Television

Review: INHUMANS Episode 2: "Those Who Would Destroy Us"

Oh, the Inhumanity! “Those Who Would Destroy Us,” you sure are something. 
After the pilot split everyone up and deposited the royals in Hawaii, Sly Spy The Iron Fist Guy takes the show in a fish-out-of-water direction. Black Bolt is causing crashes, stealing suits, and totaling police cars. Medusa is hitchiking on a tour bus and rocking the shaved head look. Gorgon is palling around with surfer bros. Karnak falls off a cliff and looses his sense of direction. Crystal is locked in her apartment. Lockjaw is sleeping (seriously). And Maximus… schemes, and stuff.
So… um… that’s the episode. And that’s the problem. Episode 1 made a point to set-up character development and get the plot rolling. But once the Royal Family is split, the tension dies, development stalls, and the intrigue factor quickly wears off. It’s near impossible to develop Black Bolt while he’s apart from Medusa, and Gorgon, Karnak, and Crystal become useless when they’re without a goal. 
Lockjaw sleeping is the laziest thing this show could have done to save on the budget; instead, I would have loved to see a little first-person shaky cam from his POV. Make him an ACTIVE player in this show and not just the family pet; why isn’t he breaking Crystal out? Why isn’t he helping Gorgon?? There’s a dozen interesting things Lockjaw should be doing, and they made him go to sleep. It’s sad.
The minor cast gets more screen time in this episode, but I’m hesitant to say it amounts to much. Maximus’ right hand, Auran, is a static Melinda May-type with none of the charisma or intrigue. Louise, the lunar rover operator from the pilot, gets put on leave by her boss for loosing a multi-million dollar rover. A newly gifted Inhuman from the pilot becomes a protege to Maximus, but I’m not sure he even had a name. And there’s now a talking wall that can teleport people! It makes about as much sense as it sounds.
A step down from the pilot in every measurable way, “Those Who Would Destroy Us” does nothing to instill confidence in the naysayers or the optimists. I’m still holding out hope because I do see the potential. But with only 6 episodes to go, they don’t have many cards left in the deck.
1/5

Marvel’s Inhumans airs Fridays at 9|8 central on ABC.

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