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The Mutations chinese drama review
Completed
The Mutations
3 people found this review helpful
by Enigma05
Jan 9, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 7.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Bad Fish, Monsters, & Sauron's Eyeball, Oh My! (Last drama of 2023)

So Chinese sci-fi huh? Only have ever seen the ML so know he can carry his own weight. The story started strong and the monsters were convincing; didn't end strong though. I'm glad it was only 12 episodes long and that it had some semblance of a finish though suspension of disbelief was necessary. This really was about bad fish, monsters, and Sauron's eyeball, oh my! Honestly gave it the rating I did purely for entertainment value.

Pros: The storyline had a very promising start. The ML, Shen Rong, and Bo Yan were the strongest characters in the entire series. I do wish they explored more into SR's background and history as well as those of the real origins of the Heng Masters and how the "Lord" aka misty alien thing that was really Sauron's eyeball created them in the first place. It wasn't just the semi-mortal fish; needed to be fleshed out more. The CGI was decent especially when it came to the monsters. I like how there was a mystery that was solved little by little by our characters. Music was good and OST's fit. The historical/post apocalyptic feel was there. The beasties were pretty cool looking though.

Neutral: First time I'm using this section in a review but I feel like the character of Angelica was neither here nor there. The actress is stunning but whether or not she was actually needed; I'm completely neutral about it. Maybe to show a tough woman among a horde of men. Her presence doesn't affect my score at all.

Cons: It's Spanish not Portuguese! Dear lord, even those of us who don't speak either language but have been around either can differentiate between the two. That was a pain in the ass and while Angelica was where she was, the rest of her men and the ship and that storyline was also unnecessary.

There were many unanswered questions like:
1) The meteor arrived 20 years prior but didn’t create a tsunami? Ok suspension of disbelief ✅. 
2) How did Shen Rong get infected? From that water wife gave him to drink? 
3) How much time was SR away from home that the islanders started getting infected? Because clearly not the case for when SC was still a baby. We get a timeline of 20 years since meteor touchdown and then 2 years since SR’s return and villagers already infected and mutating.
4) When did mainlanders start getting infected? 
5) How did CSY get infected; never told us. 
6) When and how was the cult formed? Why was SR's wife chosen to lead them?
7) Again what happened to that HLH kid? He fell into the water and disappeared. Did he drown? Did the Sauron eyeball thing integrate with him too?
I'm sure I'm missing other questions that I can't remember now but who knew Mordor and Sauron were alive and well, off the coast of an island during the Ming Dynasty; that was pretty ridiculous honestly.

Also, I feel that ML was pretty gullible thinking his brother was still alive while being with the "Lord"; yes twins have ESP but it never occurred to him until the last 15 minutes of the final episode that this was all a set up? He's supposedly so smart and that felt off even for him. Whether he really survived at the end as SC claimed, we'll never know but he's now hanging out with Sauron's eyeball whatever that means.

Too many green screens as characters would often stare off at something not there or react in a way that didn't really make sense or there's a delayed reaction to what the audience saw.

Would I recommend it? Only if you like sci-fi and have nothing else to watch. It was entertaining, I'll give it that.
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