check that out.