SWAMP THING Season One
Bayou Watch Nights
RELEASED OUT NOW! 2019 | 15 | Blu-ray/DVD
Showrunners Gary Dauberman,
Mark Verheiden
Cast Crystal Reed, Andy Bean, Derek Mears, Will Patton
Loosely based on Alan Moore’s celebrated ’80s run on the Swamp Thing comics, this latest (swiftly cancelled) screen version of DC’s vegetable-based anti-hero strives for an eco-warrior vibe.
When biologist Alex Holland is killed in a Louisiana swamp after uncovering a few too many secrets about the dodgy research being undertaken by his boss Avery Sunderland (Will Patton), he’s reincarnated as a swamp monster who’s a mystical guardian to the local fauna.
Well, ostensibly – in reality, Swamp Thing rapidly becomes a bit-player in his own show. We spend far more time with blank-faced character-vacuum Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed), a CDC investigator running foul of
Sunderland’s small-town Lex Luthor schemes. There’s also a half-arsed attempt to lay the foundations for a Justice League Dark TV show, though only viewers with a detailed knowledge of DC lore will pick up on this.
The series aims for an atmosphere of brooding horror, and is relatively successful in this respect, despite cartoony CG and a Swamp Thing suit that’s best viewed in half-light. Some creative body horror also livens things up. But the characters and plotting are uniformly dull. Patton acts throughout like he’s the one wearing a prosthetic mask; The Strain’s Kevin Durand, gamely playing against type as a nerdy scientist, proves why he’s better off typecast. And an ill-conceived attempt to adapt one of Moore’s most famous issues, in which Swampie is dissected alive, ends up looking like a B-movie pastiche.
Extras None. Dave Golder
Seven of the 10 episodes are named after Bruce Springsteen songs, none of which are ever actually heard in the show.