Fate: The Winx Saga - Season 1

During my teenage years, I have enjoyed the animated series Winx Club. Recently, Netflix has created a live-action remake of the story, which is suitable for a more mature audience.

In the build-up to the premiere, the quality of the promotional footage varied. The reviews after the release were varied as well. Besides that, six episodes that last for 50 minutes don't allow for a lot of storytelling. I didn't really have high expectations but I was fairly excited.

Even though Fate: The Winx Saga and Winx Club are quite similar, the stories differ a lot.

Even though Fate: The Winx Saga and Winx Club are quite similar, the stories differ a lot. The young Bloom (Abigail Cowen, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) from California finds out that she has special powers and eventually ends up at the magical boarding school Alfea. This European looking place with British sounding teachers can't be found on our Earth, which is referred to as The First World. This school is located in The Other World, which also has quite a few magical creatures. It turns out that Bloom is a fire fairy and has quite a complex family history in The Other World. It doesn't take long before she makes friends and develops a close bond with her roommates. The room of the five girls is called The Winx Suite, which is how the Winx received their name.

Diversity is an important current theme and this too applies to the Winx series. The animated series featured the black Layla/Aisha (Precious Mustapha), the Asian Musa and the Latina Flora. Netflix has chosen to replace Musa with a white actress (Elisha Applebaum). Flora has been replaced with her white niece Terra (Eliot Salt, Intelligence). Even though I think that Elisha portrays her character well, I do understand the commotion about her. I don't understand why Netflix decided to make these changes. I do understand why they've decided to incorporate Terra. By casting a curvier woman, the creators show that fairies don't need to have the perfect shape. Besides that, Terra does a great job at standing up for herself, which makes her a great character to look up to.

The Burned Ones are the big bads of this season. These zombie-like creatures wander around outside Alfea and kill everyone on their path. This is an indication that Fate: The Winx Sage is a lot grimmer than the animated series and is thus intended for a more mature audience. Headmistress Farah Dowling (Eve Best, Nurse Jackie) has survived a previous war against the Burned Ones alongside her colleagues Silva (Robert James-Collier, Downton Abbey) and Harvey (Alex Macqueen, Holby City). Secrets from this time have been covered up. With the arrival of Bloom and her quest to discover her history these secrets are revealed, with plenty of consequences.



I have to say that I'm quite pleased about the quality of the acting and the cast. Seeing as the majority of the cast isn't all that well-known, I expected the acting to be mediocre. This is not the case. Though there is one scene where Bloom is crying and there are no tears, but the remainder was convincing. The humour is a great addition. The subtle jokes were well-timed and even the special effects were decent. Naturally, the CGI isn't at the same level as Star Wars but it is fine for a - short - series. Even though character development is minimal, there is enough of it to feel empathy for the characters.

I have to say that I'm quite pleased about the quality of the acting and the cast.

Alfea isn't just for fairies, the school also employs specialists. They have an important role as well. These combatants are part of the - future - army of The Other World. Specialist Sky (Danny Griffin) formed a power couple with Stella (Hannah van der Westhuysen) during the previous school year. Due to an intense event, their love for each other diminishes. When Sky becomes interested in Bloom, Stella becomes rather jealous. Sky's good friend Riven (Freddie Thorp) becomes captivated by the mysterious Beatrix (Sadie Soverall). Together, they walk down a dark path that seems to imply that Beatrix is based on the Trix sisters from the animated series.

Even though the series only has six episodes, a lot happens in this short amount of time. Afterwards, I had the feeling that I had watched a complete series. Nonetheless, I am missing a bit of background information. Those who've never watched Winx Club will also experience this. What the magical world outside Alfea looks like in comparison to our earth and how long all the events take are some questions that will not receive an answer. Despite that, I still had a lot of fun watching this. The series seems to have some elements of - the original - Charmed and Shadowhunters, which are two favourites of mine. I can't wait for the second season to arrive. I do hope that season two will have more episodes, which should result in a better narrative and more character development.