DC Universe’s Swamp Thing Struggles to Manage Tone Amidst Flashes of Brilliance | TV/Streaming
First, there’s something you should know. DC Universe pulled a switcheroo on this show, cutting the episode order from 13 to 10 in the middle of the season’s production. How exactly that’s going to work is unclear. Will the final arc of the season feel rushed? Doesn’t it seem impossible for it not to impact the overall season? Surprisingly, they didn’t delay the premiere, so they’re satisfied enough to stay on track, but one has to wonder how this will play out, and be prepared to invest in something that could come apart mid-season and later. Of course, maybe it was the right decision and all will work out in the end— but tumultuous behind-the-scenes drama rarely leads to smooth sailing.
Based on what I've seen, I wish the decision to compress "Swamp Thing" into 10 episodes had been made earlier. The nearly-60-minute premiere could have easily been 45 or so, and the show reminded me of the Netflix Bloat that infected the Marvel Original series, almost all of which could have been 30-40% shorter. The sad thing is that there are things to like here. Doing a modern update of “Swamp Thing” with an R-rated, Cronenbergian sensibility? Sign me up. However, the premiere takes a full 60 minutes to get us to Swampy’s reveal.
Before then, we see something is very wrong in a swamp in Marais, Louisiana (you’ll just have to deal with a show set in the Bayou in which no one has a hint of an accent). A clever opening scene sees a couple of men at night in a boat who are basically attacked by the swamp—vines, moss, and branches overtake their boat and turn it into something the monster from “The Thing” would have dug. Meanwhile, people are getting sick in Marais, including a kid with something slimy coming out of her orifices. She seems somehow attached to the swamp, and her case brings an officer from the CDC named Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) and a biologist named Alec Holland (Andy Bean). It’s actually a homecoming for Abby, who has a dark history with her hometown, including the death of her friend Shawna, the daughter of a powerful local businessman named Avery Sunderland (Will Patton) and Maria (Virginia Madsen).
