Say what you will about DC Universe, but original series-wise the still-young streaming service is on the same trajectory as Superman himself: Up, up, and a-way better thanTitans. That first series had its fans and certainly improved as it went along, but suffice it to say, itwasn’t my cup of tea. Then cameDoom Patrol, whichstarted out solidasBrendan Fraser’s bare backside and gradually became one of the most wonderfully absurd delights on all of television. That put a lot of pressure on the big mossy shoulders of original series #3,Swamp Thing,to keep up the quality, especially in the wake of thebackstage wonkinessthat cut its originally-ordered 13 episodes to 10. Well, I’m here to report thatSwamp Thing, at least in its first two episodes, not only ups the ante, it’s also a triumph on pretty much every level, a nasty, gleefully disturbing bit of body horror on the Louisiana bayou that evokes everything fromJohn Carpenter’sThe Thingto executive-producerJames Wan’s work with the Trench inAquaman. It’s 2019, man, and it looks like it’s officially time to go green.
Len Wiseman—the director behind the pilots forSleepy HollowandLucifer—also helmed the pilot here, an extremely on-brand choice consideringSwamp Thingfollows a similar formula: Straight-laced professional woman partners up with a quirky man who has a supernatural twist. InSleepy Hollow,it was a sheriff’s lieutenant and the actual Ichabod Crane. InLucifer,it was a detective and the literal Christian Devil. Here, it’s a member of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service named Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) and biologist Alec Holland (Andy Bean), the latter who—spoilers—eventually morphs with a sentient swamp to become a giant moss-monster played under heavy prosthetics by former Jason VoorheesDerek Mears. Again, it’s a formula, but the formula really does work to charming effect.
Arcane has been called back to her hometown of Marais, Louisiana to investigate a strange disease that’s seemingly emanating from the nearby swamp, causing locals to collapse, cough up gooey leaves into their hospital beds, and—in much more extreme cases—devolve into mossy, decaying statues straight out of a biologist’s worst fever dreams. (Think the gory artwork ofHannibalmeets, like, a fucked-up Ent.) Butting into her investigation is disgraced scientist Holland, who discovered abnormal mutagens in the swamp that may just be the key to finding a cure. But the deeper Arcane and Holland dig, the more it smells like a rotten conspiracy, a conspiracy the swamp itself seems intent on violently stopping.
It’s in that violence and rot that this show truly shines as a no-joke horror story, not a surprise given Wan’s involvement and a pilot script co-written byGary Dauberman(IT,The Nun) andMark Verheiden(Ash vs. Evil Dead). Wiseman, who also directed episode 2, shoots Marais' swamp like a dark fairy tale, all twisted trees and moonlit ponds. The effect makes it that much more jarring in the moments that almost primordial darkness invades Abby Arcane’s world of science. There’s a scene set in a morgue that floored me in its creepiness; the swamp disease brings a corpse back to profane “life”, the body standing up off the operating table even as it’s ripped apart by twisting vines and probing branches. It’s gross, it really does have seriousThe Thingvibes, and most importantly, it appears to be mostly practical.
Those practical set-pieces throughout elevateSwamp Thinga good deal. Maybe it’s theJawsfanatic in me, but I love seeing a boat actually lifted out of the water by some unseen monstrosity. But Fractured FX—the minds behind the Lipstick-Face Demon inInsidiousand every ghoul inThe Conjuringfranchise, among many other abominations—worked overtime to make sure the monstrosities we do see are equally impressive. I don’t think Swampy fans could ask for a more pitch-perfect live-action take than the one we get here. The suit plastered on Mears oozes and shines in all the right, rotten ways; there’s a moment where he pulls off a piece of his own head and you can see the strands of goo between his fingers. It’s disgusting. It’s great. (And yes, Swamp Thing is ripped af, and I expect certain corners of the internet to react accordingly, as is their right.)
But the real miracle here is thatSwamp Thingstill manages to feel like a human show. Abby Arcane is an effective entry point into the madness; she brings back to her hometown a dark secret from her past that Reed manages to tease out through haunted looks and sentences cut just short. She has an easy chemistry with a pre-monster Bean, whose oddball charisma makes you sad that he has to turn into Swamp Thing on a show literally calledSwamp Thing. But of course, it’s Mears pulling the real magic trick here. He doesn’t speak a single word over the first two episodes because he doesn’t need to. Mears injects a potent dose of rage, confusion, and sadness intoSwamp Thingwith his face, the way he stands, the way he stumbles against a tree.
I do wish the community around that core trio felt more alive. The characters Abby reunites with often feel like stock exposition vehicles who arrive to fill in a part of her past, with only a few exceptions. Talented journeymanWill Pattonis here as grey-haired scientist and entrepreneur Avery Sunderland, who might as well be wearing a “secretly the villain” name tag.CandymanstarVirginia Madsenadds some much-needed fire to Avery’s wife, Maria, who can’t move past the death of her daughter and Abby’s former best friend, Shawna. But outside of the Averys, the faces in Marais mostly blend together, and every negative aspect of the show, unfortunately, did remind me thatsomethinghappened in those later episodes toshut down productionin North Carolina.
But we’ll cross that particular bridge when we get to it, because the beginning ofSwamp Thingis a delirious, bloody good time. Much like theSwamp Thingcomic in the early ’80s, I desperately needMooremore as soon as possible.
Rating:★★★★
Swamp Thingpremieres on DC Universe Friday, May 31.
