This week, I finally caught up on REX, a webseries based on the story of King Aurthur. And I have some thoughts.
1. What's with the title? REX? Am I missing something? Most lit-adaption shows have titles that are a play on the title of the work, or include the name of a main character, or something that indicates what story it's from. The Lizzie Bennett Diaries was Pride and Prejudice, with the main character Elizabeth Bennett. The Autobiography of Jane Eyre was Jane Eyre. From Mansfield With Love was Mansfield Park. This breaks the code. To me, REX is short for Oedipus Rex. I keep forgetting that no one is about to kill their father and marry their mother.
2. I'm not feeling drawn in. The thing about webseries is that the best ones feel authentic, like these are real people who genuinely have a reason to turn on a camera and talk to it. This does not have that feeling. It feels inauthentic. Aurthur, for one, seems completely uninterested in the camera he turns towards himself. As for Lance and Merlin-- I know they're supposed to be brothers, but their chemistry feels like lovers. That is not brotherly teasing, that is flat out flirting.
3. I feel like the company behind Rex doesn't quite understand the appeal of the platform. I avoided watching their first show, In Earnest, because it seemed somehow wrong. One of the thing I love about this platform is it gives voice to the voiceless. I love how people who are underrepresented in Hollywood can be main characters here. Women, people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, disabled people, etc., can take center stage and we will eat it up. Severe Chill Studios has yet to make a show that doesn't surround a presumably straight white cis male. This is too reminiscent of popular media for me. I came here to hear different voices.
Despite all this, I will probably begrudgingly keep watching. Give it a look and tell me what you think. Am I spot on? Am I being overly critical? Drop a comment.
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