Review of Monster

HOT TAKE INCOMING: I think Monster is a little overrated, but just a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, this is an objectively great show, but unfortunately, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. The reason why is pretty simple: It's just not for me. And the thing was, I went into it with a lot of high expectations and I thought it was going to be a personal favorite of mine. But once I started the show, I just didn't feel that way anymore. Because I did not get hooked at the beginning at all, in fact I thought itwas so boring. I'm not even ashamed to say this, but there were some episodes where I nearly fell asleep. At first I thought it was because I was watching this show late at night so I decided to watch some episodes during the day, and I still felt tired while watching them. I was just turned off with how much of a slow burn this show was. I mean I kind of knew it was going to be a slower paced story, but I didn't think it would be THIS slow. And I don't really mind a more slower paced story, like one of my favorite movies of all time is Blade Runner 2049, and that movie is slow as fuck, like it's nearly 3 hours long. But I feel like the plot in that movie was way more interesting to my personal tastes than this show. I mean this show and 2049 have two totally different plots from one another. One is more grounded in reality and the other is more science fiction. But there was something about this show that I couldn't put my finger on and still can't figure out where I thought it was such a chore to get through at first.

Thankfully though, the more I watched it, the more this show began to grow on me a little bit more. And it was by the middle half of the show, episode 51 to be exact where I actually got the most invested in what was happening. Even though I didn't get hooked at the beginning, while watching it I could definitely see why other people would love it. This show has a lot of interesting ideas and concepts that it throws onto the table and I think it handles them very well. And this is a show that really takes its time giving you those ideas and concepts.

The characters are all very compelling even when some of them are meant to be unlikable. They each seemed to have their own engaging mentalities and motivations. I liked the constant cat and mouse chases between characters from Dr. Tenma to Johan, from Detective Heinrich to Dr. Tenma, and Anna trying to chase Johan. And then you throw Eva into the mix and she’s obsessed with getting back with Dr. Tenma, because that’s like her old boyfriend. It makes for some interesting drama without devolving into a soap opera. I know I said this two times before, even though I felt like this show didn't grip me as much as I thought it would at the start, I still didn't know where the story was gonna go next. There were a lot of twists and turns that I didn't really see coming, and stories like that I appreciate quite a bit. And I also really like how all these stories going on at the same time gradually connect and tie in to one another and by the end they all lead to one singular goal: to take down Johan. There were points where I felt like I was watching a live action mystery thriller from the 90's or reading a New York Times Bestseller. And I liked how the story got more expansive and dire as it went along. It just felt like thematically it was all gonna go to hell for the climax, and it did just that. The climax of the show and the way they led up to it was fantastic, absolutely incredible. I had no problems with the third half of this show.

Unfortunately with the ending, I'm pretty on the fence with it. While I do appreciate them tying up most of the loose ends, I felt like the final scene of the last episode left me very underwhelmed. I obviously can't get into it without spoiling, but it's supposed to be thought provoking. Which is appropriate for this particular series but I guess it just wasn't the fireworks show that I was expecting. So overall, I think I over hyped Monster a little too much, and by the end I was left a little divided but I still think it's a good show. I'll definitely rewatch it someday to see if my opinion changes, but once again I liked it, but I didn't love it.

ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON 06/03/2023