I’ve watched it, and I read the series before I did. Frankly, it’s a good, if somewhat trashy show, and while they don’t take the storylines from the comics(though they’re occasionally referred to obliquely), they are true to the characters from the comics. Not to mention, Tom Ellis plays Lucifer incredibly well, far better than a show of that scope and budget has any need right to. Sure, he doesn’t stay and amoral sociopath whose interest in humanity is morbid curiosity, but let’s face it - that would have been boring.
And if you think the creators don’t approve of the Lucifer series - Gaiman is in it as the voice of God, and was involved with the production. Mike Carey, who wrote the series, liked the show, considered it true to the spirit of his comics despite the changes, and in interviews, was very enthusiastic about the idea of getting to write an episode. (He’s also referenced in the show, though I don’t remember if he gets a brief cameo or not.)
If you’re going in hoping for a 1:1 adaption of the comics, Look elsewhere. If you want a good show that adapts the comic faithfully without having to be slavishly devoted to it, and manages to do something fun and interesting, it’s worth your time.
I’m confused how the Lucifer show adapts the comic faithfully. I’m not asking that it be a 1:1 adoption of the comics, but comparing a summary of the TV show with the story of the Lucifer comic makes it seem completely different.
It looks to me like the TV show takes the premise of the comic as a starting point and then goes in an entirely different direction. I wouldn’t really consider that to be an adaptation. To me, that’s just using the same character in an entirely different story.
It’s faithful to the themes and premise of the story in the comic, as well as the characters, they just don’t use the comic plots and stories, going for a more grounded story that’s a bit more “Things happening in the world” than “Fate of the world” - let’s be honest, because it’s cheaper than filming the large-scale, effects-heavy stories from the comics, which would have been extremely expensive. They are still on a TV budget.
the more I think about it the more interesting it gets. Like, the events of Season of Mists are several decades past and now Lucifer is interested in what kind of sins humanity is getting up to since he’s been out of the game. Have him fighting his innate desire to revel in human sin and just enjoy himself so he tags along with some cops as a snarky asshole like The Mentalist.
This week we caught up on WandaVision, the first Disney produced MCU tv show. And its great! Episode four came out today, and it continues with the “every episode a different look and feel” thing I enjoy so much.
The first episode is a 50’s american TV sitcom featuring Wanda and Vision. It’s weird. While I enjoyed all the 50’s sitcom stuff, I was really caught by Paul Bettany doing a subtly Rik Mayall-esque performance, which is probably only appreciateable by those who watched British sitcoms in the 80’s and 90’s
And then in episode 2, Vision gets “drunk” and suddenly Bettany is doing a VERY Rik Mayall-esque performance! I’m not sure if the director of the episode wanted him to do it, or if it’s an acting choice Bettany came up with, but it works great.
I showed Juliane a picture of Rik Mayall and said “this guy” and then she wasn’t sure if Rik Mayall was a character that Bettany had played in the past, because they look so much alike.
A quick google shows I’m not alone in spotting the reference:
You’re not actually that far off - in this case, dedicated hedonist Lucifer tags along with cop as the snarky asshole, because it amuses him, fills the days, and because he’s just fascinated by humanity and what they get up to, sins and otherwise.
Nuri is watching it, and I’m like half watching every now and then, and this is my assessment too. I would call it more than “somewhat” trashy personally - I put it on more or less the same plane as Riverdale or Sabrina in terms of “garbage sexy entertainment that I eat joyously because I am a garbage person” - but Tom Ellis absolutely makes the show. He plays a fantastic character and is a consummate smarmy jackass.
And also, dude’s got a great ass.
I’m not strictly advocating for watching it because, as I said, I think it’s definitely trash TV - but it’s not without merit.
NGL though, I am super duper fucking stoked for Gwendolyn Christie to play Lucifer in this upcoming adaptation. I’ll be interested in comparing their respective performances.
I have no idea how closely the TV show is going to stick to the Sandman comics, but if it does, then unfortunately Lucifer won’t play much of a role in Season One. Hopefully the show does well and they’re able to eventually get to Season of Mists. Then we’ll really see how she plays the Lightbringer.
I’ve had to re-calibrate my scale since discovering the depths of reality TV. Lucifer is trashy, but it’s not “Show where people bring a souring or ended relationship, and blow it up by letting the other person give them a tattoo they get no say in and don’t get to see till it’s complete” kind of trashy.
Sharing a little hype for the show Warrior, which is streaming on HBO now. A little surprised I don’t see more hype about this show since it’s so fucking good and fun to watch. To me, it strikes a near perfect balance between campy ridiculousness and hardcore bloody kung-fu violence. Just like Bruce Lee would have wanted.
And the show gets bonus points from me for having some bang’n Chinese hip-hop over the closing credits for each episode. Not all the songs are amazing, but I found myself dancing at the end of each episode more often than not.
Trigger warning for the prolific use of racial slurs against Asians. Especially in the first season, that shit got rough. But probably appropriate.
Coming soon: Taskmaster season 11. We’ve caught up with all the seasons posted to YouTube so far (only season 9 to go), and to our surprise, we started watching Taskmaster New Zealand.
WandaVision was very good throughout. After the high levels of disappointment we had in the first Star Wars show on Disney Plus (stopped watch Mandalorian season two half way through episode two), the first Marvel show was exactly what we wanted.
Each episode is very different, with a very strong influence from a single type of TV show, normally sitcoms. The final episode’s style was Big Budget Marvel Movie, which I guess was inevitable. I was impressed, Juliane cried.
I think the strength of the show is that every episode was directed by the same person, so while each episode was very different, it held together with a very coherent overall vision. More shows like this please!
F1: Drive to Survive! The release schedule for this show is genius. A big Netflix push in the week before the first race of the season probably creates more new fans of individual racers and teams than years of just watching the races.
