Let me preface this review by saying that I really, really WANTED to like this series. Seriously. Part of me still does. Having been a mutant lover for most of my life and a huge X-Men fan, I was excited for this spin-off. Granted Inhumans have been touched upon in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and their many different story arcs and plots, but these Inhumans are separate from S.H.I.E.L.D with their own community on the moon, and essentially their own race and class system.
While I found it irking that S.H.I.E.L.D and the many Inhumans on earth that we are already familiar with were not even mentioned or referred to in this series premiere–that was just one of the many details that made this premiere oh so very awful. First of all, if you are going to do a two hour premiere in this day and age, then it had better be flipping amazing. Instead, this premiere dragged on and was just outright boring in many parts. While there were some characters that showed promise, many of the lead roles were filled with actors that simply cannot act at all, or are simply waiting to show of their skills at a later date.
Inhumans is based loosely around a “Royal” Inhuman family, and their being overthrown in a coup. In this version, the Inhumans not only have their own society on the moon, but they have their own rulers as well. And their own class system, where ironically humans are viewed as inferior. While inhumans and humans can be within the same family, each new generation must be tested to see if their powers will reveal themselves. In what took an absurdly long time to tell, the premiere was mainly the story of the King & Queen being overthrown by the King’s very jealous and boring human brother, who wants things to change by freeing the humans and heading back to earth.
The King and Queen as well as two of their top guards are sent to earth but all wind up in different areas of Hawaii. Presumably the story will now continue with them trying to find each other, fit in on earth and get back to their people. This premiere could have been so much better than it was! So much potential squandered on bad story telling, and poor choices in action–hint, there was hardly any!! On the plus side, this series has no where to go but up!! I am very much hoping that somehow it pulls itself out of the spiral of tragicness that was the premiere and somehow ends up having a better season. If they are smart they will figure out a way to tie these Inhumans into S.H.I.E.L.D–which is already a thriving series–and the main actors will settle into their roles and be a little more two dimensional.
