Spoiler alert! For those who haven't read the books, reading on is your responsibility.
This pilot didn't give the story the possibility to enhance and evolve. It did it no justice, but belittled the story and it's author.
I, like the person that reviewed this before me, have never, ever written a review here on IMDb, not even when the story of Eragon was destroyed. Now, I can't hold it in. Lena Holloway's story is beautiful and it touches you. The first book begins like a normal teenage cliché but the story just gets better. This pilot did this book and it's author wrong. The relationship between Lena and Alex takes the bigger part of the first book to evolve, and it needs to take all that time, because of how forbidden love is in Lena's live, how she deals with it and how she comes to terms with it. How their love evolves is the essence of the first book, it's the point, it's the reason everything goes the way it does, and in this pilot it is belittled. Lena Holloway lives in a suburb in an old and skimpy house with her aunt and uncle and two cousins, the younger one doesn't talk and only takes comfort in Lena. They do have a phone, but only in the kitchen and it's rarely used. They mostly use oil and candles because electricity has gotten so expensive. They're poor, and it's supposed to show, it matters. About the "cured" ones, they don't smile unless there is a good, solid reason for it, and then you can barely tell if they're smiling. And they certainly do not laugh. They are almost robot like, there are no emotions, just responsibility and duty. The time Lena and Alex spent together is so much more important than this episode makes it look like, but here everything happens way to quickly, like they were trying to put a whole book, and a part of a second one, in a 40 minute episode. It should have been only the first book and a 2 hour move that would have given it justice! What gives the second book it's wings and the possibility of Julian's character is also the way Lena saw Alex die. The part about the prison/mental hospital is also way more important than it is demonstrated in this pilot. And it was her mother that was held captive there, not her father, and that fact is of great importance. Those people on the other side of the fence are also not a part of the first book and have nothing to do with Alex. This episode also skipped the part where Alex and Lena go over the fence together without being caught and he shows her things she never imagined existed, like poems and fantasy books and more. And how Lena and Alex planned to escape and how everything went wrong, was also belittled. What was also supposed to be his death was done no justice. And there was no one waiting on the other side of the fence when Lena got over in the end of the book, she ran for hours, days, until she passed out and was found. Julian and his father are not a part of the first book, they don't appear until the second one, and we don't find out anything about them until Julian and Lena get captured together and find comfort in each other.
The characters are all wrong, they're not portrayed in the right way, this happens way to quickly and it's really messy and sad to watch. This should have been a 2 hour move, and a trilogy, where they'd try to fit in every part of the books that matter and one book at a time, thank you. But I guess that ship has sailed since they decided to do this pilot. It's the same mess as they did with Eragon, the same mistake, except Eragon was too lengthy. This was just a mess, and I'm so sorry to see such a good story wasted, I truly am.
Where is the passion and the will to make art when it comes to directing and writing scripts today? You can't just put everything in a mixer and press a button, it doesn't work that way. It will just turn out gooey and you can't tell what's what.
I'm sorry, but this was just horrible.
Sincerely
Soffía
This pilot didn't give the story the possibility to enhance and evolve. It did it no justice, but belittled the story and it's author.
I, like the person that reviewed this before me, have never, ever written a review here on IMDb, not even when the story of Eragon was destroyed. Now, I can't hold it in. Lena Holloway's story is beautiful and it touches you. The first book begins like a normal teenage cliché but the story just gets better. This pilot did this book and it's author wrong. The relationship between Lena and Alex takes the bigger part of the first book to evolve, and it needs to take all that time, because of how forbidden love is in Lena's live, how she deals with it and how she comes to terms with it. How their love evolves is the essence of the first book, it's the point, it's the reason everything goes the way it does, and in this pilot it is belittled. Lena Holloway lives in a suburb in an old and skimpy house with her aunt and uncle and two cousins, the younger one doesn't talk and only takes comfort in Lena. They do have a phone, but only in the kitchen and it's rarely used. They mostly use oil and candles because electricity has gotten so expensive. They're poor, and it's supposed to show, it matters. About the "cured" ones, they don't smile unless there is a good, solid reason for it, and then you can barely tell if they're smiling. And they certainly do not laugh. They are almost robot like, there are no emotions, just responsibility and duty. The time Lena and Alex spent together is so much more important than this episode makes it look like, but here everything happens way to quickly, like they were trying to put a whole book, and a part of a second one, in a 40 minute episode. It should have been only the first book and a 2 hour move that would have given it justice! What gives the second book it's wings and the possibility of Julian's character is also the way Lena saw Alex die. The part about the prison/mental hospital is also way more important than it is demonstrated in this pilot. And it was her mother that was held captive there, not her father, and that fact is of great importance. Those people on the other side of the fence are also not a part of the first book and have nothing to do with Alex. This episode also skipped the part where Alex and Lena go over the fence together without being caught and he shows her things she never imagined existed, like poems and fantasy books and more. And how Lena and Alex planned to escape and how everything went wrong, was also belittled. What was also supposed to be his death was done no justice. And there was no one waiting on the other side of the fence when Lena got over in the end of the book, she ran for hours, days, until she passed out and was found. Julian and his father are not a part of the first book, they don't appear until the second one, and we don't find out anything about them until Julian and Lena get captured together and find comfort in each other.
The characters are all wrong, they're not portrayed in the right way, this happens way to quickly and it's really messy and sad to watch. This should have been a 2 hour move, and a trilogy, where they'd try to fit in every part of the books that matter and one book at a time, thank you. But I guess that ship has sailed since they decided to do this pilot. It's the same mess as they did with Eragon, the same mistake, except Eragon was too lengthy. This was just a mess, and I'm so sorry to see such a good story wasted, I truly am.
Where is the passion and the will to make art when it comes to directing and writing scripts today? You can't just put everything in a mixer and press a button, it doesn't work that way. It will just turn out gooey and you can't tell what's what.
I'm sorry, but this was just horrible.
Sincerely
Soffía