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What Could've Been
“Do you believe in fate? Our paths carved before us, guided by an invisible hand.” – ArcaneThis question has been on my mind all while watching Mouse. If those serial killers were acting not out of choice, but due to their genetic coding, can we really blame them? I mean, their only real crimes were being born with bad genes, and that’s not their fault. This is the sort of thought-provoking questions that the show should have tackled. So, why didn’t it?
Mouse had the potential to become a truly great work of writing if only the writers had focused more on driving home a message about fate, willpower, freedom of choice, human capability for both good and evil, and our ability to change our preordained destiny. Perhaps that simply wasn’t the direction they intended to take. Or maybe the writers struggled to effectively connect these deeper themes to their central subject matter. Either way, Mouse ended up being a gigantic disappointment for me. Oh well, on to the next one.
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Execution is Everything
I’ll keep this short because I’ve already wasted enough time on this show. I only made it through the first episode, and I seriously doubt it will magically get better over the next five episodes. Unless you have a serious patience, skip it.I won’t say this “isn’t for me”—I’m literally the target audience. I love fantasy. I liked the premise. I love confident, classy female leads. I love layered, kind, aspirational main characters. This show had all the ingredients to be my dream show… and somehow it managed to dump them on the floor, sweep them back up, and light them on fire. Execution-wise, it’s a disaster.
Let’s start with the acting. I don’t know the cast, and normally I give actors the benefit of the doubt—but this is hard. The female lead is insufferable, and her performance does nothing to help. It’s painfully over-the-top and unrealistic. I suspect the problem isn’t entirely her—direction clearly played a hand. I’m willing to give her another chance in Lovely Runner, but here… yikes.
The dialogue? On-the-nose to the extreme. Characters repeatedly tell each other things they already know, purely to make sure the audience “gets it.” Exposition doesn’t have to feel like a lecture, people.
Visually, the show is fine—but the special effects look cheap. Except for her tail—that part actually looks amazing. And the sound effects? At times it felt like I’d been transported to an ’80s sitcom.
Honestly, I can’t tell you how it might turn out later because I couldn’t stomach finding out. I’m fairly confident I’m not missing anything worth my time.
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