Kindred: The Embraced: A Highly Biased and Partial Review by acrossthelake

[acrossthelake]

So after discussing it briefly with milkcracker I’ve been inspired to do a long review/rant about the short-lived TV show Kindred: The Embraced. If the name isn’t a dead giveaway it was based off of White Wolf’s Vampire: The Masquerade, which I know that much of my friends list is not familiar with,but when has this stopped me in the past? I will endeavor to

Comments

[veloxyll]

Upside down LJ is upside down. Also hi! And Merry Christmas. Now, comments!

Wait a minute. Aren't city leaders traditionally Ventrue? Ie smug uppity bastards?
Vampire with boring mortal girlfriend, how very Twilight.
Just what WOD needs. MORE WANGST!

What, no blood wizards. No wonder your show failed you monster.

Woe, I am bald. This means I am a hideous monster who no-one could ever love. I will disguise my uglyness using A POTION then seduce her.

Wow, it's like they almost understand that Nosferatu are usually kinda creepy.

Nosferatu's original power what?

San Fransisco is well known for its 99% white population and unremarkable night life.

Blow by Blow of every episode? I will summarise for you.
AAAA WHY IS THIS SO AWFUL GOD WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT? UGH NO THAT'S NOT HOW THAT WORKS. SO MUCH WHITENESS. THIS IS TERRIBLE WHY AM I WATCHING THIS I COULD BE STABBING MY FACE WITH NEEDLES WHYYYYY.
So now you can do something more fun instead (Read Howl's Moving Castle is my suggestion)

[acrossthelake]

Hi!

Wait a minute. Aren't city leaders traditionally Ventrue? Ie smug uppity bastards?

Yeah, Julian's a Ventrue but he's the most boringly nice Ventrue ever. He does rather talk down to the other clans sometimes but he's usually presented as being justified in this.

Woe, I am bald. This means I am a hideous monster who no-one could ever love. I will disguise my uglyness using A POTION then seduce her.

It's like they based the Nosferatu on the Guruhi from Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom, one of the most racially insensitive WoD books way up there with World of Darkness: Gypsies. The Guruhi, a Nosferatu bloodline, are considered the Ventrue-esque ruling clan in Africa (no specific part of Africa, just "the continent of Africa") and their clan flaw's that instead of being ugly across the board they get uglier as they get more emotional. In K:TE this is reflected in the evil Nosferatu guy and his girlfriend who show up in town looking way uglier than the others because they've "given themselves over to evil" or some crap. Annoyingly,

[veloxyll]

That's not Ventrue at all. What's this "justification" for talking down to people rubbish? You're Ventrue. That's justification IN ITSELF. Well, for a Ventrue anyhow.

Africa's not that big right. we don't need to have different regions and stuff. there's jsut some brown people there right? Oh WOD. At least that appearance would have some justification for "I'm a horrible monster"
So far all I'm getting from the show is "ugly people aren't that ugly", "bald = ugly" and "You're not getting laid because you're ugly" Kinda sending mixed messages here guys. Mixed. And Awful.

And aww. I haven't read anything else she's done so I can't offer handy comparisons. I did enjoy Howl's though. And it's certainly better than this vampire show :p

[acrossthelake]

Julian Luna. Luna . I have to admit that I am sucker for the people-atoning-for-their-past trope, but somehow this doesn't sound like they went out of their way to make it good.

Yeah, they didn't. Near the end of the season it's revealed that his actions when he was what amounted to the scourge led to the Brujah being so angry at the establishment (Brujah need a reason for that now?) but it was all played in such a cliched manner and starring such lackluster people that I really couldn't be arsed to care. And yes, dumbest/most obvious name ever.

I don't get how they could have fucked up the clans this badly. Or the disciplines for that matter. And a goody two shoes Ventrue prince in the fucking Anarch Free State is not going to stay prince for long. Or alive. Hell, even a relatively ruthless prince like Lacroix got his ass kicked.IKR? The overarching plot for the season with the Brujah jockeying for power and taking the prince down would be the perfect setup for this. Infighting ensues, Smiling Jack swoops in at the head of an

[padparadscha]

Hmm. Know nothing about this 'verse, but also totally hate it when key points are fucked up in or entirely left out of the 'verses I do like when it becomes a movie/show. I feel your pain there.

[acrossthelake]

Fun fact for you: Sasha the biker girl was played by Princess Athena from Quest of the Delta Knights. George lit upon that one time while we were all watching it after a RP session and I haven't been able to unsee it since.

[amyraine]

LOL!

You saw this show! That makes, like, three people including myself who I know to have seen it.

Fun fact, according to my sources, K:tE was based on First Ed V:TM, which is why vampires who have recently fed can stand sunlight for short periods. But that doesn't explain the utter mess they made of Clans and Disciplines. UGH.

[acrossthelake]

OK, yeah, that throws some of it into perspective. I assumed that, due to the intense focus on the Camarilla and the randomly making the Brujah bad guys instead of the Sabbat/anarchs, it was a product of an earlier edition but I didin't actually know the sunlight thing. Still, if they were going to go the Camarilla route the least they could've done was include the Malks and Tremere--a few more vampire characters and Frank the Boring Cop could have been edged out completely! (I didn't like him. It's possible I liked him even less than everyone else, in fact.)

[acrossthelake]

Oh you've *got* to be kidding me.