Review: Fades 1.1

BBC Three is good at things like this. Being Human in itself is proof of that, and Fades' cryptic advertising campaign duals with its relatively all-star cast to create something that could be so much better. My impression of the series by the first episode alone? Well, it's impressive - there's a nice mixture of mythology and character work, and it runs on that to create something both emotionally connective and intriguing.
     The premise revolves around a quasi-religious ideology; the Fades are the remnants of people whose souls haven't ascended. Whether one ascends is random, but the Fades often become spiteful because of their eternal limbo. The series begins as our protagonist, Paul (Iain De Caestecker) with his friend Mac (Daniel Kaluuya) discovers the Fades for the first time via an incident with a Fade that has broken through into the world of the living, killing Sarah (Natalie Dormer) and half-blinding Neil (Johnny Harris) who serves as our series' Obi-wan. Paul is balancing his life by a thread; he has constant bad dreams which cause him to wet the bed, and he's in a loose Will-they-won't-they situation with the girl of his dreams. When he finds out that the visions he sees are caused by his pre-ordained ability rather than personal delusions, he goes with Neil to discover the truth. Elsewhere, Mark (Miranda's Tom Ellis), Sarah's partner, works at the school as a teacher and is devastated by the news of her death.
      I bring up Mark because it would be easy to overlook his character entirely. The majority of the episode was a pair of double acts between Paul and either Neil or Mac. Kaluuya, fresh from a cancelled Psychoville, puts his comedy bones to good use and provides some much needed comic relief in an episode where the mythology is on the gory side. In fact, all of the characters are instantly watchable and fundamentally human. In fact, the only performance I had trouble with was Dormer, whose lines consist of trailer taglines.

      The episode doesn't really pick up until about ten minutes in, after the very mythology-laden beginning falls away for the character development that I so loved in this episode. Paul is the textbook flawed protagonist; and Neil is the textbook "wise old one". But it still feels fresh despite how worn the format is and the while the concept itself is by no means new - and what ideas are nowadays - it's well executed, in a way that has me wanting more next week.
      The first episode of Fades was near-perfect, with well-written characterisations fused perfectly with gory visuals and interesting mythology to back it up. While it had a slow first few mintutes, when it got going it was an incredibly gripping piece of television that I'll definitely return to next week. The perfect premier.

Thanks.