The news of a Netflix Resident Evil show came out pretty fast with the picture of the casting. It did not look good at all. Some type of reboot where nothing seemed like Resident Evil? This did not look good at all so I avoided it at all costs. I’m a big enough fan of the franchise that I was going to check it out eventually. And I finally did. And well for everything that it had against it, I have to say it’s a pretty decent show and worthy of the Resident Evil name.
So, this feels different. If it had been promoted as a new adaptation or something new I think it could’ve worked better. The music is enat enough. And yes characters, specifically the Wesker family now is race swapped. They’re all black. This is always irritating when it’s done, if it had been a new character I would not have cared. It’s not only that but now he has a daughters that are very well crutial to the plot. Why not have someone new in his shoes. The only saving grace? Albert Wesker’s actor is fantastic. I’d say he carries most of the show. RIP Lance Reddick. You’re the only reason I ever wanted a season 2 of this show.
The year is 2036, the world ended 14 years ago..So I guess that means it ended in 2022. The Zombie apocalypse or T-Virus happened. We keep jumping from 2022 to the “present” 2036 date through out the show. We see how they use a poor bunny as bait. There’s creatures everywhere. His daughter Jade. As I mentioned Wesker here might as well be a different character, he’s there in name only, his personality is widely different. Billie is the other daughter. Covid the Biohazard version happened. Would it be too hard to fit into the convoluted Resident Evil movie universe? I think it fits there rather nicely. It feels more inline with that continuity.
The show is nothing like Resident Evil. Even if you see Lickers and other monster creatures from the games. Sure you get the mention of the T Virus and some name dropping like Racoon City and the 1998 incident. It’s at least more horror than the movies I guess. “Call me the master of unlocking” Wesker here gets to see creatures from all over the series, there’s puzzles and tries way too hard to be contemporary which will only date this show badly. Wesker is a clone here from the original being killed from a Volcano. The past/p[resent switching coudl’ve been neat but it’s not the most compellign storytelling. The umbrella mistery needed more work and wae needed more of the giant alligator like set pieces for the future. “AL bert, Alby” the show knew who the real star was there.
Zombies and creatures take a back seat to the Sibling family drama. This is likely because of budget reasons. The interesting aspects of the show are just stretched too much during the season while leaving other potential plots to be forgotten. Jade vs Billie was not as interesting as it coudl’ve been and the Umbrella big Evil is a snore. It’s an interesting logical zombies failed take.
It wasn’t horrible as I expected it to be. Not too sad there was no second season but there was potential. Should’ve had different character names, somehow tie it in to the Alice movies and marketed it as such. Saying this was a reboot show for Resident Evil and showing a very different cast killed the show before anyone gave it a chance.