Firstly, I think the acting is solid from Charles Dance, David Morrissey and Colm Meaney (slight accent slip once or twice - earl grey with a touch of guiness), mostly. I enjoyed some of the side characters. The issue is with the script and maybe the production. There's an air of "You Rang M'Lord" to it.
I haven't read the book but I understand it to be a satire. That is not clear from this show. You also cannot satirise the empire then use orientalism as part of the work itself. Why I need to see Elizabeth Tan practicing tai chi in the garden relentlessly, I don't know. It's not poetic. It's not magical. It's just a woman doing martial arts. It's just pure annoying white male gaze. Now if that's meant to be satire, it needs to be filmed/directed/produced differently. We shouldn't be in favour of the light skinned mixed race asian character (and of seeing the fully asian women being overlooked) just because Luke Treadway's character is. This feels like it was written by a white man who is himself guilty of orientalism. Luke's character might be the protagonist (from a revolving door of protagonists...who is the protagonist?!) we are meant to root for but it felt like Chuck Lorre writing a storyline for one of his big bang theory incel boys. I wanted to hit him. I actually rooted for Joan (and hoped she and her father would have him killed), which I don't think was the intention.
Am I meant to not really care about any of the characters?
I only continued with this because David Morrissey is a joy to watch.
I haven't read the book but I understand it to be a satire. That is not clear from this show. You also cannot satirise the empire then use orientalism as part of the work itself. Why I need to see Elizabeth Tan practicing tai chi in the garden relentlessly, I don't know. It's not poetic. It's not magical. It's just a woman doing martial arts. It's just pure annoying white male gaze. Now if that's meant to be satire, it needs to be filmed/directed/produced differently. We shouldn't be in favour of the light skinned mixed race asian character (and of seeing the fully asian women being overlooked) just because Luke Treadway's character is. This feels like it was written by a white man who is himself guilty of orientalism. Luke's character might be the protagonist (from a revolving door of protagonists...who is the protagonist?!) we are meant to root for but it felt like Chuck Lorre writing a storyline for one of his big bang theory incel boys. I wanted to hit him. I actually rooted for Joan (and hoped she and her father would have him killed), which I don't think was the intention.
Am I meant to not really care about any of the characters?
I only continued with this because David Morrissey is a joy to watch.