First Thoughts On 'The Shannara Chronicles' (Episodes 4-8)

I've been putting this off for a little while, and I think it's ultimately because The Shannara Chronicles brings nothing to the fantasy genre that's not been done before and is a very disappointing adaptation. Although, from what I've heard about the books, they're not much better anyway.

Now, none of my problems can be excused with "it's just a TV show", as I understand that the story has to be spread over a certain number of episodes, actors have certain contracts and the budget has to be equally spread out, etc. Does this mean that we require a stupid love triangle, obvious character arcs and dull sub-plots though? Case and point: Daredevil season 1 is spread over 13, hour long episodes with hardly any money to spend and minimal effects work. So, how do they fill up this time? Well, they work on building interesting and empathetic characters with motivations, personality and who actually add something greater to the story. Sure, the plot fades in and out of Daredevil, but the characters never do. The Shannara Chronicles' solution is to just ask its audience as to who they "ship" more until they solve the romance properly - which eventually they'll have to.

Now, first mistake - they sidelined Manu Bennett. Seriously, you sidelined the most interesting and entertaining character in the entire show because he wasn't in a vision. Urm...neither were the Captain and the Knights who were sent off instead, so....why?

Second mistake - they killed off Gimli. Come on guys, he's Gimili! Why'd you kill him off?

Third mistake - why should we care about a murderer/robber/rapist being killed in the show? I mean, he's a horrible guy and doesn't do anything to redeem himself other than die. He was going to rape the main character one minute and the next...he's a misunderstood guy? Like, seriously?!

Fourth mistake - love triangles. They do not work. End of.

So, over the course of five episodes, two main characters have been killed off, along with a couple of supporting characters, and the characters are pretty much no closer to destroying the big evil menace which seems to have forgotten to release more demons in this time. Amberle and Eretria are slightly chummier now and the Elves have a new king. Four episodes and virtually nothing has happened. Oh, and we found out what happened to Amberle's father, and there's another love triangle. Great!

It probably sounds like I hate this show, but how can it completely misunderstand it's best aspects and instead opt to appeal to a much smaller "shipping" audience. This could have been a new TV fantasy epic - a slightly less adult Game of Thrones or a serialized Lord of the Rings, but instead it wants to be more like CW's The Tomorrow People. And that show made the exact same mistake, and paid the price for it. It lost interest. No one cared about shoddy romances. A similar thing is happening to Arrow - a once great show now losing viewing figures because the writers want to "ship" "Olicity". Don't make the same mistake, The Shannara Chronicles. You have some good talent behind this - don't waste them.