Review of The Fades Episode 6

SPOILERS: Do not read this if you have not seen episode 6, series 1 of ‘The Fades’

Never was the term “slow-burn” more appropriate than here. ‘The Fades’ has been progressing episode by episode, building up towards a grand finale which is certainly what viewers got.

This week felt like an action film with a shoot off in the mayor’s office and a tense, protracted confrontation between John and Paul. Added to all of this, there were some fantastic special effects that enhanced the filmic quality, particularly when Paul reopened ascencion and freed the Fades.

Despite being the best episode of the series, the show’s major shortcoming was still present. Throughout ‘The Fades’ there has been far too much that has been skated over and not developed properly. This week it was Sarah and Mark’s relationship which had the potential to be quite poignant but ended up vaguely exploring the idea of love from beyond the grave. Overall, the subplot involving Mark seemed absolutely pointless and did not serve the story at all. Even the parts where Mark was falsely suspected of murder felt redundant. Possibly there was more to Mark’s character (which may well have ended up on the cutting room floor) but it all came across as filler and something to provide a break from the main plot.

Saying this, the series has improved and the writing has got stronger. There has been some great geeky dialogue and references to the science fiction, fantasy and comic book genres that sets the show apart from others. There were also some great performances, most notably from Joe Dempsie as John, Johnny Harris as Neil and Daniel Kaluuya as Mac. Therefore, it is a shame that several of the characters have now been killed, including John who was an apt arch-nemesis for Paul. Given that the show concerns life, death and resurrection, there is a possibility that his character could be brought back.

Creator Jack Thorne has left the show on a tantalising cliffhanger that begs for a second series. It will be very interesting to find out what Paul has unleashed by opening ascencion and dabbling with fate. Despite the weaknesses in the writing, series 2 can be better if Thorne focuses on a few ideas rather than trying to include too much. There is the impression that there is more to ‘The Fades’ but due to time constraints many things failed to make the final cut. It is a shame because if there had been more development, the programme would have been a lot better. Perhaps more episodes are needed for a second series?

The Fades is on BBC 3 on Wednesdays.

For more information about the series, click here.

Image credit: BBC

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• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_6OGF46SIHJL5GTOWAFJHNBEMPA Darren

  As many other agree i found this a pretty damn good tv show. I hope to see a season two in the near future however if they bring back fades i can see it getting pretty boring unless of course they bring in a new character, one that has an equal yet more evil power compared to Paul’s or maybe since Paul is an angel there may be an appearance of some sort of demon? And the way they left it, the sky turning dark, made me hope pretty much that would happen. Interested in where the writer decides to go from here…

• Jonibobs

  well I liked it, Im just left wondering where the police and army where in all this, if Mrs Jones up the road gets her milk pinched there’s two cars an a van on the case as well as being on front page of the local paper, yet evil dead come back to life and the towns evacuated without a copper in sight, neither is the Church lol. If there’s one thing these writers should try and do is to keep it as real as possible, because once people start picking at plots its hard to stop. Fingers crossed for a follow up.

• Anthony Garrett

  I’m not a horror fan at all but I found this an entertaining modern take on the old good/evil zombie undead thing. We were glued to it from start to end.

  An odd script flaw was the sudden mention of “Angelics” in episode two (I think) which was clumsy and unexplained… and brought in casually as if we all knew what they meant.

  In the whole show I was disappointed by only one thing… the very ending. After the climax there was cynical scripting purely designed as an advertisement for Fades 2… the revenge of the Ascension… or whatever it gets called.

  They should have had more confidence… it was good, it deserves a second series, it already had the hooks in the dialogue… we simply didn’t need to be hit over the head with it.