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Thoughts: Tomorrow People (2013)
Sep. 3rd, 2015 02:07 amI’ve been rewatching the last few episodes of The Tomorrow People (CW) and have decided that they really encapsulate my biggest problem with the show: too much plot and not enough character.
While the back half of the show feels really rushed to me, I’ll grant that this is likely because the the producers saw the writing on the wall and wanted to provide a complete story line, thus forcing them to compress a much longer arc into the remaining episodes.
That said, the problems to me go back to the first episodes, though they don’t start to get really bad until episode 6 or so (IMO). The first few episodes introduce the characters; these are my favorite episodes because there are solid interactions that don’t involve hitting, shooting, or otherwise trying to pummel someone. But then there’s the plot. The first episode alone introduces the TP, ULTRA, the shadow war, Jedikiah’s plans for TP extermination, and Stephen as a double agent. That’s a lot of material! By the fifth episode, we’ve seen multiple examples of people betraying or being betrayed by ULTRA, learned about the Annex project, and been introduced to a number of new characters. The pace only picks up after that.
The Tomorrow People as a concept are always about saving the world, often with the threat being fairly absurd, so I’m willing to suspend a lot of disbelief there. However, the threat of the Founder and the Machine were so convoluted, and required so much rearranging of the pieces as to who’s on which side at any given minute (and who’s involved with which other character at any given minute), that the show turned itself into a Gordian Knot of motivation.
I think the show would have been much better–and might even have been successful–if the producers had taken the same approach to it that they brought to The Flash and simplified the overarching plot and provided a lot more opportunity for the characters to just be.
Thoughts?
While the back half of the show feels really rushed to me, I’ll grant that this is likely because the the producers saw the writing on the wall and wanted to provide a complete story line, thus forcing them to compress a much longer arc into the remaining episodes.
That said, the problems to me go back to the first episodes, though they don’t start to get really bad until episode 6 or so (IMO). The first few episodes introduce the characters; these are my favorite episodes because there are solid interactions that don’t involve hitting, shooting, or otherwise trying to pummel someone. But then there’s the plot. The first episode alone introduces the TP, ULTRA, the shadow war, Jedikiah’s plans for TP extermination, and Stephen as a double agent. That’s a lot of material! By the fifth episode, we’ve seen multiple examples of people betraying or being betrayed by ULTRA, learned about the Annex project, and been introduced to a number of new characters. The pace only picks up after that.
The Tomorrow People as a concept are always about saving the world, often with the threat being fairly absurd, so I’m willing to suspend a lot of disbelief there. However, the threat of the Founder and the Machine were so convoluted, and required so much rearranging of the pieces as to who’s on which side at any given minute (and who’s involved with which other character at any given minute), that the show turned itself into a Gordian Knot of motivation.
I think the show would have been much better–and might even have been successful–if the producers had taken the same approach to it that they brought to The Flash and simplified the overarching plot and provided a lot more opportunity for the characters to just be.
Thoughts?
