A bloody clash in a new version?
It must be admitted that at the root of the Revolution there is a really interesting concept, in theory giving the creators a wide range of creative possibilities. The production takes viewers to Paris in 1787 – two years before the actual coup breaks out.
In the reality of the series, social tension is also rising, but in slightly different circumstances than you might think. Here is the future inventor of the guillotine, Joseph Guillotin (Amir Abou El Kacem), discovers that there is a virus of mysterious origin circulating in France (I’m not sure if it’s the most appropriate story theme in 2020), causing quite unusual effects. Infected aristocrats discover in themselves the need to commit vampiric murders of representatives of the lower social classes, with a fierceness that could be envied by typical living dead.
At the same time, we follow the fate of the young noblewoman Elise (Marilou Aussilloux) and her sister Madeleine (Amélia Lacquemant), who seems to predict a bleak future. It sounds like a Resident Evil prequel and I am not mentioning the Capcom series here for no reason, because at the beginning I was setting up for a fairly similar experience – kitschy, bloody, but fun and engaging. The metaphor of the rich literally devouring the poor seems to fit perfectly into this convention. Unfortunately, the further into the forest, the greater the disappointment.
What went wrong?
The show’s main problem quickly reveals itself in the quality of the script by Aurélien Molas. As for the chosen subject, the story tries to be too serious, attacking the viewer with numerous dramas and losing its lightness at the same time. Taking the “serious” approach in itself is of course nothing wrong, on the contrary, it requires more elaboration in order to focus the audience’s interest on the story. However, this is not the case.
As is unfortunately often the case in the streaming giant’s formats, the whole thing seems to be artificially stretched to the form of a series. New threads appear every now and then, which favors the narrative chaos, but at the same time they are developed so slowly that the story simply tires. It is not helped by a large number of characters, most of whom it is difficult to form any relation or remember them at all, because they are not given enough attention in constantly jumping from stage to stage. Of course, there will also be exceptions, such as the antagonist who disarms his wickedness.
Unequal quality
It must be admitted, however, that the Revolution has a sufficiently solid level of implementation. Netflix had to spend quite a large budget on French production. The result is a detailed set and costumes of the characters, while the French cast works really well and it is difficult to have greater reservations about the selection of roles.
Likewise, scenes with zombie aristocrats are definitely eye-catching. Only that is not enough. One can get the impression that the first season of the Revolution is only a kind of pilot for the present day, in which the creators primarily test the format. In fact, it is only at the end that a fully-fledged action is launched for future, potentially interesting events. The intriguing opening scene that presents the post-apocalyptic reality takes place two years after the events presented so far. Paradoxically, the historical stylization may not have turned out to be an asset, generating costs that forced the scale of the story itself to be limited. And in a series of this type, this is a rather undesirable effect.
The question remains, will the chosen presentation technique work and we will see the second season? Well, taking into account the effect so far, I am afraid that the Revolution may find its way into a large stock of series “guillotined” by Netflix after the first season (but still clogging the library). Nevertheless, there is still a lot of potential, only the creators will have to try really hard to show it.
