Cleverman: First Contact
June 5, 2016 8:19 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, IN THE NEAR FUTURE: Creepy entitled dudes on buses are still a problem. The hipster beard trend is getting a bit out of control. The Australian government brutally oppresses a disenfranchised minority (surprise, surprise). And a disillusioned and morally ambiguous young Indigenous man inherits ancestral superpowers.
So good! I felt weirdly like it was a better version of Caprica in some way - the same ambition to set up and tell a story with human myths used for story-telling and clearly dystopian, and the range of characters and corporate/government/family saga - but better.
Yeah, I think it's going to be a slow burn.
Koen is such a callous asshole, and I'm looking forward to seeing his character development.
I can't help feeling that the scenes with the Minister For Being a Dick to Hairy People were a bit clunky. But I don't know why. He's as awkward and unconvincing as, say, Peter Dutton (the actual IRL Minister for Being a Dick to Refugees), and the rhetoric is as thin and specious. Perhaps it's just a bit too on the nose.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:54 PM on June 5, 2016
Yeah, I think it's going to be a slow burn.
Koen is such a callous asshole, and I'm looking forward to seeing his character development.
I can't help feeling that the scenes with the Minister For Being a Dick to Hairy People were a bit clunky. But I don't know why. He's as awkward and unconvincing as, say, Peter Dutton (the actual IRL Minister for Being a Dick to Refugees), and the rhetoric is as thin and specious. Perhaps it's just a bit too on the nose.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:54 PM on June 5, 2016
Uncritically, I loved every moment. On the level of Australian genre TV, this is literally miles beyond anything that's been done so far. As TV by and starring Indigenous people, too (with the greatest respect to Redfern and so on, of course) - the Grauniad's review covers a bit of the significance of the culture and language. It feels like a hugely significant show, and this first episode was a strong start. I also loved that the factoid that 80% of the performers in the show are Indigenous is in the context of what is clearly a massive cast!
Stepping back from my enjoyment, I think this episode tried to cover too much too quickly, and viewers who aren't up on the buzz and backstory of the production might have missed a lot. I didn't feel like there was much rapport or feeling between Koen and his bar-owning mates (Blair and..? Does the girl have a name?). Their relationship is asking a lot of the viewer too - if Blair and $Girl are a couple, he's pretty blasé about the fact that she and Koen were alone in the keg room together. And surely if Koen collapsed while having sex with her, his pants would be down or something?
I found Ian Glen (aka Jorah Mormont) to be a great leaden pall of clunky performance, dragging every scene into a murky swamp of underacted mumbling. It's painfully obvious that he's the hook to get non-Australian viewers watching.
But that's not enough to stop me watching...
posted by prismatic7 at 10:16 PM on June 5, 2016
Stepping back from my enjoyment, I think this episode tried to cover too much too quickly, and viewers who aren't up on the buzz and backstory of the production might have missed a lot. I didn't feel like there was much rapport or feeling between Koen and his bar-owning mates (Blair and..? Does the girl have a name?). Their relationship is asking a lot of the viewer too - if Blair and $Girl are a couple, he's pretty blasé about the fact that she and Koen were alone in the keg room together. And surely if Koen collapsed while having sex with her, his pants would be down or something?
I found Ian Glen (aka Jorah Mormont) to be a great leaden pall of clunky performance, dragging every scene into a murky swamp of underacted mumbling. It's painfully obvious that he's the hook to get non-Australian viewers watching.
But that's not enough to stop me watching...
posted by prismatic7 at 10:16 PM on June 5, 2016
I also loved that the factoid that 80% of the performers in the show are Indigenous is in the context of what is clearly a massive cast!
I think this might actually be unprecedented.
I meant to link this article by show creator Ryan Griffen - We need more Aboriginal superheroes, so I created Cleverman for my son.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 10:32 PM on June 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think this might actually be unprecedented.
I meant to link this article by show creator Ryan Griffen - We need more Aboriginal superheroes, so I created Cleverman for my son.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 10:32 PM on June 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
I have to resort to unofficial means to watch this, but I'm so looking forward to it just based on the premise alone.
posted by numaner at 10:26 AM on June 6, 2016
posted by numaner at 10:26 AM on June 6, 2016
I just watched the first episode and I thought it was wonderful. Take the first episodes of my favorite sci-fi shows and it's got all the bits of that. Strong vibes of Colony, which had a great first season (to me), but with the superhero stuff from the better shows, like Jessica Jones.
posted by numaner at 6:26 PM on June 6, 2016
posted by numaner at 6:26 PM on June 6, 2016
The rhetoric was totally on the nose - it was exactly the sort of thing I'd hear around me as an immigrant in Australia especially when I was at the beginning of my immigration process (around the same time offshore processing became more of a big deal). In that way I found the MP to be extremely true to life.
posted by divabat at 11:27 PM on June 7, 2016
posted by divabat at 11:27 PM on June 7, 2016
I watched this today (I watched it on the free ABC iView app on the xbox one, unsure about other platforms), and was startled at how good it was.
Given that it's an Australian show, some of the production values (prosthetics/makeup, etc) are a bit shaky, but the cast was so uniformly great that it was easy to move on from it. I'm not generally a fan of local shows, something about that exaggerated folksy Australiana vibe (think: The Castle) that they go to sometimes rubs me the wrong way, but i'm definitely intrigued and will be watching this one again.
posted by pseudonymph at 7:06 AM on June 9, 2016
Given that it's an Australian show, some of the production values (prosthetics/makeup, etc) are a bit shaky, but the cast was so uniformly great that it was easy to move on from it. I'm not generally a fan of local shows, something about that exaggerated folksy Australiana vibe (think: The Castle) that they go to sometimes rubs me the wrong way, but i'm definitely intrigued and will be watching this one again.
posted by pseudonymph at 7:06 AM on June 9, 2016
Ep 2 solidifies the thing just nicely.
If this show doesn't get the usual suspects huffing and puffing about ABC bias again, I will be astonished; the pseudo-Dutton is just so perfectly vile. And yes, the spirit of ministerial rhetoric was captured perfectly - it's not often I see something in a drama that gives me the exact same hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach that I so often get from the news.
The drama is good enough, I think, that even folks whose blinkers don't currently allow them to notice that their own attitude toward refugees is what's being depicted in the CA's attitude toward "subhumans" might well be sucked in and given pause for thought. I can certainly think of a few people in my small town to whom I will be passing on a sly recommendation.
posted by flabdablet at 1:11 PM on June 9, 2016
If this show doesn't get the usual suspects huffing and puffing about ABC bias again, I will be astonished; the pseudo-Dutton is just so perfectly vile. And yes, the spirit of ministerial rhetoric was captured perfectly - it's not often I see something in a drama that gives me the exact same hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach that I so often get from the news.
The drama is good enough, I think, that even folks whose blinkers don't currently allow them to notice that their own attitude toward refugees is what's being depicted in the CA's attitude toward "subhumans" might well be sucked in and given pause for thought. I can certainly think of a few people in my small town to whom I will be passing on a sly recommendation.
posted by flabdablet at 1:11 PM on June 9, 2016
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So good! I felt weirdly like it was a better version of Caprica in some way - the same ambition to set up and tell a story with human myths used for story-telling and clearly dystopian, and the range of characters and corporate/government/family saga - but better.
It felt like a good strong start. The cast are good, although while I understand the desire to have a recognisable international actor, Jorah from GOT threw me out of his scenes for a bit. I especially liked the TV presenter because she was cold, filming while that child died, and still something seems to be going on for her to be in a relationship with someone who's working in the zone.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:40 PM on June 5, 2016 [1 favorite]