***This review contains some spoilers***
Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube
The first, and presumably only, season of “Helstrom” is a mildly entertaining show that does a good job of keeping balance between the dramatic moments and the more comic book-inspired horror stuff. But, bland characters and a plot that sputters out midseason keep this series from becoming anything memorable.
It should be pointed out that this show was meant to be part of new era of Marvel Television that would create a little corner of the universe dealing with the scary side of things. The Ghost Rider series that would’ve been paired will “Helstrom” was cancelled right before it went into production, and Marvel Television was shut down a short time later. The crew was allowed to finish up the full season, but Marvel/Disney pulled all support and basically pretended like it didn’t even exist.
The plot stumbles quite a bit. It’s a slow start, but the buildup for the anticipated faceoff between the Helstrom kids and their father starts to become pretty compelling. However, midway through it the story sputters out, and it becomes clear that they were saving that showdown for a later season. The show loses its momentum at this point, and when it finally rebounds, things take a strange turn. Once it all pans out, thanks to some vague threats and a too quick resolution, we’re left with more questions than answers.
While the story does generally keep you invested, the characters typically do not. Daimon initially seems like he’s going to be a John Constantine-type wise-ass that doesn’t work well with others, but he ends up surprisingly bland. Even when he flirts with the darkness within him, he’s still never really that interesting. The real standout on the show is Ana. She comes off cold and aloof at first, but as the show progresses she starts to show her emotions more and more. The rest of the cast is mediocre and don’t add all that much to the show. This version of Caretaker, and The Blood for that matter, lacks any of the supernatural trappings of the comic. These aren’t long-lived bad-asses fighting evil for centuries, they’re more like hunters from “Supernatural,” just regular people trying to deal with things that are out of their league. However, Taker does have some nice chemistry with Dr. Hastings, and their pairing hints at some interesting adventures in their past. Chris Yen is a fun character that we don’t quite get enough of, and he really plays well off of Ana. But his role in things is really too vague to make a proper impact. Since we don’t get Mr. Helstrom as the big bad, we’re stuck with the possessed Mrs. Hastings and some minions instead. While she’s generally scary enough, especially when her son is backing her up in his monstrous first form, the fact that they’re the main course and not just the appetizers takes the steam out of the show for a while. And while their masterplan wasn’t what I was expecting, it’s too poorly explained to be give our heroes a clearly-defined challenge.
The show looks fine, but the locations never really standout. Only the Victoria’s padded-cell has any real personality to it. The effects are good, although it’s just a lot of levitating objects and a bit of hellfire. This is probably the goriest Marvel show, and there are some pretty good creature effects. And, if you’re hoping to see Daimon and Ana in their full demonic comic book forms, you’re going to be disappointed.
“Helstrom” has bland characters doing a few cool looking tricks, but the story is just not too engaging, and holds too much back for later seasons that will never come.
** out of *****