History YMMV / Inhumans

%%** Karnak getting kidnapped and almost killed by ''pot dealers''. While it's not unheard of for marijuana cartels to be dangerous and territorial, the end result is that there's yet another band of colorful Hawaiian characters to contrast with the alien Inhumans.

** One word: '''WHY?''' Without even meaning to Black Bolt disintegrated his parents with ''JUST. ONE. WORD.''

** Thankfully averted with Triton. His fight scene is much better than other fight scenes in the show. It helps that Mike Moh is an actual martial artist.

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* DesignatedHero: Black Bolt and the rest of the show's heroes enforce a brutal caste system, where anyone unlucky enough to not get an impressive enough power from Terrigenesis is forced into slave labor for life. Maximus being the king's brother is the only reason he himself is not a slave and the rest of the Royal Family constantly look down on him for his lack of powers, and his willingness to murder in cold blood comes off as the production crew knowing full well it's the only way we could possibly root against him. Also, Medusa's way of getting help is to force one of the few ''actually'' sympathetic characters at gunpoint to keep endangering herself for her. It’s possible that the intention is that while on the run the royal family will grow to become more heroic while Maximus starts to hurt people who don’t have it coming (see DesignatedVillain) and by the end they’ll be the characters we know from the comics and past adaptations; but throughout the series there's no sign of it and the only one complaining about the system is Maximus and those on his side. It’s written like we’re expected to root for the royal family from the start, as if they were as moral and principled as ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. Then there's Black Bolt's way of dealing with Maximus in the finale. [[spoiler:Confessing that he arranged things many years ago to make Black Bolt flee, but instead he caused him to kill their parents, he surrenders and asks Black Bolt to vaporize him with his power. He does not, and he leaves him at the bunker. Alone in a lone room ''in the moon'' for the rest of his life. It is intended as a ThouShaltNotKill reaction, but comes as a very CruelMercy instead.]]

** Maximus lacks the madness and mind control powers of his comic book counterpart, and his motive for wanting the throne isn't so much gaining power for himself as seeking equality for the enslaved Inhumans. Many are left to wonder why Maximus' coup is a ''bad'' thing when it's practically bloodless, with only the already unsympathetic royals being targeted and the only actual fatality being the leader of the Genetic Council, whose job was literally to judge and place people in a caste which is a mild case of PayEvilUntoEvil. Then Maximus has all but one of the rest of the Genetic Council beaten and exiled, which also comes across as a Pay Evil Unto Evil moment for the same reason as for their leader. Then, another intended MoralEventHorizon has Maximus kill a friend of his... and again it falls flat because that friend was ''also'' a member of the Genetic Council and was actively plotting to kill him. [[spoiler:TheReveal in the finale, that Maximus attempted to trick his brother to run away to Earth when they were young but which resulted in Black Bolt murdering his parents by accident, and had kept that secret for years from him, also doesn't change this, since Black Bolt's parents were autocrats who ''executed'' Medusa's parents for their rebellion to institute reforms and were considering having the equivalent of a lobotomy performed on Black Bolt so his voice couldn't hurt anyone, adding more {{Asshole Victim}}s to his body count.]] Maximus bringing the protective dome down around the city and putting his people's lives at risks to ensure his family wouldn't kill him then refusing to stop it is meant to show that at the end of the day Maximus values his own life above his people's well being, but by this point it just feels like the writers realized he wasn't actually very villainous and had to scramble to make him fit his role.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Our supposed villains' goal is putting an end to a FantasticCasteSystem, which our supposed heroes support and refuse to acknowledge is a bad thing, nor do they go through any kind of CharacterDevelopment.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The {{Race Lift}}s to several members of the main cast can be seen as an attempt at this, given the kerfluffle over whether Series/{{Iron Fist|2017}} (whose show has the same showrunner) should have gotten one.
** Making a show that revolves around the classic Inhuman Royal family instead of the ones from ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', as the Inhumans from ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' have been seen as just {{exp|y}}ies of the Mutants.
** Attempted by [[http://www.slashfilm.com/new-inhumans-teaser-makes-a-literal-budget-cut-on-medusas-hair/ removing Medusa's hair entirely]], in response to the complaints about both her obvious wig and the terrible CGI associated with it. [[SubvertedTrope Fans instead reacted with ire at the removal of Medusa's abilities and iconic look, and call the change out as a cheap answer to the criticism]].

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: The series is likely to be this for ComicBook/TheInhumans for a while due to the TroubledProduction, ExecutiveMeddling, and scathing reviews affecting the show. Tellingly, the trailers for the upcoming ''Series/MsMarvel2022''--focusing on Kamala Khan, arguably the most famous Inhuman besides the royals--have zero references to anything Inhuman-related, and show the origin of her powers as being an artifact [[spoiler:that awakens her Djinn heritage]] instead of Terrigenesis... at least until the season finale reveals that, in a delicious case of irony [[spoiler: given the notorious FandomRivalry, that she's ''actually a mutant'']].

** Medusa's hair's fight scene is extremely underwhelming. The "hits" her hair makes on the {{mooks}} lack any sort of oomph, and the scene amounts to the actress standing there making weird faces while three grown men make terribly telegraphed attacks at her one at a time.

** Every single scene involving Black Bolt on Earth in episode 2. The way he runs from the cops, his fight with the cops, his wooden body language, it just has to be seen to be believed.
** Medusa's hair is shaved off using a normal electric razor that you can buy at a drug store. The scene is given especially dramatic music and is obviously intended to be Maximus' MoralEventHorizon, but it comes off as pretentious and silly instead. What makes this scene worse is the transparency of it; the ''real'' reason Medusa was shorn bald was to save the cost of animating her hair every episode, even though this effectively renders her powerless.
** Speaking of Medusa's hair, her big fight with it is inexplicably scored with a tepid cover of Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}' "Paint It Black". It gets worse as just a year earlier we were treated to a much better received remake of the song in ''Series/{{Westworld}}''. Also, the guards just... walk up to her. [[MookChivalry One at a time]]. Even as they see her effortlessly beating their fellows.

** Gorgon gets some surfers to have UndyingLoyalty to him with insane ease, especially when one sympathizes with his service to his king as Hawaii used to have one of those until it was made a state. Trouble is, they had a ''queen'' at the time that happened, making the guy come off as a hipster who has no real idea what he's talking about.
** Karnak getting kidnapped and almost killed by ''pot dealers''. While it's not unheard of for marijuana cartels to be dangerous and territorial, the end result is that there's yet another band of colorful Hawaiian characters to contrast with the alien Inhumans. It makes you wonder if someone on the writing staff was an unironic fan of ''Film/ReeferMadness''.
** Maximus intimidates the Genetics Council by awkwardly describing the member he had killed as gargling his last not-words like some weird attempt at humor.

** After they are separated on Earth, Black Bolt tells his wife that he is okay by holding his communicator up to his heart so she can hear it beat. It's [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments a sweet moment]], but [[FridgeLogic we're left wondering why this technologically advanced race doesn't have texting]]. You'd think that would be a priority when your king can't talk.
* NarmCharm: Be it intentional or not, Black Bolt's over-the-top expressions to compensate for his lack of dialogue are amusing.

** Both critics and fans felt that with its quasi-fantastic setting, larger-than-life royal characters and dramatic family dynamics, as well as a focus on a society stagnating as a result of a rigid ritualization and caste system, ''Inhumans'' could have been ''Series/GameOfThrones'' or ''Literature/{{Gormenghast}}'' '''[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]''', which is a comparison many have made to the comics themselves.

** Speaking of Medusa's hair, her big fight with it is inexplicably scored with a tepid cover of Music/TheRollingStones' "Paint It Black". It gets worse as just a year earlier we were treated to a much better received remake of the song in ''Series/{{Westworld}}''. Also, the guards just... walk up to her. [[MookChivalry One at a time]]. Even as they see her effortlessly beating their fellows.

* DorkAge: The show plunged the ''entire Inhumans property'' into a slump[[note]]Not that the comics published that time and TheNewTens did all that well -- [[DorkAge/{{Marvel}} see the entry for the Inhumans]] in the trope's Marvel page[[/note]] and is widely considered the first outright flop of the entire Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. While the Marvel Television productions of the MCU aren't held in as high regard as the films and series produced by Marvel Studios, the shows do have their fanbases (or are considered simply "okay" instead of outright terrible). This is the first MCU property where critics, fandom, and general audiences have been united in their negative opinions.
%%Given that it came right before Marvel Studios gained the rights to use the ''X-Men'' -- which this property was intended to be used by Marvel Entertainment to compete with Fox's projects -- [[FanonDiscontinuity it's safe to say that fans are probably going to treat this as the one MCU project that never happened]].

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: The series is likely to be this for ComicBook/TheInhumans for a while due to the TroubledProduction, ExecutiveMeddling, and scathing reviews affecting the show. Tellingly, the trailers for the upcoming ''Series/MsMarvel2022''--focusing on Kamala Khan, arguably the most famous Inhuman besides the royals--have zero references to anything Inhuman-related, and show the origin of her powers as being an artifact [[spoiler:that awakens her Djinn heritage]] instead of Terrigenesis... at least until the season finale reveals that, in a delicious case of irony [[given the notorious FandomRivalry, that she's ''actually a mutant'']].

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: The series is likely to be this for ComicBook/TheInhumans for a while due to the TroubledProduction, ExecutiveMeddling, and scathing reviews affecting the show. (Tellingly, the trailers for the upcoming ''Series/MsMarvel2022''--focusing on Kamala Khan, arguably the most famous Inhuman besides the royals--have zero references to anything Inhuman-related, and show the origin of her powers as being an artifact [[spoiler:that awakens her Djinn heritage]] instead of Terrigenesis.)

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: The series is likely to be this for ComicBook/TheInhumans for a while due to the TroubledProduction, ExecutiveMeddling, and scathing reviews affecting the show. (Tellingly, the trailers for the upcoming ''Series/MsMarvel2022''--focusing on Kamala Khan, arguably the most famous Inhuman besides the royals--have zero references to anything Inhuman-related, and show the origin of her powers as being an artifact instead of Terrigenesis.)

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km-xiJGSI0s The intro sequence]] looks shockingly amateur and rushed together. Compare to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X-XiH3Mjyo similar intro]] for ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''.

** Maximus lacks the madness and mind control powers of his comic book counterpart, and his motive for wanting the throne isn't so much gaining power for himself as seeking equality for the enslaved Inhumans. Many are left to wonder why Maximus' coup is a ''bad'' thing when it's practically bloodless, with only the already unsympathetic royals being targeted and the only actual fatality being the leader of the Genetic Council, whose job was literally to judge and place people in a caste which is a mild case of KickTheSonOfABitch. Then Maximus has all but one of the rest of the Genetic Council beaten and exiled, which also comes across as a Kick the Son of a Bitch moment for the same reason as for their leader. Then, another intended MoralEventHorizon has Maximus kill a friend of his... and again it falls flat because that friend was ''also'' a member of the Genetic Council and was actively plotting to kill him. [[spoiler:TheReveal in the finale, that Maximus attempted to trick his brother to run away to Earth when they were young but which resulted in Black Bolt murdering his parents by accident, and had kept that secret for years from him, also doesn't change this, since Black Bolt's parents were autocrats who ''executed'' Medusa's parents for their rebellion to institute reforms and were considering having the equivalent of a lobotomy performed on Black Bolt so his voice couldn't hurt anyone, adding more {{Asshole Victim}}s to his body count.]] Maximus bringing the protective dome down around the city and putting his people's lives at risks to ensure his family wouldn't kill him then refusing to stop it is meant to show that at the end of the day Maximus values his own life above his people's well being, but by this point it just feels like the writers realized he wasn't actually very villainous and had to scramble to make him fit his role.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Almost every review of the series brings up that we are expected to root for a group of elitist slave owners who benefit from and enforce a brutal caste system that they see no issue with, while being asked to root against the character trying to tear it all down.

* InformedWrongness: The central issue many people had with the series. Maximus is calling for a revolt and the destruction of a brutal caste system that forces the majority of the population into a lifetime of back-breaking labor and yet we're supposed to see him as the bad guy seemingly for no other reason than that the writers said so. Even if he were as cold-hearted and murderous as the series is trying to portray him, it wouldn't change that [[VillainHasAPoint he's completely right in his criticisms of Inhuman society and the Royal Family]], and if the series was written competently, it would have culminated in a HeelRealization on the Royal Family's part that leads to ''them'' dismantling the caste system.

** Creator/AnsonMount made a whole new form of sign language just to play Black Bolt. It wasn't just the 15-16 signs the show runners planned; it was no less than 50 pages of work. People were upset that such dedication was wasted on this abysmal show.

** While most people agree that the show isn't good, they also agree that Iwan Rheon as Maximus was a fantastic choice and many even think that he is the only character worth rooting for.

** As noted under JustHereForGodzilla, Iwan Rheon is considered one of the best casting choices. And while some consider his character to be a bit one note, some amongst these people still agree that he was at least genuine in his performance.

** Ken Leung also qualifies. He took the time to carefully research his character before filming. And as multiple reviewers have noted, you can tell that he's trying his damndest to make things work despite the sheer mess of a product he's in.
** Anson Mount made a whole new form of sign language just to play Black Bolt. It wasn't just the 15-16 signs the show runners planned; it was no less than 50 pages of work. People were upset that such dedication was wasted on this abysmal show.

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: The series is likely to be this for ComicBook/TheInhumans for a while due to the TroubledProduction, ExecutiveMeddling, and scathing reviews affecting the show. (Tellingly, the trailers for the upcoming Series/MsMarvel2022,--focusing on Kamala Khan, arguably the most famous Inhuman besides the royals--have zero references to anything Inhuman-related, and show the origin of her powers as being an artifact instead of Terrigenesis.)

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: The series is likely to be this for ComicBook/TheInhumans for a while due to the TroubledProduction, ExecutiveMeddling, and scathing reviews affecting the show.

** Mordis also seemed to gain some love for his [[DeadpanSnarker snarky attitude]] and for being [[TheWoobie one of the most sympathetic characters in the show]]. [[DesignatedVillain Even though the show apparently wants us to see him as a]] CompleteMonster [[InformedAttribute despite really showing no signs of this whatsoever]].

* CriticalResearchFailure: Hawaii's last monarch before it became part of the United States was a queen, not a king.

** The plot of the arrogant and bigoted Inhumans losing their powers after being exiled to earth could have made for an interesting plot and provided some decent CharacterDevelopment where they become more humble and prove themselves like what happened with Film/{{Thor}} when the same thing happened to him. Too bad that doesn't happen, at least nor very well.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Almost every review of the series brings up the fact that we are expected to root for a group of elitist slave owners who benefit from and enforce a brutal caste system that they see no issue with, while being asked to root against the character trying to tear it all down.

** The fact that they are making a show that revolves around the classic Inhuman Royal family instead of the ones from ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' has been seen as this, as the Inhumans from ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' have been seen as just {{exp|y}}ies of the Mutants.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Because of its poor reception and poor representation of the property that it's based off of, many fans just pretend that ''nothing'' of this series is related with the MCU. Some even hope that it becomes outright CanonDiscontinuity in line of a ContinuityReboot that could be tied to the introduction of [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel]] in the Disney+ series. The disconnect is also helped by the fact that the show's only real connection to the greater MCU is that there's an offhand mention about how humans are already aware that Inhumans exist due to the events of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' -- specifically, the [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent Inhuman Outbreak]], which the show was obligated to mention anyway -- although that series doesn't specifically mention the Inhuman Royal Family anywhere, and Daisy Johnson, the instigator of said events, is never even implicitly mentioned in ''Inhumans''. Crystal was actually supposed to make an appearance in the concurrent season of ''Agents'', but that show's crew quickly put a kibosh on it once this show's bad reception became clear. Of course, the television side of the MCU in general has always had an ambiguous relationship to the films when it comes to canonicity[[note]]Largely due to the two sides being handled by different studios that haven't cooperated much since Marvel Studios split from Marvel Entertainment.[[/note]], but even serious fans of Marvel TV have said that they're perfectly okay with this show in particular being declared non-canon.

* InformedWrongness: The central issue many people had with the series. Maximus is calling for a revolt and the destruction of a brutal caste system that forces the majority of the population into a lifetime of back-breaking labor and yet we're supposed to see him as the bad guy seemingly for no other reason than that the writers said so. Even if he were as cold-hearted and murderous as the series is trying to portray him, it wouldn't change the fact that [[VillainHasAPoint he's completely right in his criticisms of Inhuman society and the Royal Family]], and if the series was written competently, it would have culminated in a HeelRealization on the Royal Family's part that leads to ''them'' dismantling the caste system.

** While Lockjaw himself is well-rendered, well-animated, and adorable, all the hard work that went into him is undermined by the fact that ''no one ever touches him''. Even when he's hit by an offroader, camera tricks ensure that we don't see the direct impact. For some reason the producers did not provide an animatronic or even a placeholding puppet for the actors to interact with, and for anyone with an affinity for animals, it's ''very'' distracting. Watching Gert and Molly from sister series ''Series/Runaways2017'' lovingly caress their pet raptor Old Lace becomes HilariousInHindsight for this exact reason.