TV SHOW REVIEW - Swamp Thing: Season 1

By The Masked Medic

The perks of a streaming service mean that content is less constricted by many of the rules that mainstream TV has to play by. This meant that DC could create as dark a ‘Swamp Thing’ series as they would have liked, and with James Wan on board as a producer, I knew it wasn’t gonna be child’s play.

The one, and currently only, season of Swamp Thing begins with Dr Abby Arcane, a doctor working for the CDC who has been called back to her hometown of Marais, Louisiana to investigate a new outbreak. There she meets Alec Holland, a botanist who is also investigating mysteries of his own. However, an accident sends Holland missing, only for him to return as the Swamp Thing, a humanoid being, made of plants. His connection to ‘The Green’ i.e. all plant life leads him to protect the swamp against both human and supernatural forces.

As a DC fan, I was fairly intrigued by the show but not overly interested in it due to the tone. However, I decided to give it a watch and I have to say, that when they said it was a horror show, they weren’t lying. There were some genuinely terrifying episodes, and I kept most of my watching to the daytime. That being said, it was extremely watchable and I was surprised to learn the show had not been renewed for a second season.

Fans of continuity amongst shows would have struggled with Crystal Reed as Abby Arcane, given she played Sofia Falcone in Gotham. Personally, this is the third TV show I’ve seen her in and she’s only gotten better. Andy Bean who played Alec Holland and Derek Mears who played Swamp Thing did a terrific job at playing the dual personalities of the titular character. The standout role goes to Will Patton who played Avery Sunderland, the main antagonist of the show. He was fantastic as a villain, so very creepy whilst being charming.

The budget on this show was pretty huge and that became evident from the get-go. The sets, the scenery and the Swamp Thing prosthetics were all of movie quality. The cinematography was also excellent and really gave the feel of one of those horror films set in the middle of nowhere.

In conclusion, this was a surprisingly good watch and of the DC shows, was probably one of the few that didn’t deserve to get cancelled. Saying that, if the DC Universe Streaming service continues to produce shows like this, it’s going to do really well!

Rating:

• Story:★★★

• Acting: ★★★½

• Filmography: ★★★½

• Integral vs Filler Episodes: ★★★★

• Enjoyability: ★★★½