Reviews by:
@the_owlseyes
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“Your children are not your children.
They are sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For thir souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the make upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness.
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He also loves the bow that is stable”
Kahlil Gibran
PLOT
"The story of a group of British teens who are trying to grow up and find love and happiness despite questionable parenting and teachers who more want to be friends (and lovers) rather than authority figures" or "Teen Drama's started being more grounded and serious after this series".
SCRIPT
I like the fact that series focuses on the outcasts and tries to explain to us why teenagers and adults have problems and shows us the consequences of them. I like that all the characters are defined by choices, made by them or the people around them, rather than birth. We can emphatize with them and understand their struggles. There're characters who have genuinely heartbreaking archs and others who are slaves of their addictions, past sins or, simply, society itself. This series manages different constrating themes in a decent way without making it uncomfortable for the viewers, even though there're some shoking scenes.
Nonetheless there're a lot of flaws. Like characters which are blurs, defined by just one trait or one function, like token characters. Cliches which are subverted, created and verified by the series, like the death of one character, the revolution of one's personality from a season to the next and some random events which seem conjured out of thin air.
The worst thing is the fact that the series catch up with a totally different company of friends which is in no way comnnected to the previous one and that is the main reason I consider this series overvalued.
The best season is undoubtedly the third one and the worst one is the sixth. The seventh looks like an apology for it and it fails to deliver for most of it. Just Cook's episodes saves it and I think that they're the best ones. The series should've evolved during its run, instead it kept things stale and repetitive becoming a parody of itself.
Overall I just think that it's ok and acceptable. Sufficient to the point of boredom.
Script: 6/10
ACTING
It's a mixed bag but I think there're just a few actors who deliver a decent performance, like Nicholas Hoult's Tony, Hannah Murray's Cassie, Joe Dempsie's Chris and Jack O'Connel's Cook. Kaya Scodelario is good just in the third season but she isn't consistent. I consider her overvalued sincerely. Dakota Blue Richards is ok but not remarkable. The others are just there to do the job. There're also some notable appearances like Olivia Colman as Naomi's mother. That's all.
Acting: 6/10
PHOTOGRAPHY
For six season is bad, because the colors are oversatured and the light is too flat. There aren't beatiful shots till the last season, where we got a more careful and professional photography. Overall I didn't like it, even though the seventh season presents an attempt to break free of the past mediocrity.
Photography: 5/10
EDITING
Unoriginal and uninspired, sometimes it uses a slow motion which is cringy as hell. I would say that it's stale because it doesn't show a thing which makes me think that it could be different.
Editing: 5/10
SPECIAL EFFECTS
There's so little of them that it's hard to find them. Considering that this series is supposed to be as grounded as possible, this is enough to consider them acceptable.
Special Effects: 6/10
SOUNDTRACK
It isn't interesting or entertaining. It isn't used in a remarkable way and it just feels like background noise. There's just one character which is influenced by music but loses this trait in the next season. I've expected more and I'm not satisfied, because the overall quality of this show is influenced by it. Only in the last two episodes of the last season there seems to be originality in it.
Soundtrack: 6/10
COSTUMES
There isn't much to say about them. Normal and weird 2000's style which evolves in something more mature in the last season. This section is particularly underwhelming because it doesn't add much to the plot or the characters.
Costumes: 6/10
CONCLUSION
Script: 6/10
Acting: 6/10
Photography: 5/10
Editing: 5/10
Special Effects: 6/10
Soundtrack: 6/10
Costumes: 6/10
AVERAGE: 5,71
A highly flawed teen drama with good ideas and a mixed execution. Watch the first four season and skip to the seventh to enjoy it.
Director: Charles Martin, Simon Massey
Screenplay: Jamie Brittain
Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Hannah Murray, Larissa Wilson, Joe Dempsie, Mike Bailey, Mitch Hewer, Dev Patel, April Pearson, Kaya Scodelario, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Jack O'Connell, Merveille Lukeba, Lisa Backwell, Luke Pasqualino, Lily Loveless, Ollie Barbieri, Megan Prescott, Kathryn Prescott, Dakota Blue Richards, Alexander Arnold, Freya Mavor, Laya Lewis, Sean Teale, Will Merrick, Jessica Sula, Sam Jackson
Soundtrack: Fat Segal
Running Time: 45 min
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