Post by Martin Stett on Mar 23, 2020 1:36:22 GMT
So I'm finished. Mostly pretty good.
It's essentially told in three acts, each of different quality.
1. Chaos. This is the first episode, in which we are thrown into the explosion without knowing what is going on or who the players are. This is BY FAR the weakest act of the story, because the constant confusion and lack of clearly defined personalities makes it all too easy to just turn off your attention. This happened to me. I just couldn't care about something I couldn't follow.
2. Scary shit. Episodes 2-3 comprise this act, and they're definitely the strongest part of the series. It's terror, panic, a suspenseful race against the clock as the scientists try to avert an even bigger disaster. Although the characters are still pretty bland and one-note (Skarsgard is effectively world-weary and frightened, but that's more personality than the script ever gives him), the fast-paced, plot driven nature of this section works wonders.
3. Investigation and trial (episodes 4-5). Once the crisis averted and "the long war" begins, things slow down. The meandering nature of this section really drags things down, because we don't have any actual characters to latch onto. The three protagonists can be boiled down to "Mr. Science Man works out ways to stop the spread of poison," "Science Lady asks questions" and "bureaucrat man yells at other bureaucrat men to get his supplies." I know they have names, but they're Russian and I can't recall them. The point is, they're plot devices, and by this point we should be focusing on Science Lady's investigation... but instead, we get meandering plotlines about the boring hunters (meant to put a human face to the casualties of even the most insignificant cleaners, but it's so half-assed that it just wastes time) and the shameless heartstring tugging of the firefighter's wife (who has one character trait like everyone else).
When we actually get the trial, it's interesting enough... but it made me wish that I was watching a documentary instead. It's dry facts dressed up to be exciting, but none of the characters are people. Mr. Science Man may have a moral dilemma, but he has no family, no life, nothing dramatic except for, y'know, the plot. Science Lady is even more of a paper-thin caricature (learning that she is a composite of a whole team is infuriating: how I would have loved to see a team of scientists arguing, debating, comparing notes). Bureaucrat Man is given a half-hearted speech about feeling useless, but he's never developed enough beforehand for this to mean anything.
Are the facts interesting? Hell yes. Did I enjoy learning about the criminal incompetence of Diatlov or the systematic lies of the Soviet Union saving face? Yes.
But I could have received that in a documentary. At least then, I wouldn't have these cardboard representations of people with the real thing. I'd be looking at the words and lives of the people who actually fought against these crimes. A properly designed docuseries could capture the fear of the second act and the knowledge of the third act while capturing the reality of the human cost.
It's essentially told in three acts, each of different quality.
1. Chaos. This is the first episode, in which we are thrown into the explosion without knowing what is going on or who the players are. This is BY FAR the weakest act of the story, because the constant confusion and lack of clearly defined personalities makes it all too easy to just turn off your attention. This happened to me. I just couldn't care about something I couldn't follow.
2. Scary shit. Episodes 2-3 comprise this act, and they're definitely the strongest part of the series. It's terror, panic, a suspenseful race against the clock as the scientists try to avert an even bigger disaster. Although the characters are still pretty bland and one-note (Skarsgard is effectively world-weary and frightened, but that's more personality than the script ever gives him), the fast-paced, plot driven nature of this section works wonders.
3. Investigation and trial (episodes 4-5). Once the crisis averted and "the long war" begins, things slow down. The meandering nature of this section really drags things down, because we don't have any actual characters to latch onto. The three protagonists can be boiled down to "Mr. Science Man works out ways to stop the spread of poison," "Science Lady asks questions" and "bureaucrat man yells at other bureaucrat men to get his supplies." I know they have names, but they're Russian and I can't recall them. The point is, they're plot devices, and by this point we should be focusing on Science Lady's investigation... but instead, we get meandering plotlines about the boring hunters (meant to put a human face to the casualties of even the most insignificant cleaners, but it's so half-assed that it just wastes time) and the shameless heartstring tugging of the firefighter's wife (who has one character trait like everyone else).
When we actually get the trial, it's interesting enough... but it made me wish that I was watching a documentary instead. It's dry facts dressed up to be exciting, but none of the characters are people. Mr. Science Man may have a moral dilemma, but he has no family, no life, nothing dramatic except for, y'know, the plot. Science Lady is even more of a paper-thin caricature (learning that she is a composite of a whole team is infuriating: how I would have loved to see a team of scientists arguing, debating, comparing notes). Bureaucrat Man is given a half-hearted speech about feeling useless, but he's never developed enough beforehand for this to mean anything.
Are the facts interesting? Hell yes. Did I enjoy learning about the criminal incompetence of Diatlov or the systematic lies of the Soviet Union saving face? Yes.
But I could have received that in a documentary. At least then, I wouldn't have these cardboard representations of people with the real thing. I'd be looking at the words and lives of the people who actually fought against these crimes. A properly designed docuseries could capture the fear of the second act and the knowledge of the third act while capturing the reality of the human cost.