Castlevania's Netflix show is weird and flawed but it totally works

[Administrator]

The Netflix adaptation of Castlevania is kind of weird.
It feels like a pilot episode inexplicably chopped up in four places. The first season literally ends with the iconic cast coming together to prepare for the inevitable battle against everyone's favorite antagonist. Needless to say, Warren Ellis' loose retelling of Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse seems to have garnered polarising opinions. Some people thought the gore (and there's a gleefully gratuitous amount of that) was on-point. Others thought it was unnecessary. Some loved the animation. Others abhorred it. And I'm not even going to get started on the pacing, dialogue, character design, and adherence to the source material. (The music. What on earth happened with the music?)
Personally, though? I thought Netflix's Castlevania was competent television. Not great, mind you. Competent. If we were doing numbers - and hey, why not - it was a seven-point-five in most places, an eight in some, and the occasional 'I guess this could be so much worse' five in a few spots. For the most part, I enjoyed the art direction. It could be my natural predisposition towards furry capes, however, and a fondness for practical-looking fight scenes. (Caveat: I'm not particularly impressed with the final showdown.)
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