Last week, the first arc of the series was abruptly concluded with the spectacular and unexpected death of sneering Captain Dance (Enzo Cilenti), leaving the destiny of Tenebrae unknown; Jekyll’s (Tom Bateman) more attuned to his inner Hyde, the MIO ready to step out of the shadows, Maggie’s (Sinead Cusack) supernatural resurrection inviting suspicion, and the truth about Lily (Stephanie Hyam( and her mother being one step closer to being revealed. Sexy new characters, such as Olalla (Wallis Day) and the Priestess, were briefly introduced into the fray, and some of the more redundant characters (cough, Hils [Ruby Bentall], Bella [Natalie Gumede], and Ravi [Michael Karim], cough) were pared back. It was an exciting and original adventure that signaled a strong direction for a show that’s taken its time to get going.
This week, before the airing of Jekyll and Hyde, ITV cunningly scheduled a rerun of The Mummy Returns — an action adventure film that taps into the same pulp and pseudo-mythological vein as the old Universal and Hammer films. Considering the complaints debacle of the first episode of Jekyll and Hyde, I’ll be interested in reading how many irate parents complain about the content, as at around 6 in the afternoon you could watch people drowning in quicksand for comedic effect, a woman eaten alive by magical scarabs, and an acolyte being quartered by the freshly awoken Scorpion King (master of waking up grumpy, it would seem).
So, after all this build up, what do we find? A bloody “monster of the week” weredog story, that’s what; no Tenebrae, no MIO, and no real consequences to the events of last week. As my girlfriend will often say to me when I’ve eaten all the freshly baked cookies: “I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed”…
The full 1,800 word version of this review is published at PopMatters.com, where you can read the rest of the article for free.
Carl Wilson 