Anyone who has read my articles knows that I have been a huge fan of the upcoming show Damien and have been trying my best to bring you all the new details about it. The show finally aired this past Monday and you’re just now seeing my review for it on Friday. Why? (Spoilers!)

My initial impression of Damien was great and I hold to that opinion still. Yet on Tuesday I found a lot of negative reviews. I mean a lot. My mind was boggled. What could they possibly not like about this new show? Of course nothing is perfect so I made myself read their reviews. Many complaints were minor things that I immediately disregarded. It was different from the original movie. No kidding.

Also Damien should be older because the film came out in 1979. Yes, because we all know television and film work out their timelines perfectly with real life. That’s why Batman is a thirty something year old man instead of a man hitting about 100 as he first came out in 1939. Seriously that complaint is the worst I’ve heard while also being the most ridiculous.

Some of the complaints made me pause though, they did hold some merit and I went back and watched the first episode again to reevaluate. (You can watch it again too) I will admit now that the first episode isn’t perfect. Not only does it struggle with being episode number one which all shows are notoriously awkward over, but there were a few things I wish I could change now that I’ve seen them. The first and biggest is that after the beginning scenes in Syria, Damien was rather passive throughout the episode. All the investigative work was from Kelly and we don’t even get to see it. She is the one who was finding the connections and searching people out. I know she was the journalist, but it would have been great to see Damien exploring his past himself (which hopefully will happen in future episodes-especially since Kelly is um, not around).

The episode was dark, as in the actual lighting was barely there. I didn’t actually mind this, but I understand the complaint. I still think it did a lot to help set the mood and tone of the show and I loved the angles that everything was shot from. Everything in Damien was interesting to look at. I’m more affronted over who decided to put Bradley James in those drab colored clothes; it was downright sinful.

Other complaints I read that I didn’t agree with; I loved the hell hounds killing the professor. I didn’t think it was over the top at all. It was the perfect amount of tension and then action. Not to mention I was super excited to see the hell hounds actually do something in the show as in the movie the dog really just showed up and growled every now and then.It was a great way to move that bit from the original into something new and interesting.

One of my favorite things, that some seemed to take issue with, was that Glen Mazzara wasted no time into getting into the bits and pieces of Damien being the Antichrist. The opening church scene was emotional and powerful (great job Bradley James), the professor explaining about the coming of the Antichrist gave the story a deeper tension as we all know it’s Damien already. The best part is that Damien is still unsure of this himself. By the end of the episode I believe he knows, (how can you not after destroying a statue of Jesus by touch and finding the mark of the beast on your head?) but will he accept that? Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt as they say.

I also want to see how Damien begins to deal with the truth of what he is, will he embrace it? I’m almost thinking he won’t, at least at first. This dark cloud has only ever caused Damien misery. It took his parents away, from the tiny bit of his childhood we heard it wasn’t much happier and now his sort of ex-girlfriend is dead. By the way I had no clue I had to watch out for mud/sinkholes in New York City, but the more you know. I don’t think Damien is going to take too well to causing others misery on purpose when he has had so much of it himself. Even in the beginning of the episode he was all about helping people.

Of course, things may change or Damien may see that he has to hurt some people. Will we agree with those choices? Will he? I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out! I think while the premiere had a few rough patches it was overall a very good first showing of this new Damien. Mazzara did a great job setting us up to discover what will happen next. It’s great to see the King fall and the Antichrist rise in Bradley James. I can’t wait to see his great range of emotions depicted with Damien as he did as Arthur or even Lowell. Omid Abtahi, Tiffany Hines and Megalyn Echikunwoke all did great jobs and the best performance goes to Barbara Hershey who was frankly creepy AF.

Overall I think people are being really rough on this show. It is fast paced, dark and thought provoking with amazing people in front of and behind the camera. Everything I could ever hope for in a show. It had me glued to the screen for an entire hour and I am still sitting here wondering how things are going to work out and being scared of ever running into Damien because the Earth may open up and swallow me whole. That is the signs of a great show!

Is it perfect? No. Is any show? Nope. This is a well put together show and everyone needs to give it a chance. Especially if you are a fan of the original film, The Omen, or just like scary/horror in general. You will not be disappointed.

Now the ratings for Damien were not the best, a .31. That needs to at least double. I’m hoping there were a ton of online views for the show as well as on DVR’s. Make sure to tell everyone you know about this show and that they need to watch it on A&E at 10:00PM every Monday night.

I will be live tweeting it on my personal account, @quietlikeastorm and would love for you to join me. In fact I and another member of NGE (Kat, @kleffnotes) are having ‘Devil’s Night’ from now on and live tweet first Lucifer on FOX and now Damien on A&E as they run back to back.

JOIN US! All you have to do is live tweet the shows and hashtag them with either #Lucifer or #Damien and then add in our hashtag #TheNerdyGirlExpress so we’ll see them! Kat even made a fangirl freak out video about it.

Now to finish this off, here is a preview of the next episode of Damien: