I was really looking forward to this creepy, supernatural series. The promo had my hyped. Very unsurprisingly, Uma Thurman is easily the best thing going for it. Her acting is amazing and she should get award recognition from whoever wants to give it to her. And not having seen her in anything in YEARS, she barely looks older than the last big thing I saw her in the Kill Bill movies from 15 years ago. It's jarring seeing her go from the badass take-no-prisoners Bride to a grounded person who couldn't hurt a fly. Ironically, in both scenarios, she's a grieving mother who lost a daughter with extremely different objectives. In Kill Bill, it's kill those who wronged her. In Chambers, it's internalize and put on a brave face. The meek, humble, nurturing Nancy is a far cry from the tough, angry, vengeful Bride. Only a great actress could play both ends of the spectrum so effortlessly.
Aside from Thurman, the rest of the series is a bit spotty. In particular, I find the main character Sasha to be the weakest link acting-wise. I get the actress Sivan Alyra Rose is a newbie, but still this is a major Netflix offering and she's the centerpiece, so I expect stronger acting than what she is displaying. If there is a Season 2, I hope she gets better. There were too many times during the first season where I found myself losing focus due to her monotone acting. Yet I was really enjoying the performances from the other actors and felt like they were the ones carrying her in scenes. I was also distracted by the fact that this girl is supposed to be only 17 years old, yet the actress looks way older. I was surprised to find out she actually is only 19 in reality, which is even more surprising.
As mentioned, the rest of the cast is actually really good, especially the actors playing Elliott, Penelope, Frank, Yvonne, and last but not least Ben (played by the eternally underrated Tony Goldwyn). In fact, I found the Lefevre family (Ben, Nancy, Elliott) grieving subplot over Becky more interesting than all of the supernatural nonsense, which I thought really got out of hand as the season progressed. I feel as if the writers had the perfect concept of Sasha taking on qualities of Becky due to the heart transplant and getting close to the Lefevres and Becky's circle of friends, but then it snowballed into a messy subplot involving cult sacrifice and the supernatural and forgot all about the human elements that were the strong point.
I still enjoyed the show for most of the acting, strong moments of humanity, oft times witty dialogue, the mystery element and great camera work. Like I said, Thurman was the real star and scene-stealer and the core cast has a lot of promise. I'd be interested in Season 2 just to see more Uma!
Aside from Thurman, the rest of the series is a bit spotty. In particular, I find the main character Sasha to be the weakest link acting-wise. I get the actress Sivan Alyra Rose is a newbie, but still this is a major Netflix offering and she's the centerpiece, so I expect stronger acting than what she is displaying. If there is a Season 2, I hope she gets better. There were too many times during the first season where I found myself losing focus due to her monotone acting. Yet I was really enjoying the performances from the other actors and felt like they were the ones carrying her in scenes. I was also distracted by the fact that this girl is supposed to be only 17 years old, yet the actress looks way older. I was surprised to find out she actually is only 19 in reality, which is even more surprising.
As mentioned, the rest of the cast is actually really good, especially the actors playing Elliott, Penelope, Frank, Yvonne, and last but not least Ben (played by the eternally underrated Tony Goldwyn). In fact, I found the Lefevre family (Ben, Nancy, Elliott) grieving subplot over Becky more interesting than all of the supernatural nonsense, which I thought really got out of hand as the season progressed. I feel as if the writers had the perfect concept of Sasha taking on qualities of Becky due to the heart transplant and getting close to the Lefevres and Becky's circle of friends, but then it snowballed into a messy subplot involving cult sacrifice and the supernatural and forgot all about the human elements that were the strong point.
I still enjoyed the show for most of the acting, strong moments of humanity, oft times witty dialogue, the mystery element and great camera work. Like I said, Thurman was the real star and scene-stealer and the core cast has a lot of promise. I'd be interested in Season 2 just to see more Uma!