Messiah II: Vengeance Is Mine.

I enjoyed rewatching Messiah so much more than when I watched The Spectacular Spider-Man (plus it got mire hits) I decided to just stick with and finish all the Messiah seasons. Enjoy! (also excuse the shitty images, I know it isn't about the images but I like to give my reviews a nice framing but trying to find stills from this on the net is really hard, especially decent stills - hell have of these images will probably be dead by the time I post this)

It'll be interesting to see how much of the quality of the first season was due to the show itself, or the book it was based on, and if it can continue to be as good when it's an original story.

I'm going to write this under the assumption you listened to me, checked out the first review, then ultimately checked out the show. If you haven't, you may not have a clue what I'm talking about in this review.

Metcalfe is still trying to patch things together with his brother, after he got his brother sent to prison by telling the truth. I mean sure Metcalfe did the right thing, why is that even in question? His brother is a murderer and a rapist and the fact the show tries to make us feel sorry for him is bullshit. Oh well, Eric is murdered anyway. SPOILERS. This is then barely mentioned for the rest of the episode and isn't even solved by the end... cheers for that, show.
Our killing style of this season is non lethal blunt force trauma followed by drugging. What comes next depends on the original murder, starting with bounding and then burying alive, all the way up to an electrocution kill, which was pretty cool. This seasons 'silver spoon' (if you will) is cheese wire in the victims hands eventually leading to clues for the next murder. You remember how in the last season all the different little details ended up all being explained, and fitting, making it this giant puzzle? And it just came together so beautifully? Yeah... well they try to imitate that here...and utterly fail. About half of the things actually do get explained but are cheap and underwhelming, while the show trips over the other half with it coming together so sloppily and randomly it is hard to believe we are even watching the same show as last season and instead some sort of shitty remake. Ninety percent of this is just retreading from the first season, done worse.
The actual plot is really difficult to sum up being that it is so incredibly complicated. It's basically about a vigilante, that exposes crooked investigations and kills the real killer in theatrical, brutal parodies of the original murders, which is a pretty cool but an utterly wasted concept.

Despite being made a year later, it is once again a very static piece, social realistic if you want. The image prompts the police have, are normally about all the image prompts we get as well while they discuss the case. No flashy montages and only the occasion flashbacks or reconstructions towards the end of the second episode.

Please don't get me wrong though, there are some beautiful shots of London and nearly every scene is masterfully staged with writing that gets dramatic and epic enough to not need flashy visuals to hold up its weaker aspects. I mean the stakes really are raised here, putting the families in danger too. Leading to some really fantastic performances.... but it just doesn't feel very...filmic, if a show feels like it could be transferred to the stage without any revisions you have a problem. You aren't making a play, you are making a show.

Messiah has almost become a cliché in itself. The case continues to grow more and more violent and more and more out of control as the thing progresses, Metcalfe gets way too emotionally involved, shouts a lot and goes a little nuts as the case starts to run away from him and innocent people die sort of because of him. Warren is a douche. Homosexuality is at the heart of the story at one point. I mean sure, details have been changed, but this is almost exactly the same plot as the first season.

Oh also the flashback thing is back, although not weird like the whole driving in the rain thing, they keep the subplot of Eric's murder in the program through the use of flashbacks, which is pretty pathetic.

There is also a gay character again! I point this out, because homosexuals aren't the social norm, especially not in media representation, so when you think this was made about ten years ago, and the first even older, for there to be gay characters at all is just a miracle, in themselves however...the only affection the two share are much akin to the love between a father and his son or two brothers, so it is a bit pathetic really.

Oh also Warren is back, with no explanation at what happened to him after he was dropped from the force and wrongly charged for the murders last season. This is never brought up or mentioned and apparently his son and wife have been retconned too, apart from when the plot demands they come back into the show. In many senses it goes against what happened in the first season. Warren is one of the only people Metcalfe can trust? Bullshit! Last case he sold the team out, almost ruined the investigation to make measly money from the press to combat his gambling addiction, it is what got him fired.

Although in many senses, for all of my many complaints, Vengeance is Mine has a much more exciting case. The choice to bring it home, to put the main characters family on the line raises the stakes and tension much higher than it ever was in the original season and that deserves a mention because that is pretty cool. The stuff around the case however... I found myself laughing out loud, many a time throughout this, all for the wrong reasons. Much of the chemistry between the cast is so lacking, the drama pieces are just awkward and you can't help but giggle out of how uncomfortable it all makes you.

Vengeance is Mine is my least favourite kind of sequel, the kind of sequel that isn't really a sequel at all, but one of those sequels that wants to pander to everyone, including lazy fucks who didn't bother watching the original and just jumped in here. I am a loyal viewer, the least you could do is thank me for that by answering all the questions you left open at the end of the last season, you dick.

So do I recommend it? There are some pretty cool ideas lost somewhere in Vengeance Is Mine, the vigilante who exposes crooked cops and murders the real killers in brutal parodies of the original murders and  raising the stakes, choosing a killer that targets the ones the police love is a brilliant idea but everything else just pales in comparison. It isn't as well paced, it isn't as well put together, it isn't as well thought out and it doesn't come together nearly as tidily. It also just lacks that general horror feel the first one had. Hell it isn't even worth watching to continue the characters from the first season, as this is almost a remake of the first episode for the most part, with all the questions raised at the end of the first episode left unanswered.

Think About It!

-Locke