This show begins explosively but what I thought would be addictive viewing loses a lot of steam very quickly.
I'm tempted to say this is Pokemon for adults but then I remember that Pokemon is already pokemon for adults and I don't really want to call this a grown-ups show (it's like my favorite show, Family Guy).
But first: I like the concept, I really do. I was intrigued by this brutal world in which money and privilege reign but craftiness dominates all. It takes a fair while one to realise that you're basically just watching people play games each episode. Yes, the stakes are high as people are quite literally gambling their freedom away but even then how many times can you create suspense in how a casino game plays out before it gets kind of lazy?
They even have on going commentary to spell out the strategy in case you miss it which is thoughtful of them but if you really need that, then just give me something that can be appreciated through visual storytelling.
The story of shifting power and the internal politics of the school (playing out apparently without an adult in sight) is also intriguing but it gets eclipsed by the episode by episode games.
My impressions of the first episode was this explosive, kaleidoscopic vision of a caustic world where your fortune rests on a knife's edge with the adult black-white-red color scheme, the explosive free jazz soundtrack and bombastic visual style.
It's really the characters that pull this along. The established bourgeois bullies meet their match against a terrifying gambling addict; seductive as honey but clearly in need of immediate medication. Genius is simply the other side of madness it seems as alliances are forged and broken and the mask comes off so see that everything is out for something. It's that lurid mangamation aesthetic with shameless and lascivious sex appeal and where charasmatic females are seen through the eyes of a nonedescript male audience surrogate.
I was annoyed by that kid in the bunny suit. She so engineered an unfair game.
I haven't been bothered to finish this yet so maybe that should tell you that you get maybe one whole engaging season.
I'm tempted to say this is Pokemon for adults but then I remember that Pokemon is already pokemon for adults and I don't really want to call this a grown-ups show (it's like my favorite show, Family Guy).
But first: I like the concept, I really do. I was intrigued by this brutal world in which money and privilege reign but craftiness dominates all. It takes a fair while one to realise that you're basically just watching people play games each episode. Yes, the stakes are high as people are quite literally gambling their freedom away but even then how many times can you create suspense in how a casino game plays out before it gets kind of lazy?
They even have on going commentary to spell out the strategy in case you miss it which is thoughtful of them but if you really need that, then just give me something that can be appreciated through visual storytelling.
The story of shifting power and the internal politics of the school (playing out apparently without an adult in sight) is also intriguing but it gets eclipsed by the episode by episode games.
My impressions of the first episode was this explosive, kaleidoscopic vision of a caustic world where your fortune rests on a knife's edge with the adult black-white-red color scheme, the explosive free jazz soundtrack and bombastic visual style.
It's really the characters that pull this along. The established bourgeois bullies meet their match against a terrifying gambling addict; seductive as honey but clearly in need of immediate medication. Genius is simply the other side of madness it seems as alliances are forged and broken and the mask comes off so see that everything is out for something. It's that lurid mangamation aesthetic with shameless and lascivious sex appeal and where charasmatic females are seen through the eyes of a nonedescript male audience surrogate.
I was annoyed by that kid in the bunny suit. She so engineered an unfair game.
I haven't been bothered to finish this yet so maybe that should tell you that you get maybe one whole engaging season.