When TNT finally announced that the long-awaited series focusing on William Shakespeare was premiering in July, nothing could stop the barrage of potential viewers commenting their excitement and distaste for what was coming.
The series' premiere episode entitled The Play's the Thing, doesn't take too much time in setting up William's arduous life- state. Married with three children while living in a cramped flat, William strives and dreams of a grandeur life for his family.
Much to his wife's worry, and his relatives' disapproval, William, nicknamed Will, heads out to London as The Clash's London Calling plays.
This sets the series' overall tone, as the entire creative team tells the audience this is not the "old Bard" but a rather young, colorful, and rebellious Bard.
Laurie Davidson, who plays the titular character, is handsome and has deep blue eyes that emote and will turn the up-and- coming actor into a star.
As shallow as it may sound, this is smart casting on the production's part. Nothing grabs the audience's attention faster than a beautiful cast, that then delivers an engaging narrative.
Will's welcome to London doesn't go over smoothly as Craig Pearce, the showrunner and the episode's scribe, places all the players upon the massive stage and sets up the scene.
From the political and religious state, the Protestants hunting down and literally killing the Catholics it's quite clear that this is not Shakespeare in Love, but rather a Shakespeare heavenly influenced by the age of Game of Thrones.
With the political intrigue subplot aside, Pearce introduces multiple characters, though not all get enough screen time to give the audience a clear understanding of who they are.
Alice Burbage, played by Olivia DeJonge, is a character that should engage with the audience and it is clear that she is going to be a major player within the series. Though the character gives off a smart and strong female presence in her first appearance on screen, she turns into a girl pining over a married man post-meeting Will.
Nevertheless, this is the first episode, and much can still change.
Shekhar Kapur's direction is quite stylized, giving Will a very unique visual landscape. From an overactive camera that is synced with the speed of the edits, it concretes the "Punk-Rock" vision that Craig Pearce wanted for this telling of the Bard's young life.
The narrative is non-linear with a few flashbacks of Will's father and older brother that haunt Will throughout the episode. One of the most memorable hauntings, however, plays off as more of an Easter egg.
Will's father appears before him and directly warns him to walk away from the "sinful" life he is currently leading, much like Hamlet's father appears to his son in Shakespeare's infamous play.
Earlier in the episode, after Will rap battles a famous and academic author in iambic pentameter, one of the most entertaining sequences of the episode, he and his friends exit the pub as one of them utter "a pox on both of them", an echo of Romeo and Juliet's "a plague on both your houses".
Here, Pearce strategically places all these seeds in order to show the audience that Shakespeare, much like all writers and creators, find their inspiration in the world that surrounds them.
This grounds the energetic and colorful series and shows Bard-loyalists that though the showrunner's vision is a punk rock and hip Shakespeare, it doesn't mean that respect for the literary genius is thrown off-stage.
As the curtain falls on the first episode, the political stakes are raised as one of the show's most intriguing characters takes center stage with Will by his side.
James Campbell Bower, who is no stranger to the world of Shakespeare, plays Christopher "Kit" Marlowe, a playwright and poet that Shakespeare, among many others, owes a huge debt. Bower's performance is powerful and shows how comfortable the actor has become in playing these complex characters in period dramas.
The show has not received positive reviews from critics, which is a reason to worry about the future of the series.
For now, however, Will's first episode is entertaining and intriguing enough to bring audiences back for more.
The series' premiere episode entitled The Play's the Thing, doesn't take too much time in setting up William's arduous life- state. Married with three children while living in a cramped flat, William strives and dreams of a grandeur life for his family.
Much to his wife's worry, and his relatives' disapproval, William, nicknamed Will, heads out to London as The Clash's London Calling plays.
This sets the series' overall tone, as the entire creative team tells the audience this is not the "old Bard" but a rather young, colorful, and rebellious Bard.
Laurie Davidson, who plays the titular character, is handsome and has deep blue eyes that emote and will turn the up-and- coming actor into a star.
As shallow as it may sound, this is smart casting on the production's part. Nothing grabs the audience's attention faster than a beautiful cast, that then delivers an engaging narrative.
Will's welcome to London doesn't go over smoothly as Craig Pearce, the showrunner and the episode's scribe, places all the players upon the massive stage and sets up the scene.
From the political and religious state, the Protestants hunting down and literally killing the Catholics it's quite clear that this is not Shakespeare in Love, but rather a Shakespeare heavenly influenced by the age of Game of Thrones.
With the political intrigue subplot aside, Pearce introduces multiple characters, though not all get enough screen time to give the audience a clear understanding of who they are.
Alice Burbage, played by Olivia DeJonge, is a character that should engage with the audience and it is clear that she is going to be a major player within the series. Though the character gives off a smart and strong female presence in her first appearance on screen, she turns into a girl pining over a married man post-meeting Will.
Nevertheless, this is the first episode, and much can still change.
Shekhar Kapur's direction is quite stylized, giving Will a very unique visual landscape. From an overactive camera that is synced with the speed of the edits, it concretes the "Punk-Rock" vision that Craig Pearce wanted for this telling of the Bard's young life.
The narrative is non-linear with a few flashbacks of Will's father and older brother that haunt Will throughout the episode. One of the most memorable hauntings, however, plays off as more of an Easter egg.
Will's father appears before him and directly warns him to walk away from the "sinful" life he is currently leading, much like Hamlet's father appears to his son in Shakespeare's infamous play.
Earlier in the episode, after Will rap battles a famous and academic author in iambic pentameter, one of the most entertaining sequences of the episode, he and his friends exit the pub as one of them utter "a pox on both of them", an echo of Romeo and Juliet's "a plague on both your houses".
Here, Pearce strategically places all these seeds in order to show the audience that Shakespeare, much like all writers and creators, find their inspiration in the world that surrounds them.
This grounds the energetic and colorful series and shows Bard-loyalists that though the showrunner's vision is a punk rock and hip Shakespeare, it doesn't mean that respect for the literary genius is thrown off-stage.
As the curtain falls on the first episode, the political stakes are raised as one of the show's most intriguing characters takes center stage with Will by his side.
James Campbell Bower, who is no stranger to the world of Shakespeare, plays Christopher "Kit" Marlowe, a playwright and poet that Shakespeare, among many others, owes a huge debt. Bower's performance is powerful and shows how comfortable the actor has become in playing these complex characters in period dramas.
The show has not received positive reviews from critics, which is a reason to worry about the future of the series.
For now, however, Will's first episode is entertaining and intriguing enough to bring audiences back for more.
