Swamp Thing has some compelling stories in the comics, he's certainly something that can be done well under the right circumstances.
And I really like Reed in everything I've seen her her do so far.
I just hope if they use Floronic Man they give him a better name Honestly, all his aliases are bad, it makes a very good case for just using his name. Even 'Jason' sounds like a better nemesis than the Seeder.
Plant Master, maybe?
Or really just Woodrue. That already seems a bit on the nose.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.Andy Bean will play Alec Holland while Derek Mears will play the Swamp Thing form.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/dc-universes-swamp-thing-will-be-played-by-two-differen-1830265225
Henderson Wade (why do I feel like his forename and surname should be reversed) has been cast as Matt Cable.
https://www.cbr.com/dc-universes-swamp-thing-casts-riverdale-star-matt-cable/
Having now seen the first episode, I have some issues:
I wouldn't trust this version of the CDC to make me a cup of coffee, much less manage an outbreak of an unknown pathogen, and Abby Arcane is considerably worse than her shockingly incompetent co-workers. She's introduced while working in D.R. Congo, treating an outbreak of haemorratic fever (Ebola). One of her co-workers is having trouble with a couple of kids: one of them is showing symptoms, the other doesn't trust the people in protective suits and gas masks and tries to keep them away by brandishing a machete.
Instead of de-escalating the situation by taking a step back and calling for a colleague who speaks French, the CDC worker keeps reaching for the kids and shouting at them in English. All so Abby Arcane can come along to be the empathetic doctor by speaking French (fair enough) and TAKING OFF HER GAS MASK AND PICKING UP AND CARRYING THE SYMPTOMATIC KID! Then she walks about the CDC facility for a bit, touching all kinds of things, interacting with co-workers, she gets a new assignment and is flown to the U.S. what seems like later that same day.
In order to make the main character human and sympathetic, the writers had her break quarantine protocol, risking infecting herself and her co-workers. AND THEN THE CDC SHIPS HER ACROSS THE ATLANTIC, RISKING SPREADING EBOLA TO ANOTHER CONTINENT.
Alec Holland is an insufferable git who needlessly antagonizes a bunch of people, wasting precious time interfering in other people's work and refusing to explain himself, when just introducing himself and explaining his hypothesis would have achieved his goals quickly and with less conflict. And if, like the story tells us, time is of the essence, then why do the main characters pause their work to go out for drinks?
Most of the character work is pretty good, the dialogue is adequate (though in the cold open it's rather clunky, and not helped by decidedly wooden delivery by the three red shirts), the effects look decent and the art direction is very good, but all those positives won't save this work for me if the story keeps showing characters who are supposed to be very good at their jobs, being staggeringly incompetent.
General problem with all contagion work on tv. Proper safety gear obscures the actors faces, which directors really, really hate, so nobody, ever, depicts this right.
I have learned to ignore it, although I do wish they would just ask the prop people to mock up a set of hazmat gear with a bubble helmet or an enormous clear face plate instead. That would not resemble any gear anyone actually uses, but you could at least consistently have your characters use it.
The thing that is harder to excuse is patient zero disconnecting herself, getting out of bed, onto an elevator, and down into a forensics lab. .. Flat What. She should have been stopped at every step of that chain of events.
Crystal Reed was really good, which is good news for the show, since she is going to be acting against a man in a plant suit a good deal, which means she is going to be carrying this show.
Edited by Izeinsummer on Jun 2nd 2019 at 9:54:45 AM
Also, I quite enjoyed the first episode, especially the fact that, as soon as Abby saw something impossible, she never said, "That's impossible!" She never disbelieved Alec or his theories, because she already saw the weird shit. Her backstory is bit too soap opera, but she's a good actress, so it still works. (The only thing that doesn't work is the fact that Crystal Reed — who is 34 — was supposed to have not only gone through regular college, but also medical school and then additional schooling to become an expert in viruses and then get hired by the CDC before she was 34. But that's a general movie/TV thing.)
Also, I didn't realize that the policeman Abby meets is Matt Cable. That's certainly why he was being set up as a love interest before Alec was there, since the comics do have a Abby/Matt/Alec love triangle for a bit (before Matt is possessed by Abby's father and oh my god if they go with that storyline it's going to be so dark).
Edited by alliterator on Jun 2nd 2019 at 10:32:55 AM
What? That is perfectly consistent with her back story. She is pretty obviously on a redemption-through-medicine kick, so we can assume her academic career was laser focused. Start uni at 18, doctor in 7 years - 25. Specialization in virology, 27. She speaks French, so, probably a stint with Médecins Sans Frontières, CDC after that - shes probably worked for them for half a decade.
Edited by Izeinsummer on Jun 2nd 2019 at 12:55:46 PM
I noticed the ways the show tried to paper over the stupidity, but most of it didn't really do the job for me.
1 - OK, they didn't explicitly say it was the Ebola virus, but everything about that scene is meant to evoke recent outbreaks of Ebola in central and western Africa. Upon some further reading there have been instances of non-Ebola VHF in western Africa, but those viruses appear, and should definitely be presumed, to be similarly virulent and dangerous.
2 - The CDC chief downplaying the seriousness of Abby's transgression doesn't really make Abby look good, it makes the CDC look bad.
3 - We're told that Abby will go through "all the tests" while she's in an environment that's being used by other CDC workers who are not wearing protective clothing. So those tests haven't happened yet. If she is contaminated, she might be spreading the virus right there, and a test won't tell you anything until after the virus has spread to other CDC workers.
4 - We can assume there was a significant time skip between Congo and Marais, but it's never actually shown. The entire timeline of the outbreak before Abby arrived in Marais is pretty murky, and if you think about it a little, the implications make the protagonists (particularly Matt Cable) look stupid.
5 - The quarantine measures in Marais are equally ludicrous. People in protective clothing and people in regular clothing are constantly sharing work spaces. Abby takes the sprig of ivy from the little girl, Susie, puts it in a Petri dish, and handles it with her bare hands and hands it to doctor Tuvoc, who is also handling the dish with his bare hands. Abby and Matt treat Suzie's house as a potential crime scene, not the potential infection risk it actually is.
There's a lot that just doesn't make much sense, mostly in terms of the internal logic of the plot, but also in the structure. Alec reminds Abby and the audience of the ticking clock, but it's sandwiched between two instances of Alec wasting everybody's time. The bar scene is a problem logically (there are more immediate and more promising leads to follow up than the reporter friend) but also tonally. Neither the narrative nor the characters have time to examine backstory drama at that time.
I don't hate the show. I want to like it. I'll give it until the end of the month at least, but so far I'm pretty disappointed. Granted, my expectations were pretty high.

Another DC hero is getting his own TV series http://www.superherohype.com/news/415953-live-action-swamp-thing-tv-series-in-development#/slide/1
I for one barely know Swamp Thing, but the premise might be interesting. Hopefully the special effects will be good.
edited 2nd May '18 1:33:44 PM by Forenperser
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