October Faction: Presidio
January 25, 2020 8:36 AM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe

 
Since this is an episode-one-only thread, I figure the show-only vs books-included tagging isn't applicable yet. I haven't read them myself.

I watched this episode last night, and am intrigued enough that I'll probably finish it this weekend. Didn't realize it was a Damian Kindler show until reading the reviews, which is a point against it (I will never not be angry about the racist fuckery that ruined Sleepy Hollow). Also, the WTF casting of 64-year-old Wendy Crewson as Maggie Allen, and 50-year-old J.C. MacKenzie as her son Fred Allen. Maybe it will turn out that Crewson is playing older in the present-day scenes for flashback purposes (though I don't think that was her playing younger Maggie in the flashback scenes of this episode), but, I'm doubtful that it's anything but the usual ageism. At least Tamara Taylor (Deloris) is 50 too, and they didn't cast a 30-something barely older than the teenage kids.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:54 AM on January 25, 2020


I binged the whole season at one time. It's uneven, in my opinion, but the stuff I liked, I liked a lot. Thus the binge. Much of the rest was very meh, however.

The supposed ages and the casting weirdness drove me nuts. Does the grandfather appear in this episode? Is there a flashback including him? If not, there will be, and they use the same actor. It's distracting.

I absolutely love the effects they use for the woman from under the sea. I guess it might get old in large doses, but it was one of my favorite things in the show.

I like that it's sometimes wry and/or goofy.

I was mostly bored or irritated by the twins — which is unfortunate given that they're frequently on the screen.

Be warned: if I recall correctly, this first episode ends with them being transferred to Oslo, while in the second episode they're staying in the town for a year. Unless I somehow missed it, there is no explanation for the change (other that it's a sabbatical), and this confused me. I thought maybe I'd inadvertently skipped an episode.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 7:20 PM on January 26, 2020


They're staying for a year because the parents said they were totally burned out and can't go to Oslo and need a sabbatical for their family. And there's political machinations also happening at the secret assassin company.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 12:00 AM on January 27, 2020


They're up front about Wendy Crewson as Maggie Allen being notably young on screen, saying that she's had a lot of work done and is very "refreshed".
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 12:06 AM on January 27, 2020


am intrigued enough that I'll probably finish it

I'll probably wind up finishing it, too (at least this season), buuuuuuttt . . .

I dunno, it's kind of starting to feel like this sort-of-genre - super/supernatural family (blood or found family) drama - is getting a little overloaded. Umbrella Academy, Doom Patrol, Titans, The Magicians, The Boys, Runaways, all the various CW shows, and it feels like a bunch more I can't think of off the top of my head; shows like October Faction are definitely Having a Moment, and if that's your jam that's cool, but for me this show is gonna have to do something pretty special in the rest of the season to sustain my interest.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:26 AM on January 27, 2020


I finished the season yesterday but didn’t get around to adding a full-season thread. Will do it tonight if nobody else does first.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:18 AM on January 27, 2020


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