Resident Evil
Year: 2022
Created by: Andrew Dabb
Starring: Sienna Agudong, Ella Balinska, Lance Reddick & Tamara Smart
Episodes: 8 (1 Season)
BBFC: 18
Published: 28/07/22
Created by: Andrew Dabb
Starring: Sienna Agudong, Ella Balinska, Lance Reddick & Tamara Smart
Episodes: 8 (1 Season)
BBFC: 18
Published: 28/07/22
It comes as a surprise to most people that despite being an avid gamer and a fan of all things horror that I’m not big on the Resident Evil franchise. Over the years I’ve tried and failed to play many of the franchise’s earlier entries (1, 2, 4, and 5), with Resident Evil VII: Biohazard being the only one I didn’t hate. In desperate need of something to watch and seeing some extremely negative reactions to the new Netflix show, I thought it might be fun to check out an episode or two to see how bad it was. To my surprise I ended up sticking around for all eight episodes, so what kept me around?
Set across two timelines in 2022 and 2036, Resident Evil follows Jade (Ella Balinska & Tamara Smart), and Billie (Adeline Rudolph & Siena Agudong) Wesker, daughters of Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick). In 2022 the teenage sisters are staring their new lives at New Raccoon City, a commune created by the Umbrella Corporation following the destruction of the original Raccoon City in the 1990’s. Whilst there they begin to uncover Umbrella’s shady business practices and their intention to release a new strain of the deadly T-Virus.
In 2039 an adult Jade is travelling across a destroyed Earth, running from T-Virus infected zombies and researching a cure for the virus. Meanwhile Billie, now head of the Umbrella Corporation hunts relentlessly hunts her sister down.
Set across two timelines in 2022 and 2036, Resident Evil follows Jade (Ella Balinska & Tamara Smart), and Billie (Adeline Rudolph & Siena Agudong) Wesker, daughters of Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick). In 2022 the teenage sisters are staring their new lives at New Raccoon City, a commune created by the Umbrella Corporation following the destruction of the original Raccoon City in the 1990’s. Whilst there they begin to uncover Umbrella’s shady business practices and their intention to release a new strain of the deadly T-Virus.
In 2039 an adult Jade is travelling across a destroyed Earth, running from T-Virus infected zombies and researching a cure for the virus. Meanwhile Billie, now head of the Umbrella Corporation hunts relentlessly hunts her sister down.
I’m honestly shocked that I managed to make it through the entire season without walking away, because Resident Evil is bad and there’s no beating around the bush there. But what made me stick around was the 2022 storyline. I can’t really put my finger on why I found it so compelling to come back to, because when I think about it, it’s not very good. But I guess I wanted to find out how the world ended up the way it did in 2039. Meanwhile the 2039 storyline was just straight up garbage. There was nothing about it that I found interesting, or hadn’t seen done better before in countless other zombie media.
Perhaps what made the 2022 storyline more enjoyable were the good performances from Smart & Reddick. Whilst the dialogue definitely leaves a lot to be desired, Reddick has an undeniable presence about him and he brings a great deal of mystery and charisma to the role of Albert in a way that’s very different from his portrayal in other Resident Evil media. Smart meanwhile manages to cut through the bullshit of the teen angst storyline her and her sister have with a performance that’s memorable and engaging.
As evident by the shows slick, minimalistic looking promotional material, Netflix’s Resident Evil goes for a very different kind of aesthetic than has been used in Resident Evil before. It feels modern, but it also feels sterile. Stripping back the Resident Evil aesthetic in favour of this sleeker look strips the brand identity so much that it’s easy to forget that you’re watching a Resident Evil show. Sure, it throws in fan favourite characters and creatures like Albert Wesker and the Licker, but aside from those nods to the games it feels hollow.
I did find it somewhat confusing to work out how much of the games it was trying to follow on from, because they mention the original Albert Wesker’s death via volcano in Resident Evil 5 (Boulder Punching Simulator 2008), but seem to gloss over the fact that Umbrella had any other viral outbreaks other than the Raccoon City incident from Resident Evil’s 1-3. Maybe I’m missing something because I’m not exactly invested or well versed in the lore of this franchise, but it just seems inconsistent with its call-backs.
I should never have bothered with Resident Evil. Whilst I could have stopped after the first episode where I had my fun, I decided to keep going and punish myself for no apparent reason. Don’t waste your time with this show. If you’re a fan of the franchise then just replay the game or watch the movies, if you’re not an existing fan but want to get into the franchise then similarly try the other existing media, and if you just want some zombies then go basically anywhere else. Resident Evil may have glimmers of hope scattered throughout, but overall its just such a tedious mess of bad dialogue, inconsistent pacing, and a generally boring plot that it’s really not worth anyone’s time.
Perhaps what made the 2022 storyline more enjoyable were the good performances from Smart & Reddick. Whilst the dialogue definitely leaves a lot to be desired, Reddick has an undeniable presence about him and he brings a great deal of mystery and charisma to the role of Albert in a way that’s very different from his portrayal in other Resident Evil media. Smart meanwhile manages to cut through the bullshit of the teen angst storyline her and her sister have with a performance that’s memorable and engaging.
As evident by the shows slick, minimalistic looking promotional material, Netflix’s Resident Evil goes for a very different kind of aesthetic than has been used in Resident Evil before. It feels modern, but it also feels sterile. Stripping back the Resident Evil aesthetic in favour of this sleeker look strips the brand identity so much that it’s easy to forget that you’re watching a Resident Evil show. Sure, it throws in fan favourite characters and creatures like Albert Wesker and the Licker, but aside from those nods to the games it feels hollow.
I did find it somewhat confusing to work out how much of the games it was trying to follow on from, because they mention the original Albert Wesker’s death via volcano in Resident Evil 5 (Boulder Punching Simulator 2008), but seem to gloss over the fact that Umbrella had any other viral outbreaks other than the Raccoon City incident from Resident Evil’s 1-3. Maybe I’m missing something because I’m not exactly invested or well versed in the lore of this franchise, but it just seems inconsistent with its call-backs.
I should never have bothered with Resident Evil. Whilst I could have stopped after the first episode where I had my fun, I decided to keep going and punish myself for no apparent reason. Don’t waste your time with this show. If you’re a fan of the franchise then just replay the game or watch the movies, if you’re not an existing fan but want to get into the franchise then similarly try the other existing media, and if you just want some zombies then go basically anywhere else. Resident Evil may have glimmers of hope scattered throughout, but overall its just such a tedious mess of bad dialogue, inconsistent pacing, and a generally boring plot that it’s really not worth anyone’s time.