tv: the fades

The Fades -- is anyone else completely unnerved by this show? It keeps tricking me by being silly and impossible and bordering on mary sue and they make it work when honest to God, it shouldn't manage to do that with some of this stuff.

I'm not sure how to explain the premise because while yeah, it matches the summary, it's just--not like that. I don't know how to describe it; I really, really, really didn't see this coming.

And whoa, Paul and Mac. Jesus, boys. They wear identical pajamas. God. Their love. Which they express verbally. A lot.



You know, the thing is, it keeps throwing me, which a.) is helped that I was unspoiled, but also because b.) the--plot?--is a lie. And it is fucked up and only manages to get moreso. And then it's ridiculous and cute and silly teenagers and then it flashes to giant fucking tubs of really realistic blood and graphically eating dead people. After killing them.

You know, the cool part of this isn't entirely that this could be considered a very original take on zombies, but it's not even zombies, it's this is a fantastic apocalypse and they're more like, IDK, vampires that eat flesh. And they have a plan. It does not end well for humans.



This is kind of awesome. And I'll be honest, the best potential apocalypse ever.

Anyone?

ETA: I have to stop assuming the perky teenage boy moments only last long enough to show some horror. Um, tell me someone else is watching this? I need to discuss.

* Fixed Matt to Mac. I swear it sounds like Matt, but IMDB disagrees.

Comments

[scy]

I have been debating catching this. I shall now do so, as the Secret Circle has not yet gotten out of cheesy mode.

[seperis]

Do it. Seriously. It just does nothing like expected.

[silentcs]

I hadn't heard about this! But now I will try to track it down. Of course, I may have to watch it in full daylight if things get freaky, ahaha.

[seperis]

It's--so very much not what I was expecting at all.

[bikitchi]

It took me by surprise also! I was half-paying attention while doing laundry/cleaning and then I looked and was thrown, captivated and then had to get the rest.

(I had started with eps 2 as sometimes I'll just pick up a random new series by what's on a front page, backtracked and picked up the other 3. I'm a bit of a mess, I know, haha)

[glittertine]

Unsuspectingly, I watched this, and it HOOKED me. Well, the boys' obviously epic love hooked me. Not even the nightmares I *will* inevitably get from this can stop me from watching them be AWESOME, together, by themselves, with the love interest...

It's so funny, too, I love the humour - it was the last thing I expected in a show like this. I'm two eps behind because I was away for ten days, but I expect I shall catch up very soon. If I can stomach it in spite of all the ewwwwwww. >_>

All heartseyes for Paul and Mac? *raised hand*

[jamjar]

I love Mac and Paul. That scene, where they're deciding who they'd want the story of their life written by? And they're so open about... well, themselves, who they are.

And they do the thing where it's bare-your-soul, smile and show how you're bleeding ("at the moment I think they're fighting over who doesn't get me") and then the next they're ignoring it as a *kindness*, because okay, you've admitted the awful thing that you can't fix, and now you don't want to talk about it, so they won't make you.

And yeah, it's a scary, scary apocalypse with awful, awful things for the Fades-- even though I do want to ask just how sustainable they think this thing is, this whole "I can bring them back if I kill them") because that maths doesn't work forever...

And they answered the questions I had, like "so why are you shooting them and fighting the Fades if, up until episode one, they couldn't touch people, only be hurt by them." And the answer is awful! It's an awful, awful thing!

Seriously, it's just such good horror! And the personal stuff, the grief and the love and the family and the relationships and... oh, John being so angry about his death and his wife's life.

[bettina]

I'm watching it and it's so amazing and awesome and epic and also so very creepy at the same time and I love it to bits. Paul and Matt are awesome! I want to draw hearts around them. But all the characters are pretty great! :D

[feochadn.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. It was the only new show I was looking forward to this season -- and is probably the best of the new crop. I've converted two of my friends and a couple of strangers to it (additionally).
I can't believe there is only one ep left.

And poor, poor Mark.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

The relationship work in this show is fantastic. Mark and Sarah, Neil and Sarah, and Paul and Mac's Epic Goddamn Love.

...seriously, who the hell gets laid for the first time and then breathlessly tells their BFF "But you will always be more important!"

And those declarations of love. AND THE SHAVING CREAM.

I mean, honestly, I am so glad the plot is also fantastic; even if it was incredibly stupid, I'd be watching for Paul and Mac (and Paul and his sister) interacting.

[aubergineautumn.livejournal.com]

on your say so, I am at this very second watching a streaming version of the pilot.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*bites lip*

It's--do not trust the tone, ever. I am so used to having some kind of cue going on with where something is going, but this one kept hitting me weird.

And God, ep five? *shivers*

[ascetic-hedony.livejournal.com]

I know, it's so oddly brilliant. It's messy and smart one second, and cringingly embarassing the next. Paul and Mac are so totally in love. It's ripe for pwp 'experimenting' or first time stories.
Hopefully there will be more.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I know, it's so oddly brilliant. It's messy and smart one second, and cringingly embarassing the next.

Sometimes at the same time. And then you're staring at cannibal vampires and going "Wait, did I change channels??"

I love this show.

[ascetic-hedony.livejournal.com]

Because Lily (Anna), Daniel (Mac) and Joe (John/cannibal vampire) all acted in Skins, I keep having these moments of familiarity. Then someone gets eaten. It's confusing.

[gwendolynflight.livejournal.com]

Loving it! The boys are so cute, and perky, but then the horror is really horrifying! I'm not sure what to make of it, either, and both sides have really good points so yay for nuanced baddies for once.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

The bad guy thing is genuinely--there. And horrible. I mean, it's not even like I can work out other options for them; this is pretty much all they've got to work with. Which kind of makes it even more horrible.

It's kind of hilarious that in a really horrifying way (really. horrible. way.) it's--well, the only option there is, and from a certain pov, it's--humane.

....I know, I can't figure out a way to say it but that the only way to win at this point is to get them another option. Everyone is eventually going to die (even if they aren't eaten) and few are making Ascension, so...well.

But gah.

[gwendolynflight.livejournal.com]

And the narrative of modern warfare overwhelming the ascension points with so many deaths read as really poignant and genuinely tragic, when it could have been so silly. This bad guy, he's SO unnerving. There's something deeply off about him, and yet he has this sympathetic viewpoint. And that comment about at least the people he kills can come back ... ::shiver::

I quite like Paul's girlfriend, as well. Slightly disappointed Mac didn't get to stay in ep 5, though. ;)

[kuhekabir.livejournal.com]

I love The Fades too. Quite an excellent mix between humour and just really nasty horror bits...LOL...

[ravurian]

I honestly thought I was the only person watching it, LOL. No one on my F-List has even so much as mentioned it before you did, and here I was, blithering away, LOL. Seriously, this show. I can't always tell how much of my enjoyment of it is to do with what's onscreen, or how much of it is its potential, but I love it. As you say, silly and funny one minute - and so fannish; Paul and Mac are us! - and then there is a resurrection scene in a hospital with butterflies and moths erupting from his mouth. I would have shrieked if I'd been in that room. I nearly shrieked watching it. Not very manly, I know, but...

Also, in a show full of best lines, I think my absolute favourite is: 'Um. I grow wings when I ejaculate.'

There better be a second series, is all I'm saying.

[ascetic-hedony.livejournal.com]

Though there have been a few mentions in your comments ;)

[ravurian]

Oh, um. Yes. Haha. What I men to say is: I honestly thought I was the only person watching it, LOL, except for those two other people who told me they were. Erm. Fail!Ravurian. LOL.

[kernezelda]

I'm watching it, though I've only seen first two episodes. Have been thinking of watching whole thing as marathon when done. But yeah, the boys are bff, and that's lovely, and it has succeeded in creeping me the hell out at points.

[complicat]

I think The Fades got me in the first ep at the opening titles, with the clips of the unidentified yucky stretchy slimy stuff which just looked horrible, and then a couple of episodes later I realised that it was the ghost zombies fighting their way out of the cocoons, gah!

I'm really enjoying it although still quite confused about the moths and the ash world and who exactly is not already dead now. Love Mac and Paul and their BFF-ness. I have no idea if/how any of them are going to survive the apocalypse - so far they have managed to surprise me in just about every episode!

[alizarin-nyc.livejournal.com]

LOVE IT. Apparently we are not the only ones who like this show!

Mac is epically in love with his BFF, and Paul is endearingly in love with a boyish girl, and SHE is pretty cool and Anna didn't know that she was a library monitor, OMG.

I love the title sequence, and I was surprised to see that Natalie Dormer has flexibility - pleasantly surprised. I wasn't sure at the beginning, but I knew it was totally my type of thing, and it's been a great hour of entertainment for all this time... I will be sadcakes when it's over.

YULETIDE!