INHUMANS is becoming notorious for bringing up important plot elements, only to drop them or completely ignore them 30 minutes later to continue living in its uncomfortable but stable level of familiar. Every episode, I find myself becoming attached to a plot point, genuinely becoming invested in where it will take the INHUMANS, only to have it forgotten in the very next scene. Each time that a character has the opportunity to develop or change, INHUMANS shuts it down in favor of these characters staying in the terrible realities they’ve created for themselves.
Karnak, a character who spends so much time correcting the mistakes of others that he can’t stop and have some fun, is given the opportunity to feel emotions that his purely logical self has stopped himself from feeling. He develops a romance with Jen, one that promises to let Karnak have some fun. Despite the fact that Jen was once one of the people that kidnapped Karnak, this relationship had potential to change this character. However, after literally only one day and six hours, when Karnak is reunited with his family, they leave each other, basically forgetting that this romance happened in the first place. Instead of letting Karnak change or develop, they let him have a little fun on the side, only to return him back to normal and throw Jen to the curb (after letting her get shot, of course.)
Outside of Karnak’s literal one night stand, this episode heavily features the reunion of Black Bolt and Medusa, the real love birds of the series. These two characters are the root of the Royal Family, and are determined to reunite not just the entire Royal Family, but also the entire Inhuman society. In a moment just as needed as these reunions, this episode features Black Bolt and Medusa being subjected to their own faults as King and Queen. The society that they rule over seems to hate the Royal Family, no matter how much they love themselves. When Locus, the Inhuman Black Bolt and Medusa are using to locate the rest of the family, informs them of the disapproval that many Inhumans have over their harsh ruling, Black Bolt and Medusa immediately reject the idea. Their rejection of anything new only furthers the point that the characters within INHUMANS and the series itself both can’t comprehend change.
What I will say is that no matter how many uncomfortable directions INHUMANS takes, the actors and actresses within the series are doing everything they can to keep the show entertaining. Though the series may continue to treat the characters poorly, the people who portray these characters are the ones keeping them active and worth watching. Eme Ikwuakor portrays Gorgon with power and confidence, Ken Leung portrays Karnak with cleverness and wit, Serinda Swan portrays Medusa with strength and unparalleled determination, and Anson Mount portrays Black Bolt with pose and sophistication. Even Iwan Rheon, who portrays Maximus, is able to make an already horrible person seem even more unlikeable.
INHUMANS is a show that’s becoming hard to swallow. Not because its story is particularly harsh or heavy; most of its plot points actually feel more like reduced, reused, and recycled soap opera plot points than purely original ones. Rather, it’s hard for me to swallow because of its constant empty promises. There’s build up and a forged tension, but it leads down a path to nowhere. I’m constantly being disappointed by the teases of growth that are only accompanied by uncomfortably long pauses and the characters essentially having to look right into the camera and confusingly shrug along with the audience.
With three episodes left, and an undetermined and bleak future ahead, there is no way to know where INHUMANS is going to go. If you asked me three weeks ago what I thought the series was going to focus on, I would have said that it was the Royal Family working towards their reunion. Now that it’s over, and the disappointment of the reunion has time to dissipate, there’s no other direction to go but up, both metaphorically, because the series is at a particularly low point, and literally, because the Royal Family has to return to the moon. So join me next week to see whether INHUMANS finally catches a break or if proves me wrong and continues to dig the already crater sized hole it’s been digging for itself.
Written by William Staton, INHUMANS Beat Writer
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