Resident Evil: Netflix Series

 

 Based on: Japanese game series of the same name (also called Biohazard) created by Shinji Mikami and Tokuro Fujiwara at Capcom

Developed for Netflix by: Andrew Dabb

Executive producers: Andrew Dabb, Mary Leah Sutton, Oliver Berben, Robert Kulzer, Bronwen Hughes

Starring: Ella Balinska (adult Jade Wesker), Tamara Smart (young Jade), Adeline Rudolph (adult Billie Wesker), Siena Agudong (young Billie), Paola Núñez (Evelyn Marcus), Lance Reddick (Al Wesker and his clones Bert, Alby, and Albert)

Well, it seems this season (or 'series' now that it's cancelled) got pretty terrible reviews from audiences and critics alike, but..... I still really enjoyed it. 

Part of me understands why the series failed. I think it departed dramatically from the games; it was set in its own story and timeline with only loose, background connections to the wider world of the games. There were also a few scenes that weren't particularly believable. In one scene, the two young sisters infiltrate the Umbrella Corp, accidentally release a mutant dog, dawdle long enough to be attacked, and escape, all without security showing up. It's not super believable that they could break in on a whim without assistance and it's less believable they could run around inside the building without security appearing. In the same episode, adult Jade leaps off a multi-story platform into a crowd of zombies, manages to stand back up without incident, and fights off the horde for several minutes before being rescued by a van. 

These two scenes are rather contrived, but I was able to suspend my belief. Firstly, they weren't pivotal moments that would shift the entire plot direction or shape character growth. Second, plausible excuses could be made for how they occurred. Third, it's just entertainment and the show is just barely getting itself off the ground, so I felt more lenient. Certainly not upset enough to quit watching, as the majority of Netflix's viewers seemed to. 

The young Wesker sisters exploring the dystopian Umbrella residential compound

Young Billie trying to escape from a zombie dog

For most of the season, I felt fully drawn in, and I'm largely confused as to why so many viewers hated it. (Aside of potentially liberties the series took from the games, which I wouldn't know about.) From a writing standpoint, the whole season had me going with anticipation and excitement. 

One of the things I thought the show pulled off best was its split timeline. As my cast list above suggests, mostly equal screen time was spent between the adventures of the adult and younger sisters. In a lot of shows this ends up confusing me and I have to put a lot of effort into figuring out what connects to what, especially if the time jump isn't significant. In this case, the jump is. The adult sisters appear to be in their mid-to-late 30s whereas the young versions are teenagers. 

Adult Jade, through whose eyes we see most of the modern timeline

The second reason why the altering timelines work is that the young version really affects the older version. Everything that's going on in the young timeline quite dramatically effects how the older one forms, which made writing them an impressive balancing act of giving away just enough information without giving away too much. For example, young Billie is bitten in the first episode, and her fate could very easily be spoiled by common dialogue in the adult version. Instead, the adult version is used to mislead. Adult Jade states that Billie is dead, which left me in anticipation for many episodes trying to deduce when young Billie would succumb to the zombie dog bite. However, it's revealed toward the end that this information was not accurate, upending my expectations. I thought this was pulled off excellently. 

The family drama in the young timeline was also great. The girls comes to question their father more and more so, learning about his increasingly shady involvement in Umbrella's dark affairs. Information about him is fed to us in minimal but exciting and satisfying increments through what the girls learn over the course of the series, leading us to suspect him of worse and worse things. Toward the end, as one might expect, we gain enough information about his background and intentions that his true alliance is gray and the girls (and the viewer) have to decide whether he's trustworthy or not. It's a great balance that had me both hating and cursing him and feeling great sympathy for him--within the same episode. 

Al and Evelyn, two Umbrella executives responsible for a lot of shady stuff

The only time when I truly felt great disappointment was, unfortunately, in the finale. There was a very major weapon that was teased over several episodes, released upon an enemy with great fanfare, and then fizzled out before it could hardly have an effect. It was incredibly anticlimactic and vastly disappointing. But this only really affected the one episode and only a few minutes of it at that, so I still can't complain too much. 

In conclusion, I think the one season is very much worth the watch if you don't mind knowing that the season finale is in fact the series finale and the cliffhanger is permanent. Still, I thought writing and acting alike were great, and I had a lot of fun on this short journey.