Netflix's Resident Evil Season 1 Review: It's Definitely Not Covid, It's Worse

In Netflix's Resident Evil, there's a point where the main character, Jade, is trapped in some nomadic groups jail cell with her antagonist, Richard Baxter. They are surrounded by zombies and this group of nomads are sacrificing prisoners to the zombies so that they can power the building's electricity. Baxter doesn't want to be the next victim and ends up whipping out a hidden knife from his belt and tells Jade to call him "the master of unlocking." It's such a contrived line that will try to please fans since it is a reference to the start of the original Resident Evil game. Besides the inclusion of zombies and names and places, Resident Evil does it's best to try and tell its own story while still fitting into the established Resident Evil lore. 

And while it respects the original trilogy and actually uses it as the backdrop for the current setting, it by no means tells a great story. And while I know little of the Resident Evil lore, I do know that each game's plot point became less and less believable as time went on until Capcom tried to reign in the narrative in Resident Evil 7 (and then went balls off the walls again in Resident Evil 8). So while Netflix's adaptation fails in constructing a cohesive and interesting plot, it feels like it falls in line with the entire Resident Evil universe. I mean, you could easily pick out Resident Evil 5 and 6 and see that the plots there were nothing better than of a B-movie popcorn action flick. Resident Evil's story usually provided just enough of a carrot at the end of the stick to keep the gameplay from being too exhausting. 

Netflix decided to tell a story of the Wesker family (technically, the bad guy of the original Resident Evil games) after the first zombie outbreak in Racoon City. Wesker and Umbrella move to South Africa to escape the heat of the issues there but also to keep working on their products (which essentially cause the virus). The show decides to split the story into two timelines: One where Jade Wesker (the main character) is an adult and trying to survive in a post apocalyptic zombie world and another that tells of her story as a teen leading up to the zombie outbreak in South Africa. The future timeline is trying to provide the current story, exploring how Jade (apparently a zombie scientist) studies zombie behavior and, in turn, tries to find a way to cure them or rid the world of them. In the past timeline, Jade lives her life as a teenage girl with her sister, Billie, trying to adapt to a new country/city/school and learn about the weirdest company-control community in existence (Umbrella seems to have made their own housing development near their office). In the past timeline, we learn of some events that create the post-apocalyptic world Jade is currently living in. 

Anyways, I particularly enjoyed the past timeline more. Solely because of Lance Reddick's performance as Jade's father, Albert Wesker. Resident Evil fans should automatically know this name because he is the main villain of the original trilogy. But Wesker is portrayed as a good guy in this show but falls victim to trying to keep his daughters out of trouble. Ya see, Wesker starts off being this up-to-no good dad, but then devolved into a character that is akin to Homer Simpson; bringing humor to somewhat urgent and serious situations. I'd normally write this down as a negative, but Reddick always steals the show in every scene. His performance is just too fun. 

After a while, I didn't really care about Wesker as a character, I just wanted to see how much more entertaining Reddick could be from episode to episode. Thankfully, Reddick gets a ton of screen time throughout the season. It's the only benefit of having the show following two timelines throughout the whole season. And the timeline switcheroo does get old very fast. If Resident Evil started each episode with a small flashback or at least provided a template for each episode, it would have been palatable. But instead, the flashbacks come in whenever they want to, and constant switching distracts from either plot. Even if either plot was convincingly interesting, this till would have been an issue. But plots are both so boring and generic that it's like a TV switching between C-SPAN and an infomercial over and over again.  

I think the main issue is in the show's writing. The characters are all written terribly with horrible motivations. Especially in a world where there has already been a zombie outbreak. The dialogue is laughable and some actors are wooden and can't really deliver things convincingly. It almost feels like everyone got the memo except Lance Reddick. Jade is 100% completely unlikable and for no apparent reason. Since the past timeline actually occurs in 2020, there are references to modern events, like covid. When Jade's sister gets bit by an infected dog, they actually say "no, it's not like covid." It almost feels like it breaks the fourth wall and doesn't make things feel real, it makes things feel too hyper aware. It's like the entirety of this show is meant to be some surrealistic take on how America is as a country and pseudo-nostradamus prediction of where we will be in 16 years. I don't know if the show was meant to provide laughs, but I found myself chuckling at so many scenes. Even when certain tragic scenes happen, I found the context to be alarmingly humorous. 

It's no surprise that the show has already been canceled. I can't think of a way they could fix this train wreck. But I do hope to watch more of Mr. Reddick (he'll be in John Wick 4). I at least got a bit of laughs from his performance. This show isn't even liked by fans or critics. And while I did find some fun in it, it does drag on. Not to mention it a has a script written by a 12-year old Resident Evil fan. If you're like me, and can allow one good thing (Lance Reddick's performance) to carry you to watch a whole season of something, then by all means watch Netflix's Resident Evil. Otherwise, forget about it.

3/10.