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Hex, a new TV show with supernatural themes. Sounds like the stuff I like. I missed the premiere so I went to find the episode online.
I was surprised to find that the thing is already through season two on the BBC. As such, I ended up watching all of BBC season one. It's a short season, only five episodes. Season two ends the episode count at 18; I'm not sure if it survives after that.
No real spoilers follow, though it will probably make more sense if you saw the pilot.
I saw some Buffy resonance as it went along. Indeed, the BBC actually labeled it British Buffy. I was never a huge Buffy fan; it's ok, I just never built an altar to Joss or anything. I'm still on the fence about Hex, but with a leaning toward worth watching.
I love the roommate, Thelma. Thelma and Azazeal seem to be the real leading characters, with Cassie just kind of taking the ride.
It seems honest in just how sexually charged it wants to be. I'm curious how much of the BBC version I saw made it to the US. There is a very infrequent invocation of the forbidden words, shit and fuck. There's male and female shower scenes in the pilot. Nothing overmuch, but Cassie flashes the camera in a you-can't-see-that-on-regular-TV kind of way.
And bad, bad mythology. I don't mind when they make stuff up. I don't mind if they make stuff up and then say that the evil demon was known to the Babylonians as X and the Semites as Y. However, if you're going to invoke an existent mythos you should bloody well get it right.
The magic in Hex comes from a manor lady playing with the slave's Voudoun and ultimately being labeled a witch. Our heroin is somehow linked to that. Fair enough, but where the hell do you get a Jewish demon from that? Azazeal (Azazel, Azazyel, Azazil, etc.) is part of a group of the fallen angles, but fallen angles are not Nephilim as the show claims, nor is he their leader. Azazeal's group were called Grigori ( lead by Samyaza ).
Grigori are interesting because they left heaven to have sex with women. Their offspring are the nephilim. Of note here, seraphim and their ilk are traditionally held to be sexless, having been created before sex. Given this, it would appear that if a divine being chooses to leave the kingdom of heaven they get a penis as a parting gift.
While not all angles are named, they apparently did participate in a census at some point. Every grouping has a number, or more than one number, associated with it. Grigori are said to total 200. Hex mentions as some point that Azazeal has 200 "Nephilim" he'd like to get together with.
Azazel's an old name and has a lot of different tales associated with him. Hex says "he taught women witchcraft." Well, Satan is usually named for that and Azazel is often taken as a synonym for Satan. Interestingly, Azazel is credited with teaching women how to make and wear make up, as well as teaching men to make weapons of war. Seems like he's really just trying to be friendly. Of course, God didn't like him much and sent the flood of Noah's fame to wash away the mess he'd made.
Sorry, got sidetracked. I guess the point is, there's so much good material if you're going to use traditional demons, why not use it? If you're going to use Voudoun, a tradition of sacrifice and possession, leave the middle eastern stuff alone. Just once I'd like to see a story line work within the metaphysical parameters they're pretending to follow. Ok, still sidetracked, done now.
Anyway, I enjoyed Hex enough that I'm grabbing the second season. So there you are.
I was surprised to find that the thing is already through season two on the BBC. As such, I ended up watching all of BBC season one. It's a short season, only five episodes. Season two ends the episode count at 18; I'm not sure if it survives after that.
No real spoilers follow, though it will probably make more sense if you saw the pilot.
I saw some Buffy resonance as it went along. Indeed, the BBC actually labeled it British Buffy. I was never a huge Buffy fan; it's ok, I just never built an altar to Joss or anything. I'm still on the fence about Hex, but with a leaning toward worth watching.
I love the roommate, Thelma. Thelma and Azazeal seem to be the real leading characters, with Cassie just kind of taking the ride.
It seems honest in just how sexually charged it wants to be. I'm curious how much of the BBC version I saw made it to the US. There is a very infrequent invocation of the forbidden words, shit and fuck. There's male and female shower scenes in the pilot. Nothing overmuch, but Cassie flashes the camera in a you-can't-see-that-on-regular-TV kind of way.
And bad, bad mythology. I don't mind when they make stuff up. I don't mind if they make stuff up and then say that the evil demon was known to the Babylonians as X and the Semites as Y. However, if you're going to invoke an existent mythos you should bloody well get it right.
The magic in Hex comes from a manor lady playing with the slave's Voudoun and ultimately being labeled a witch. Our heroin is somehow linked to that. Fair enough, but where the hell do you get a Jewish demon from that? Azazeal (Azazel, Azazyel, Azazil, etc.) is part of a group of the fallen angles, but fallen angles are not Nephilim as the show claims, nor is he their leader. Azazeal's group were called Grigori ( lead by Samyaza ).
Grigori are interesting because they left heaven to have sex with women. Their offspring are the nephilim. Of note here, seraphim and their ilk are traditionally held to be sexless, having been created before sex. Given this, it would appear that if a divine being chooses to leave the kingdom of heaven they get a penis as a parting gift.
While not all angles are named, they apparently did participate in a census at some point. Every grouping has a number, or more than one number, associated with it. Grigori are said to total 200. Hex mentions as some point that Azazeal has 200 "Nephilim" he'd like to get together with.
Azazel's an old name and has a lot of different tales associated with him. Hex says "he taught women witchcraft." Well, Satan is usually named for that and Azazel is often taken as a synonym for Satan. Interestingly, Azazel is credited with teaching women how to make and wear make up, as well as teaching men to make weapons of war. Seems like he's really just trying to be friendly. Of course, God didn't like him much and sent the flood of Noah's fame to wash away the mess he'd made.
Sorry, got sidetracked. I guess the point is, there's so much good material if you're going to use traditional demons, why not use it? If you're going to use Voudoun, a tradition of sacrifice and possession, leave the middle eastern stuff alone. Just once I'd like to see a story line work within the metaphysical parameters they're pretending to follow. Ok, still sidetracked, done now.
Anyway, I enjoyed Hex enough that I'm grabbing the second season. So there you are.