David Mckee

It would have been better if they matched the source material. It lacks the dark horror that was in the comics. It feels like something is going to happen and then they back off and switch to a softer change. The edginess that was in the comics is not there. The Corinthian was a lame antagonist. He was better in the comics, but even then he was not a major character. Making him the main antagonist felt wrong. The amount of wokeness is ridiculous. I'm fine with sprinkling some in, but it's so over done that it feels like they hijacked the story and it's now something else which is why I stopped halfway through episode 4. Whenever they focus on wokeness, the story suffers because it becomes secondary.

There's no real twist. You know what the movie is about from the description, but you hope that there's some twist that takes you by surprise. Maybe there's some metaphorical meaning to what's happening, but instead it fails and in the end you have a mundane ending. The character development almost happens in some cases, but then it stops prematurely. Everyone acts too sedated when you consider the experiences they are going through. Eventually I had to start tapping fast forward to make it to the end.

The acting was horrible. Maybe they read the script five minutes before they shot each scene? It felt like someone was trying to blend emo Batman with Sin City. Multiple scenes were over dramatized. But other times the actors were devoid of emotion.

Excellent series! They actually portrayed the game of chess correctly. Even the way the players moved the pieces looked natural. I love and play the game myself and I know it looks boring to those who don't know how to play, but they actually dramatized it to a level I didn't think was possible for television.