Crazyhead is a
show about the supernatural, with two women as the leads, from the creator of
Misfits (a show I found strangely wonderful) and so I was definitely excited. What
I got was a well-acted, sometimes clever, but mostly generic, and more unforgivably,
really boring first season.
The show centers on Amy, who works at a bowling alley and
doesn’t seem particularly pleased with her life. She also happens to have the
ability to see demons when they possess a person’s body (everyone else just
sees them as looking normal). Amy is played by Cara Theobold—who does a
terrific job portraying Amy’s sweet kind of fumbling nature that hides a well
of pain and anger. Amy meets Raquel, who also can see the demons, after being
attacked by a demon. Raquel is played by
Susan Wokoma, who is also excellent, and easily pulls off Raquel’s quick to
anger, quick to joke personality that she seems to be using as a cover for the
strangeness she has to endure in her life. Once the demons find out they can be
seen, that Amy and Raquel are what they refer to as “seers,” they decide the
problem has to be dealt with and it completely upends Amy’s life.
Okay, so the concept is great, it’s like Buffy. I’m in.
Howard Overman’s previous series Misfits
took a generic supernatural premise—average people getting super powers—and
twisted it into something else entirely: what if the people getting the
superpowers are young offenders doing community service? What if the super
powers really sort of suck? That show was fast paced, hilariously funny, and exuberant
in its willingness to embrace every bit of strangeness it could. Crazyhead on
the other hand tries far too hard to do the same. The exorcism requires one of
the women to pee on the possessed. A woman kicks a dead bunny body like a
football. And none of it is funny.
The other main problem with the show is that it doesn’t feel
at all surprising. If I’d never seen another show about the supernatural, maybe
I would have loved the way demons are portrayed here. But after Buffy,
Supernatural, and countless others, this seems like another go round on a playground
that’s been grown out of.
In addition to the great cast, the show does have a great
soundtrack as well and some inspired jokes. However, that’s not enough to make
up for the fact that I seriously wanted to fast forward through most of the
episodes to see if anything more interesting was going to happen (and I can
handle a lot of boring periods. I watched all of season 9 of Supernatural,
people).
So, for those looking for something as exciting and original
as Misfits, look elsewhere.
The Math
Baseline Assessment: 4/10
Bonuses: +1 for acting, +1 for female friendship taking the center stage, +1 for its very cool title sequence
Penalties: -1 for dragging, -1 for one death that really irritated me
Nerd Coefficient: 5/10 "problematic, but has redeeming qualities"
Baseline Assessment: 4/10
Bonuses: +1 for acting, +1 for female friendship taking the center stage, +1 for its very cool title sequence
Penalties: -1 for dragging, -1 for one death that really irritated me
Nerd Coefficient: 5/10 "problematic, but has redeeming qualities"
***
POSTED BY: Chloe, speculative fiction fan in all forms, monster theorist, and Nerds of a Feather blogger since 2016.
POSTED BY: Chloe, speculative fiction fan in all forms, monster theorist, and Nerds of a Feather blogger since 2016.
