246 reviews
- germangior-1
- Dec 4, 2019
- Permalink
A fair few reviews on here, so I'll try not to cover the same ground.
I came to this show for the superpowers but they take a back seat for much of the series in favour of drama, intrigue and teen-life. Without the sci-fi element I may not have watched and that would have been my loss. The acting (including the main actress who comes in for some flack in some other reviews) is on point throughout, neither over nor under played. Film-making is well-done - again avoiding extremes and simply serving the story really well. Pacing is spot on.
Major issues (that affect people in real life) are handled intelligently, honestly and without hyperbole. Both male and female characters are three dimensional enough to be believable and engaging. Few characters are black and white, almost all have shades of grey.
So far (I'm up to episode 7) this has been a refreshing addition in a rather quiet time of the year. If you want a bit more grit with your super-hero tales, are happy to see female lead characters who are actually human and have an appreciation for well crafted TV then this will either provide a pleasant diversion or you'll find a show that nudges you towards bingeing.
More like this please, makers of TV shows!!!
I came to this show for the superpowers but they take a back seat for much of the series in favour of drama, intrigue and teen-life. Without the sci-fi element I may not have watched and that would have been my loss. The acting (including the main actress who comes in for some flack in some other reviews) is on point throughout, neither over nor under played. Film-making is well-done - again avoiding extremes and simply serving the story really well. Pacing is spot on.
Major issues (that affect people in real life) are handled intelligently, honestly and without hyperbole. Both male and female characters are three dimensional enough to be believable and engaging. Few characters are black and white, almost all have shades of grey.
So far (I'm up to episode 7) this has been a refreshing addition in a rather quiet time of the year. If you want a bit more grit with your super-hero tales, are happy to see female lead characters who are actually human and have an appreciation for well crafted TV then this will either provide a pleasant diversion or you'll find a show that nudges you towards bingeing.
More like this please, makers of TV shows!!!
- al-mcdowall
- Jun 13, 2018
- Permalink
When I first saw the trailer for this, I thought it would have the same teenager-y tone as Riverdale or Pretty Little Liars. I was happy to be proven wrong. This show doesn't hold back. It is soaked in the same tone as shows like Orphan Black, Ozark, and Jessica Jones. Several reviewers commented on the lead being an annoying teenager; I didn't have this issue. She carried the same rebellion as the lead in Orphan Black. Her personality is edgy but refreshing. She isn't a princess. She isn't a superhero. Another reviewer mentioned Impulse couldn't decide between 'teenage drama' or 'superhero story.' I didn't see it as either. The show made a clear, obvious point to mention that she wasn't a budding superhero. The binary sentiment of hero versus villain is nowhere to be found. The show sits in a beautiful gray area that feels human and natural. I'm eagerly awaiting a second season. Binge-worthy to say the least.
- Jeg_er_Bertie
- Jun 13, 2018
- Permalink
This series has everything, good plot, acting, writing and cinematography. It is definitely worth binge watching. I can't wait for season 2. I won't give away any spoilers. Don't listen to the negative reviews, be your own judge and give this series a shot.
- mtjohnson-61001
- Jun 8, 2018
- Permalink
This is a great show about a benevolent organization trying to harness a power that could help save the world by studying an evil teenager that seems determined to destroy everyone that loves her because... well... her life sucks more than theirs. At least that seems to be what the show-runners are going for.
- gunnervsop
- Jan 22, 2020
- Permalink
I was expecting something on the order of the other Marvel "kids with powers" shows, and i was happily surprised to find it had nothing in common with any of them. (except perhaps Cloak and Dagger which may prove to have similar tones) this is a very serious show about very serious interactions between teens, mothers and daughters, and fathers and sons. Henry is just about the most unlovable lead you might have ever encountered, but she has a perfect right to be the way she is. i think most of the bad reviews are by men, because of course they wouldn't understand (or don't want to deal with) what a young teen-aged girl has to endure. this is an important, impactful story about growing up awkward, un-centered, and unfortunately power-endowed, in a stark, winter-bound farming community. it's a dark tale, and all the better because of it. i saw no connection with the movie Jumper, except for the teleportation, and there didn't need to be. this is a standalone story that was dying to be told. And, on top of that gold, there's a whole other sub-story about teleportation that they barely touched upon in these 10 eps. i can't wait to see more about that in the second season.
When i read a quick synopsis about a 16 yr old girl who discovers she can teleport, i almost passed completely,i was expecting complete teen cheese but it isn't. It's a pretty decent adult thriller that i'm enjoying and as long as it doesn't deteriorate seen far worse shows,i'm 3 episodes in.Maybe i'm enjoying it because i wasn't expecting much but i don't understand some of the low ratings and tell anyone to give it a chance.
Ignore the neanderthals who slam this show because it's not the typical Marvel super hero punch up. From first rate acting, writing, cinematography and directing, this series based on the film "Jumper," deepens and expands that premise by humanizing it in the form a troubled teen coming to terms with her power and how it affects her and her family. it's a dead bang winner.
- mzand-751-539572
- Jun 9, 2018
- Permalink
This is sort of a scifi in that the scifi part is only about 10% of the show and the rest is about this angry little girl that screams and fights with her mother, friends, and the cops the whole time, useless drama in my opinion. The characters should have been well developed by the end of S01 and lets get on with it already. Basically this is about the main character Henry who has a special ability she cant come to terms with.....anyone normal would embrace it and learn to control it and use it either for good or bad....but not Henry. Her personality is basically that of an angry little school girl that grates on your nerves from the beginning....a serious personality defect....for whatever reason. There are some other, sort of, intertwining sub and parallel plots going on too, some add to the show, some don't. Overall it's fair but I think it could have been better and worse. So only a 7 but could really go in either direction if she doesn't wise up. Maybe high schoolers will like this....
- wallaceburgmartialarts
- Jun 13, 2018
- Permalink
The season 2 episodes are showing the lead character as main evil around the people. Henry is completely negative but showing to people around as sweet young is make to hate the series.
The character in this series are acted ok but strength of season 1 went down.
- vpashokkumar
- Dec 7, 2019
- Permalink
I'm all for a teenage drama with teleportation powers.
However, season 1 is 10 episodes of very little. The main plot involves a girl called Henri who is an unlikable protagonist She is almost raped by an unlikable jock (who is more likeable than the lead) and slowly becomes friends with her unlikeable step sister. The only character who I liked was Henri's friend with Aspergers, Townes.
In the end, we see a bunch of interactions. Very little movement forward in terms of story and the season finishing with a rather dull thud of nothingness with only a cliffhanger which only mildly wants you to see the next episode.
There's a subplot which has something to do with a bloke trying to track down and kill other jumpers which is how the show kicks off, but then goes nowhere.
Ultimately, season 1 could have been 2-3 episodes at most, stretched out to 10 episodes of boring teenage angst with an unlikeable, selfish and overall awful protagonist.
However, season 1 is 10 episodes of very little. The main plot involves a girl called Henri who is an unlikable protagonist She is almost raped by an unlikable jock (who is more likeable than the lead) and slowly becomes friends with her unlikeable step sister. The only character who I liked was Henri's friend with Aspergers, Townes.
In the end, we see a bunch of interactions. Very little movement forward in terms of story and the season finishing with a rather dull thud of nothingness with only a cliffhanger which only mildly wants you to see the next episode.
There's a subplot which has something to do with a bloke trying to track down and kill other jumpers which is how the show kicks off, but then goes nowhere.
Ultimately, season 1 could have been 2-3 episodes at most, stretched out to 10 episodes of boring teenage angst with an unlikeable, selfish and overall awful protagonist.
- Name-Namerson
- Jun 30, 2018
- Permalink
I was hooked after the first three episodes and Literally binged watched the entire 10 episodes in one day.... I like the narrative.... it focuses on yes this teenager is discovering a superpower but it also makes her a normal teenage girl.... the main character however is not very likeable... she is moody and just down right mean... and I think they need to make her more likeable... you feel bad for her circumstances but you are not rooting for her... I think they tried to make it not another superhero movie... and they played it well because the season left so many unanswered questions that if you become truly invested in the series you will be on the look out for season 2.... around episode 6 or 7 I started to lose a little interest where I would be on my phone while it was playing on the background on my laptop... but it picked up by episode 9 and 10... I would say give it a shot... if after the first 3 episodes your not interested don't think you will gain interest as the series progresses... the first 3 episodes truly are defining.
- sweetkandicampbell
- Jun 8, 2018
- Permalink
While the market is currently saturated with scifi and superpowered humans not all of those shows are made well. Impulse is made better than most of the other shows it competes with despite it likely being aimed at catching high school aged female eyes. The acting and effects are good. Characters are good. I thought this was a ripoff of Jumper but it's based on the same novel as that movie.
As a big fan of the genre, I'm pretty harsh towards a few Netflix series fight scenes that are abysmal and the entire inhumane Inhuman fiasco. None of that train wreckage to be found in Impulse. Production quality exceeds CW offerings, as well as The Gifted and AOS. It has the feel of a serious drama not a feel good teen show. No plugging in of the same shots of a location like you could catch the first season of Bosch on Amazon. If not for the music tracks at certain points I'd question the targeted demographics. Plenty of strong and intelligent female characters.
As a big fan of the genre, I'm pretty harsh towards a few Netflix series fight scenes that are abysmal and the entire inhumane Inhuman fiasco. None of that train wreckage to be found in Impulse. Production quality exceeds CW offerings, as well as The Gifted and AOS. It has the feel of a serious drama not a feel good teen show. No plugging in of the same shots of a location like you could catch the first season of Bosch on Amazon. If not for the music tracks at certain points I'd question the targeted demographics. Plenty of strong and intelligent female characters.
Is anyone else totally disappointed with season 2? It's slow and difficult to follow. Maybe that's because I'm bored and easily distracted. I loved season 1. Not sure if I can continue with this show.
- jpemail-59233
- Nov 12, 2019
- Permalink
One needs to keep an open mind to appreciate the various plots involved. If you're expecting a super hero series you will be disappointed and although a viewer will have many unanswered questions the concept remains interesting
Season 1 is different from sci fi, but overall watchable. But season 2 is boring and should be rated 1.
Season 2 writing is bad, editing is slow and makes everything boring. A cliff hanger ending adds to the banality of it all. Skip season 2, unless you are a masochist?
Season 2 writing is bad, editing is slow and makes everything boring. A cliff hanger ending adds to the banality of it all. Skip season 2, unless you are a masochist?
This show fooled me in thinking it might be a sci-fi mystery drama using the Jumper idea, but it ended up being a confusing mess. The "sci-fi teen has superpowers" elements made no sense whatsoever. It just felt like the developers couldn't decide on weather to make it a superhero story or rather a teenage drama with high school issues. The main character was so bad written that you end up hating or at least disliking her completely. I just watched it to see if things got better cause it made me feel bad for wasting the time, but it just got worse by the end of it.
- mtjohnson-18549
- Oct 19, 2019
- Permalink
- MoviesorSleep
- Jun 8, 2018
- Permalink
If a show is meant to throw us a bunch of confused scenes in every episode depicting aspects of messed-up lives of main characters and some of the cast, then the series succeeds without question.
On the other hand, if we expect to see a SciFi series with proper development of the characters and smooth continuity of the screenplay and plots, then, aside some nicely done episodes, it almost fails miserably.
There was too much melodrama for such a show and too much accentuation on what happened to Henry that made her so out of control, messed-up and weepy, that it borders disbelief. If the goal was raising the subject of S. violence, then it could have been easily and more successfuly made into a (teen) fresh drama series with more thorough story-telling, like for example the first season of "13 reasons why".
The happenings to Jenna were also a little too much, but better developed and had a genuine feel to it. The best character development and acting IMO can be awarded to Townes (Daniel Maslany) who played his character awesomly well and was one of the shining points of the series. After that we have Nikolai (Callum Keith Rennie) who also played his character well and acted believably.
Pretty much everything else was there as fillers, which made the show's story shaky and somewhat weak. Too much unanswered questions and plot holes that ruined viewers' expectations. e.g. like what happened to Deputy Anna Hulce...
On the plus side, the visual and special effects were very well-done and one of the main reasons to the series' (good) rating overall.
Good or bad, quick or slow, the show was gaining momentum at the end of season 2 and after two seasons of developments, we had finally reached a turning point to the series' story, when its third season was unexpectedly cancelled for unknown or illogical reasons, ruining the whole efforts that was put into it and leaving almost everybody (cast and viewers) hanging in thin air.
It is a mistake to plan, create and develop series with usually big budgets and logistics, only to have them cancelled after 1 to 2 seasons. It only shows poor thinking, planning and a huge waste of resources.
There was too much melodrama for such a show and too much accentuation on what happened to Henry that made her so out of control, messed-up and weepy, that it borders disbelief. If the goal was raising the subject of S. violence, then it could have been easily and more successfuly made into a (teen) fresh drama series with more thorough story-telling, like for example the first season of "13 reasons why".
The happenings to Jenna were also a little too much, but better developed and had a genuine feel to it. The best character development and acting IMO can be awarded to Townes (Daniel Maslany) who played his character awesomly well and was one of the shining points of the series. After that we have Nikolai (Callum Keith Rennie) who also played his character well and acted believably.
Pretty much everything else was there as fillers, which made the show's story shaky and somewhat weak. Too much unanswered questions and plot holes that ruined viewers' expectations. e.g. like what happened to Deputy Anna Hulce...
On the plus side, the visual and special effects were very well-done and one of the main reasons to the series' (good) rating overall.
Good or bad, quick or slow, the show was gaining momentum at the end of season 2 and after two seasons of developments, we had finally reached a turning point to the series' story, when its third season was unexpectedly cancelled for unknown or illogical reasons, ruining the whole efforts that was put into it and leaving almost everybody (cast and viewers) hanging in thin air.
It is a mistake to plan, create and develop series with usually big budgets and logistics, only to have them cancelled after 1 to 2 seasons. It only shows poor thinking, planning and a huge waste of resources.
This was based on the same books as the film Jumper, but that's about all the similarity. The initial episode was interesting and set up what was sure to be a good series... And then it went downhill. I kept watching until the end hoping it would course correct; it didn't. In Jumper you had a male lead who started experiencing his "superpower" and then went on to take charge of his life (through sometimes less than legal means). Here you have a female lead who spends the entire first season in woe-as-me self pity (often behaving less than legally as well, though not in a fun way).
Until the last episode... Which should have been the second or third episode. If you only watched the first episode and the last episode, you'd be anxiously awaiting the next episode. As it is, it leaves a sort of sick taste in your mouth that they took such a good premise and managed to screw it up to the point where, as another viewer noted, it feels like a cheesy (ten hour long) after-school special. I'd recommend giving it a pass or, especially if a second season comes out, watching only the first and last episode - you won't miss much.
Final note: Having grown up with Buffy and equality feminism, this offended me. The lead is "supposed" to be strong and independent (they keep telling us), but is entirely devoid of inner strength and independence. It's almost like they purposely tried to create a feminist character using the worst stereotypes about women. The main character cannot admit when she's weak - and she's almost always weak. She cannot ask for help, but refuses to help herself. She cannot tell the truth, yet feels people can't be trusted. In other words, she written as the stereotypical neurotic female. And, no matter how many trigger warnings and PSAs for sexual assault they include in each episode, that portrayal hurts women.
Until the last episode... Which should have been the second or third episode. If you only watched the first episode and the last episode, you'd be anxiously awaiting the next episode. As it is, it leaves a sort of sick taste in your mouth that they took such a good premise and managed to screw it up to the point where, as another viewer noted, it feels like a cheesy (ten hour long) after-school special. I'd recommend giving it a pass or, especially if a second season comes out, watching only the first and last episode - you won't miss much.
Final note: Having grown up with Buffy and equality feminism, this offended me. The lead is "supposed" to be strong and independent (they keep telling us), but is entirely devoid of inner strength and independence. It's almost like they purposely tried to create a feminist character using the worst stereotypes about women. The main character cannot admit when she's weak - and she's almost always weak. She cannot ask for help, but refuses to help herself. She cannot tell the truth, yet feels people can't be trusted. In other words, she written as the stereotypical neurotic female. And, no matter how many trigger warnings and PSAs for sexual assault they include in each episode, that portrayal hurts women.