Jupiter's Legacy: Netflix Fumbles

Netflix is the latest streamer to take a leap into the Superhero game with Jupiter's Legacy. Netflix has been the leading provider in original content for the past 3 years but now faces stiff competition in order to remain there amidst this massive shift to create streamable content.

Jupiter's Legacy finds Sheldon Sampson Aka The Utopian (A Superman esque hero) aging and wondering whether his kids can fulfil the legacy and keep up the old superhero code. Sheldon wants them to follow the old ways but things are not what they once were. Sheldon and everyone around him must face their own decisions and legacies all the while holding superpowers of their own.

Immediately the one criticism that comes to mind is how preachy this show is with the modern generation doesn't appreciate what they have and have no clue how hard previous generations worked for their keep. It's a message blasted all too often in our society so my only gripe is that I didn't need to hear it from my Superhero content. It feels the need to remind us constantly the world is a seedy place full of sketchy people while simultaneously reminding us that these people have abilities far beyond the average human.

It feels like an odd choice for a theme to remind people that can literally walk out of their homes and be reminded of current hardships that the world was once harder. It's just one of these themes that misfires because people are tired of hearing it being told over and over again. It doesn't drag down the entire show and Sheldon's journey is actually a good one. He is made to suffer in order to be rewarded with a substantial gain but it's a slow burn and the other messages are sprinkled within and it unfortunately slows the momentum.

At its core this show really is about kids living up to how their parents want them to be. It has a lot of darker themes at its center. It plays them all out in typical fashion. Rebellious kids with superpowers arguing with their parents and turning to drugs and alcohol to cope with the pain of a strenuous childhood. Even Sheldon's wife Grace is hardly given any backstory until the 5th episode. All we know before that is that she wrote an article about Sheldon's father exposing the truth that he stole money from the pension plan.

The characters apart from Sheldon are very one dimensional and it hurts the series a lot. Brandon and Chloe are presented as children who cannot live up to their father's impossible set of standards. It's not a new concept but Duhamel does his best to present Sheldon as admirable and filled with morality. Even to the point it could be considered a fault because he drives a wedge between himself and the people he should be closest with. In both the historical story and the present story he is filled with a sense of pride that won't allow anyone else to have their own feelings about things.

It only features one visually impressive fight sequence wherein the son defies the almighty code and then they spend multiple moments simply talking about what that could mean and how it changes Brandon aka Paragon. We don't really get to see it aside from how he tells his father he would do it again and again if necessary. Even Sheldon's wife Grace tells him he is being a bit harsh with the incessant following of the Code. That bit made no sense as she literally is an instrumental part in the Code being applied for the past 90 years. Now suddenly big bads are changing and they find themselves in a dilemma.

It's a slow burn and not in the sense where you need to know because with the present story playing out alongside the backstory you already have some idea where it is heading. Breaking it down into two four episode mini volumes would have been better. Past and Present. That way the past story seems to have stakes that don't already have an impact on how limited the present story can be. All of the past stuff would have been out of the way to fully dive into the fact these characters don't feel they can live up to the impossible legacy set before them.

The season finale was the best episode because it at least tried to bring forth new plot threads for a potential second season. It did this in the final 5 minutes of the season but it still held no weight. For many reasons. We already know Brandon is struggling with staying inside the code. The twist that late in the season felt like a last attempt to make fans intrigued by the story. However it had already been tedious up until that point so the payoff seemed too little too late.

It is a very hard show to buy into because it raises a lot of questions for potential future seasons but doesn't do enough to intrigue you throughout the first with the very long and drawn out backstory and the thinly layered present plot. It just misfires because it's all talk with very little payoff. It's all the icing with no cake underneath to balance it out. It's not as deep as it thinks fans will think it is. It's rather simplistic and to drag that out is not good for a first season. We shall see if this show moves forward or not.