As the June of 2021 ends, and with the onset of July, I believe it’s time we address a serious issue. The issue in focus here is the trend of ruining some people’s childhood through the development of live-action adaptations of some prized memoirs of our wonder years. I mean not necessarily my wonder years, since no distributor bothered to grace the Indian subcontinent with these gems (not that I know of), but you get an idea when you spend that much time on internet. Now we’re all aware of the progression of Riverdale into a weird and dark territory that probably does not coincide with sunshine and rainbows of any comic books made for kids or preteens. And just making clear, I really don’t have an idea of the contents of Archie Comics but it definitely couldn’t have been like that for god’s sake.
Following a similar approach, 2021 introduced us to ‘Fate: the Winx Saga’ which is based on the Nickelodeon animated series that goes by the name of ‘Winx Club’ that was developed by Iginio Straffi. The first season was released on Netflix on 22nd January’ 2021 and was renewed for a second season in Feb. It definitely couldn’t work its magic on critics with a score of 37% rotten tomatoes and overall, it has received mixed reviews from the audience which includes the people who had seen the original animated show and also people like me who went in headfirst with no expectations and demands but only a hope that ‘it would be worth our time and internet’ but guess what, it wasn’t. So, this whole review doesn’t sport any comparison with its animated origin; instead, this is just a heart-to-heart rant about how much the show… well, sucked. With only 6 episodes in the season, I thought I could gloss over all the cringe and put it past me as some another weird teenage thing, but when exactly is life easy? I mean, I’m sure you’ve experienced that unyielding and uncomfortable feeling when something gets stuck in your teeth for a while, this show was just like that.
The story begins with Bloom (who names their child that lol) who is played by Abigail Cowen, who has recently discovered the presence of her powers that make her a fire fairy and there’s this whole deal of fairies being a part of otherworld, that is separate from human world of which, Bloom isn’t originally a part of so it is assumed that there might have been some long-lost fairy ancestor in her bloodline and that makes Bloom a rare case. To establish some semblance of control over her power, she enrolls in a magical boarding school, ‘Alfea’. And as we learn more about Alfea and the otherworld it comes to our notice that their existence is threatened by the presence of unworldly creatures known as ‘The Burnes Ones’; now these monsters, that were known to be dead for nearly 20 years, have now resurfaced *ominous voice* and now the threat that fairies face, looms larger than ever *snort*.
This show here, is the epitome of every cliché you can think of in this context: Bloom is a fire fairy who dons her red hair and red leather jacket (making things crystal clear) and she also fits your ‘not like your other girls’ category with her shady back story, broodiness, snarky remarks, trust issues and all the good stuff. Coming to Alfea, she shares a suite with 4 other fairies: Aisha (Precious Mustapha), a water fairy with blue highlights in her hair, Terra (Eliot Salt), an earth fairy that loves to keep plants in her space, Musa (a mind fairy), who wears headphones al the time and Stella (Hanna van der Westhuysen), a light fairy who’s dazzling with her generic bitch demeanour. And as it is evident, the originality of this whole thing is baffling. And how dare I stop at that? We also come across Sky, (Danny Griffin) a mildly good-looking guy with literally no concept of free will and some daddy issues a.k.a. love interest. And you won’t believe me but this bothers me the most, who in the hell’s name names their son SKY?!
Apart from this, the show charms the audience with a mediocre plot, weird character arcs and a hasty ending where a lot things happened out of the blue. And as an afterthought, the final fight was somewhat anticlimactic but who cares really. I would recommend this show to the people who are looking forward to watching something that they can make fun of. And to everyone and anyone who found this plot description enticing in any way, treat yo’self. I have nothing against you and the kind of things you enjoy watching because this is a ‘safe space’.
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