There's moments of this show that have me putting it in my top shows of the year - it's that damn good. And others where I'm scratching my head. I'm still conflicted on the leads performance, whether it's just limited by character or by acting ability. I've never been a big Gwendoline Christie fan, but when her casting as Lucifer was announced, I was excited - thinking it a bold choice. I'm not so sure it paid off - though I did enjoy the climatic moments with Morpheus (more due to editing and score than anything). David Thewlis, whilst a good actor, feels like he plays the same character in every big budget production. I'm expecting him to rise into the air and scream that he's Ares, the God of War.
Lastly - maybe it's due to lack of focus, but I don't know what any of the special items actually do, other than the Protection necklace. Someone mentions the Ruby make dreams come true, but has the sand not being doing that as well? Some clarity would be greatly appreciated. Maybe it's me though.
So a few problems but I'm gladly going to follow this. I also definitely want to pick up Sandman issues - despite trying and not liking the comic series initially. So overall that's a win.
Review by ragreynoldsVIP 7BlockedParentSpoilers2022-08-07T01:45:34Z
I really want to love this show, it has a lot of potential, but something just feels off.
The whole John storyline just feels very dull and generic, and Dream himself is kinda boring. I kinda liked what they were doing with the fight/challenge in Hell, but if we're being honest, it was kinda dumb. Why would Lucifer even start by saying "I am a direwolf" if she could have just said she was one of the better things right away? After that challenge happens once, it would never have to happen again because they'd very quickly find what can't be beaten. The little pep talk the raven gave Dream took me right out of the scene too - really not liking the voice actor at all.
Last thing I wanna say is that I feel that the show is constantly trying to have these sort of 'epic' moments. They have nice visuals and great music to create these moments. But the problem is, these moments haven't been earned. They fail to actually be epic or memorable because none of the characters are overly strong and we haven't had much reason to like any of them. The only character I've seen anyone really caring about was the female Constantine last episode - but it doesn't seem like she's going to be a big part of the show other than that one episode.
The show isn't bad, it's entertaining and an alright watch. But certain things in the writing are just preventing it from going from okay to good/great. Not sure if that's just because of the source material, or if it's because Netflix messed something up.