The Fades (2011)
Seventeen-year old Paul can see the spirits of the dead. When one of these restless spirits crosses back into the living world, he is forced into a fight to prevent the apocalypse.
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Too much of everything
Fantastic!
disgusting, overrated, pointless
Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Like everything it's been compared to it's almost perfect. The theme is kind of like Buffy TVS, though the actors make it feel more grown up and immersive like Walking Dead/FTWD. Iain plays his part with a complexity you don't expect from the reluctantly-destined-to-fight-evil lead. Paul's best friend Mac gently broke my heart every moment; funny for sure but way more than comic relief. I haven't watched the ending yet but I'm sure it lives up to the reviews. I never feel taken out of the story even though the lore is a bit...vague.
The British keep coming up with really interesting ideas for shows. In The Fades , Paul sees dead things but there is. a twist. The dead he sees are the souls of people who were not able to pass on and are not happy about it; and it appears some of those left behind are morphing into something quite different. There is a group - the Angelicans- dedicated to stopping these new creatures and Paul may be instrumental in stopping them or might just be something else. In the meantime Paul has to figure out what his visions are really about; deal with an over protective mother; and a sister who is a real piece of work. Worth watching and let's hope there isn't an America version in the works. All a transfer would do is add good looking kids and a PG script. Watch this in the original.
Well I have to say I loved it...and for the exact reason that there is more of a story to be told instead of holes in a story being filled up and/or hidden behind millions of dollars of CGI and other SPECIAL effects. While yes I will agree that perhaps the first episode was a bit slow at first but then I have found that to be true with some really good books as well as movies. For me..there were just enough effects to make this series special and I hope they keep it going by doing a second season. I'm an American living in the Netherlands and I watch a lot of British T.V. as well as Dutch and in the last few years having the opportunity to watch more movies and shows made in the U.K. I think many of what comes out of the U.K. is fresh and down to earth...no matter what the genre. The American market proves it yearly with all the programs that they copy for British television and import it to America and make it nothing like the original.
Following on from the launch of Being Human a couple of years back, BBC 3 have struck gold again with The Fades. Teenager Paul (Iain De Caestecker) disturbed by apocalyptic dreams for years stumbles across their possible cause whilst trespassing with his best friend and film referencing geek Mac (Daniel Kaluuya).Paul like so many characters from great TV shows is not your average teenager, he is special and can see the Fades - the ghosts of people who didn't move on. Now he must help to stop the future he sees in his dreams from coming true.The show packs a lot of lore and mythology into its first episode and it will be interesting to see how it all comes together.