The Innocents - first episode

Harry, wait. It’s me! – June

There was a time when 'Netflix Original' represented quality. Unfortunately, that time was quite a while ago. The moment an original is announced no longer provides us with a 'YES, I ABSOLUTELY WANT TO WATCH THIS' feeling. Nonetheless, there are still a couple of good ones coming out. That's why I decided to give the first episode of The Innocents a go. Is it good? There's no easy answer to give.

The Innocents revolves around.... what exactly? After watching the first episode I actually had no idea. I purposely do not read descriptions of series as I want the pilot episode to tell me what it's all about. However, I should've read the description in this case. The story focuses on June (Sorcha Groundsell, Clique). A 16-year-old who, apparently, possesses supernatural 'shapeshifting' powers.



I finished watching the episode about 10 minutes ago and I'm already struggling to remember the names of the other characters. And that, coincidentally, is the biggest flaw of this show.

Can I say it? I'm going to anyway. The first episode of The Innocents is incredibly boring. There. I wrote it down. Apart from the first five minutes and the last few moments, it was a slow, predictable and boring pilot. No surprising plot twists, no good introductions and just way too many characters.

What also definitely doesn't contribute to the liveliness of this episode are the visuals. The images used are gorgeous, but somehow still dull. It also doesn't help that the colour composition is a tad bland. Everything is either brown, grey or greenish.

The acting, if that can be properly judged after only one episode, is not that great either. It's not necessarily bad, but it's too simple and plain. The only character that actually stuck, was the one portrayed by Guy Pearce. He portrays (I'm making up a description, as this isn't 100% clear after watching the first episode) the leader of a group of people who live at a place called 'Sanctum'. Mister Pearce has the required charisma, that is definitely not up for debate. He didn't do a whole lot in the first episode, but whenever he was on screen it suddenly became a bit more interesting.



This Netflix Original, in my opinion, has to return to the drawing board. The main plot, that of people who have a supernatural condition that allows them to shapeshift into others, is actually an interesting idea. How it's executed, however, isn't interesting at all. It feels unoriginal and partially because of that it's, to put it mildly, boring.

As we are all series fanatics here, let's be honest. Nobody is looking forward to a boring show. Especially not when it's a Netflix Original.

A meagre 6!