The old laboratory is intriguing enough to hold attention in the early stages of episode 3.
However, the constant restating of the questions facing the main character are tiresome: ‘Why am I this way?!’ ‘I need to find my family, my real family!’ Clichés are unavoidable with such a well-trodden subject matter but they’re popping up a little too often to be homage. Like Jekyll’s aged assistant constantly recommending that Jekyll ‘walk away’.
Tom Bateman is acting the hell out of the role but it’s not a particularly interesting character so far. It all makes you want to cringe; overly earnest and not self-aware enough for an appropriated tale.
It’s certainly diverse: supernatural elements, action scenes, stiff romances, secret service plots and intrigue. But none of it feels fresh; you can see the twists and turns of the plot coming a mile away. So much so that they’re less ‘twists’ than lazy rolls and not so much ‘turns’ as stumbles in a familiar direction.
The original Jekyll and Hyde is clearly solid material and worthy of an adaptation, I just don’t think it should have been this one.
