Superhero Media: Swamp Thing (2019)

A high-budget, high-concept television adaptation of Swamp Thing? Sign me up! I had heard nothing but praise for Swamp Thing, and the occasional lament that there would be no second season, so when I was able to get the DVD for a reasonable price, I jumped on it. I'm not so naive as to expect that the programme would be heavy on existential spiritualism and the magical realism of Alan Moore's run on the comics, but I was hoping for more than I got. Ok, so Gotham isn't an adaptation of the GCPD comics and Lucifer is nothing like the Vertigo series, but both at least manage to be interesting in their own right. Swamp Thing is so generic, except for the presence of Swamp Thing himself, that I felt like I had seen it all before, and usually done better. The town of Marais is rotten to the core, full of secrets and under the thumb of a powerful man with a dark past. Oh great, I was really hoping for, yet another, take on what Twin Peaks did the best version of decades ago. Yes, the Swamp Thing costume and preference for practical effects are nice, but not enough to hide the flaws. 

Because Swamp Thing burns money every time he's on screen, the protagonist of the series is Doctor Abby Arcane, played by Crystal Reed, who is competent in the role, but distractingly beautiful. Look, I know it's television, so they hire beautiful people, and yes, I know beauty is no indication of intellect, but I'm getting to the stage where I want to see more "average" looking people on the screen, you know? Heavier or less conventionally attractive people being the villains is dull and overplayed, I'd like something else now please. Most of the series' narrative focuses on the hunt for Swamp Thing and the conflict between wanting to "save" him or to mine him for the cure for everything ever; it serves well enough, even if most of it boils down to conversations about what's happening because the budget doesn't stretch too far. There is the germ of a good idea in Swamp Thing, but it's buried in generic plot and typical television tropes that make the whole experience pretty bland to watch. The entire series is only ten episodes, but it could have easily been cut down by half and still get the same amount of plot in. 

I probably shouldn't, in retrospect, have watched Swamp Thing so soon after Man-Thing, as the former plays like an attempt to do the latter, only seriously, which doesn't work. Hell, the big reveal at the close of the season, for the second season that will never happen, is Flouronic Man, but, you know, played seriously. What, was Kite Man too busy? Also, Blue Devil is in this programme, at least kind of? There is a character who almost becomes a recognisable version of Blue Devil by the end of the series, but he doesn't really interact with Swamp Thing, so it seems like another wasted opportunity. Here's the thing, the compartmentalisation of the DC/WB/CW programmes has been a good thing in the past, giving us a breadth of tone and not bogging anything down with too much continuity, but I think not slipping Swamp Thing in with something else hurt it. So much time is given over to "but what is this thing?" moments, that someone going "there's a guy who can fly and shoots lasers from his eyes, I think we can handle one swamp guy"; again, I'm looking for brevity here, as the series just keeps repeating itself and other series. I don't feel it's a real shame that we won't get more of this Swamp Thing.