On Superheroes

Ben Kingsley and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Trevor Slattery and Simon Williams

I watched the whole first series of Wonder Man this week. Mostly, I was looking for a shorter commitment than the hour-long episodes of The Morning Show, which I started watching, but feel like I need to take time off to properly watch. Anyway.

It's a very decent series. The performances are great. The episode about DeMarr "Doorman" Davis was both elegant and one of the weirdest things I've watched in a while. Plus, I could watch Ben Kingsley playing Trevor Slattery all day. The digs at Hollywood culture are entertaining. That said, the relationship between Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery is as cliché as any father-figure mentor relationship since Daniel LaRusso and Mr Miyagi. I was hoping for something a bit more interesting, but then again, there's only so much you can do at 30 minutes a pop.

But my main issue is that it felt like an origin story for a superhero I never heard of, with inside jokes that left me outside. I get that there's a fan base looking for Easter Eggs and cross references, but at some point, the uninitiated viewer may begin to feel like the joke is on them. Which is interesting because I got most of the inside jokes on Hollywood (watched enough Woody Ellen films, I guess).