Virginia Madsen in Swamp Thing

The Swamp Thing TV show is, at the time of writing, Virginia Madsen’s latest foray into the DC Universe, only this time it’s of the live action flavour. Albeit a short lived one.

Originally commissioned for the short lived DC Universe VOD channel the show made it’s debut in 2019 for ten episodes. The show’s cancellation was announced before it had completed its run. So, pretty much dead on arrival. Great.

And, it’s a shame as it was actually pretty good. I’ve mentioned, several times now, how I’m a fan of DC over Marvel, in the comic book world at least, and a lot of the DC Universe shows were actually right up my street, Titans more than any of the others, but, yeah. What could have been.
The comic book Swamp Thing is a character that has been around since 1971, a creation of Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. Len Wein would probably be more famous as the co-creator of Wolverine than Swamp Thing in case you’re thinking you know the name.

The TV version of the show follows Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) as she returns home to Louisiana to investigate a virus that seems to be originating in a swamp. A scientist who is also on the case, Alec Holland (Andy Bean), dies tragically but Abby suspects things aren’t what they first appear to be. And she’d be right, funnily enough. Alec, as it turns out has become the titular Swamp Thing, kind of. His memories have at least.

Ohhhhhhhhhh. It’s a comic thing – You have to watch it so I don’t have to go all explain and get myself in a twist trying to do it justice and not spoil anything at the same time.

Virginia Madsen plays Maria Sunderland, a renamed for the TV show character, she’s better known as Bubbles Sunderland in the comic world. Thankfully, she also gets to show off her talents in this one, even if you aren’t a fan of the show itself and just want a taste of what Virginia offered then the fifth episode, “Drive All Night” is the one to watch.
We already know the show is dead in the water, well, swamp – But is it worth a watch?

Well. Yeah. I’d say so – Most of the events are wrapped up nicely, just remember to switch it off when the end credits roll…

Plus, there is always the chance with these things that the characters / actors will move on even if the show doesn’t, look at Constantine and The Legends of Tomorrow, and more recently the Dead Boy Detectives from the equally cancelled DC Universe project Doom Patrol who have found their way into the Netflix show of the same name as sort of spin off of their Sandman universe.

Availability:

Good, good – Not hard to find on DVD or Blu-Ray.

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