Recently Netflix debuted Fate: The Winx Saga in live action.  Although the Winx cartoon series has been out for on Nickelodeon for years, this is the first attempt at a live-action rendition showing Bloom’s adjustment to the Otherworld.  Now for me personally, I have never seen the cartoon series so I knew nothing about the origin of this season and therefore can’t compare the love action to the cartoon. Maybe if you are a die hard fan of the cartoon series you might have some complaints, but for those of us that are novices to these characters and this world I thought it was really well done.  It was a pleasant surprise when right now there aren’t a lot of really great shows in the teenage drama series for fantasy.

Especially if you are a fan of the slightly cheesy genre of fantasy!  Which I definitely am.  Was a little reminiscent of The Vampire Academy series–its a highly underrated book series that was made into a movie.  Fairies instead of Vampires of course, but similar elements of magic, teenagers and a special school for them all.  The main actress who plays Bloom, Abigail Cowen, it’s definitely a ringer for a young Lindsey Lohan and has her same charm and charisma. The chemistry between Bloom and Skye is very palpable and for the most part the casting was really good.  Think Mean Girls meets Harry Potter as far as mixing magic, snark and action.

There were a few things I didn’t love about the series, it has been called homophobic from other reviewers, but really I feel it just sought to paint an accurate portrayal of how cruel and unaccepting teenagers can be–even magical teenagers.  The plot was intriguing, and it had several plot twists, some predictable and some less predictable.  I liked that there was magic, but that it wasn’t completely trashy as some other magical series on Netflix have been.  You come to care about the characters and realize that even though they are flawed they have redeeming characteristics.  There are also only 6 episodes which means that the action builds quickly and there aren’t a lot of down moments.  The story moves fast and each episode is action packed.

I am really excited for Season 2.  If you hate CW type fantasy shows, then this definitely isn’t for you.  But if you are a fan of CW type fantasy and drama shows, then you will definitely love this.