I'm a big Jekyll and Hyde fan. I think it's safe to say I'm not the only one because it's got tons of adaptations. Steven Moffat has taken a crack at it, there's been 2 musicals (one of which David Hasselhoff was in at one point, he actually makes a good Hyde), sometimes the change is caused by cocaine, it's been animated, heck they've been retelling this tale since the silent film era. All that said this it probably the most insane version I've ever seen. Let's get into why. Also fair warning this is gonna be a long one.
The story is pretty hard to describe because there's a lot of moving parts, but I'll do my best. Dr. Robert Jekyll has spent most of his life living in India with his adopted family, working as a small town doctor, and taking pills for a hormonal imbalance. Everything changes when he gets a letter from Max Utterson requesting him in London to attend to his grandfather's estate. Once he gets there his condition worsens and starts bringing out a darker side to him. This is something both MIO (a monster hunting organization) and Tenebrae (an origination for monsters) have been preparing for as he's either the key to ending the world or saving it. That's just the basic premise, which is already kinda weird, but trust me when I say that is the tip of the iceberg. I spent a majority of my first time watching it (I've seen it in full like 5 times now) with my jaw firmly on the floor. This show wastes no time getting to the strange stuff, by the second scene a truck has crashed into a doctor's office because it was trying to avoid an elephant (I couldn't make this up if I tried). It eases you into none of this and refuses to hold any idea back, because of this it's unlike anything I've ever seen before. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, after getting past the initial wtf is going on there's a lot to appreciate. It's oddities quickly became my biggest draw to the show and is what kept me coming back. It's helped by all this ridiculousness being played as straight as possible by about half the cast. The other half ham it up as much as they can, which is great fun as well. So for the story overall there's a lot going on, but it manges to use all it's plot threads to take full advantage of every crazy idea the writers could come up with. If you're willing to embrace it's craziness you'll end up with a show unlike any other.
So for the characters let's start with our titular one(s) Robert Jekyll/Hyde. Tom Bateman does a fantastic job here, I'd honestly love to see him play this character again in a more serious setting. I go back and forth on how I view this Jekyll, sometimes I see him as a bit of a pussy, but he does get tougher as the show goes on. The most interesting part of any version of this story is how they tackle the duality of this character and despite all the strange things surrounding it I think they handle it pretty well here. He spends a lot of time afraid of Hyde and what could happen if he completely loses control, he has his uses and is one of the most morally good versions I've seen of this character (more on that in a second), but it's clear he could go over the edge and seeing Hyde as evil and nothing more makes things similar for Jekyll. He goes so far as to essentially willingly drinking poison to suppress him. Then there's Hyde who's very different from most interpretations. Most notably in how he's not really evil, rude sure, but doesn't really get worse than that. It's with this aspect of the character that Bateman really gets to cut loose, making it a lot of fun when Hyde comes out. Jekyll has a tendency to overthink things in this sometimes (he even admits as much in the last episode), so seeing Hyde just not give a crap can be nice. Lilly is weird, there's a reveal with her near the end that explains a lot of her strange behavior, but before that she constantly comes across as slightly off in how nice and forgiving she is. Bella is a far more interesting love interest, she's a con woman with a moral compass mostly focused on protecting those under her employ any way she can. She meets Hyde, not Jekyll first, which frames their relationship in a very different light compared to Lilly. Each of them views the other as useful, they might actually have feeling for each other, but that's not the basis of their relationship. It's more of a business partnership than anything else and a lot of the time they're on the same page making their back and forth more compelling. She also has a sorta father daughter relationship with Garson which shows her more vulnerable side. Speaking of Garson he's very inconsistent. It's most noticeable to me in episode 3 because he's constantly going back and forth between trying to help Jekyll then scolding that he'll end up just like his grandfather (even though that whole episode Robert is doing nothing but trying to not end up like that). His characterization does smooth out over time ending up as a sorta Alfred Pennyworth type character with a bit more snark. There's a lot of characters in MIO so I'm just gonna group them all together here. There's the boss who's very over the top, the tech guy who wears a bowtie all the time, the old timer, a sharpshooter, and a shapeshifter. The last 2 are the most interesting members to me, the sharpshooter serves as an introductory character but quickly his love of poetry defines him and he tends to hold off on some orders if it seems like doing so is a smarter idea in the long term. To put it bluntly he's a lot of fun, as for the shapeshifter he's awesome, but doesn't get a lot to do. Shapeshifting is literally his only character trait which is a shame because a monster working against monsters is a really cool idea and I'd at least like to see his origin story. Tenebrae is a group of monsters trying to unleash Lord Trash and their most valuable asset is a guy named Captain Dance...you have no idea how many times that has made me burst out laughing. Could no one come up with cooler names, these are the main antagonists, surely you can try harder than that! Dance is actually pretty charismatic, I gotta give credit to his actor taking a character this dumb sounding and making it his own. Also in their ranks is a chick named Fedora (because she wears a fedora, how original) who for the life of me I have no idea why she's a part of this group. Not once do they show what kind of monster she really is (which admittedly they're vague about a lot regardless) leaving me to think it's a metaphorical thing and she's a serial killer or something. Again making me wonder why these actual monsters would accept her, but it's all I got. There's also a guy with a frog in his eye, but there's barely anything to him so moving on. Ravi goes on quite the journey, he witnesses his family's murder, gets arrested (for reasons unknown), fights some mummies, travels on his own (the worst thing he's subjected to), gets used as a bargaining chip, then possessed for a short period of time. Through it all though he keeps a smile on his face, what an inspiration. All jokes aside I respect them for at least trying to add some diversity to their cast, and for everything this kid goes through seeing him reunite with his brother after having come into his own so much is satisfying. He also gains a lot of knowledge on monsters because according to him it was the only reading material on his way to London, gotta admire him thinking ahead. A lot of times everyone will just ask him if he knows something about such and such monster making him more than just the annoying young character he could have been. Max/Hils are easily the quirkiest characters on the show right off the bat and they are so fun because of that. Max is a lawyer with a heart of gold (and a heart condition) who only uses exclamation points if absolutely necessary and Hils says and does kinda weird things and is apparently crazy behind the wheel (despite no evidence to suggest that and them constantly letting her drive). Olalla shows up pretty late in the game so a lot of her characterization either happens off screen or is pretty rushed. I can't say much about her given how many twists they give her, but she does have a complete arc and some of their ideas with her are pretty interesting. I don't have much to say on Maggie (in fact I was thinking of leaving her off, but she's kinda important so let's make this quick), she's fine, but not in a lot of the show. She fills some blanks about the Jekyll family tree, has a bit of a relationship with Garson, and has some snark to her. So for the characters there's a lot of them to juggle here, but for the most part they handle it fairly well. They keep as many as they can simple, but at least give them something to keep them unique. For the rest they tend to give them surprisingly compelling arcs even if they don't have much screen time.
For this show overall it's bonkers, I didn't even mention all the really strange stuff. That's part of it's charm though, it tries and succeeds in being it's own thing. Will it be alienating for some, of course, but if you're willing to give it a chance I can at least promise you a fun time.
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