There's a lot to like in this show. The artwork is beautiful, the retellings of myths are delightful, and when Nicholas Day is allowed to just stick to narrating those retellings, he's excellent. Above all, the academics interviewed are fascinating and fun - at least three of them are people I would love to see with their own shows!
But the editing is sloppy, the choice of art to accompany the themes is often confusing (why is a painting of Judith assassinating Holofernes described as about *love*, for goodness' sake?!), I'm bewildered as to why Day is reading, e.g., classical myths out of an apparent 19th century tome, and his script as presenter is awful - cheesy, overly portentous, and often jumping to exactly the kind of easy, stereotypical conclusions about how myths and legends work that the show claims to be correcting. Moral complexities are mentioned but then skirted over and minimised. Interesting historical details that would give context and extra light to the myths are mentioned by the academics but sometimes outright undermined by the presenter script. The shallow, Victorian vibe of the presentation (including its setting) clashes so awkwardly with the modern and beautiful art and the up-to-date brilliance and enthusiasm of the academics.
It's too good a show to be this bad, and that makes it in some ways harder to watch than if it were consistently so weak. I so hope that if there's a second series they try a different approach (but with the same artist(s), and the same interviewees!).
But the editing is sloppy, the choice of art to accompany the themes is often confusing (why is a painting of Judith assassinating Holofernes described as about *love*, for goodness' sake?!), I'm bewildered as to why Day is reading, e.g., classical myths out of an apparent 19th century tome, and his script as presenter is awful - cheesy, overly portentous, and often jumping to exactly the kind of easy, stereotypical conclusions about how myths and legends work that the show claims to be correcting. Moral complexities are mentioned but then skirted over and minimised. Interesting historical details that would give context and extra light to the myths are mentioned by the academics but sometimes outright undermined by the presenter script. The shallow, Victorian vibe of the presentation (including its setting) clashes so awkwardly with the modern and beautiful art and the up-to-date brilliance and enthusiasm of the academics.
It's too good a show to be this bad, and that makes it in some ways harder to watch than if it were consistently so weak. I so hope that if there's a second series they try a different approach (but with the same artist(s), and the same interviewees!).