Velma is an animated alternate origin story for the titular character and the formation of Mystery Inc. along with Fred, Daphne, and Norville Rogers. The series is streaming on HBO Max.
Story
Velma is an opinionated teenage girl who is obsessed with finding her missing mother for the past year when she is framed for the murder of another student at her school after the girl’s body is found with her brain removed.
Daphne Blake is a popular girl who used to be Velma’s best friend but stopped hanging out with her in recent years. She’s dating Fred Jones, an entitled rich white kid who is used to getting what he wants all the time.
Velma is also friends with Norville Rogers, who has a huge crush on Velma and is always at her beck and call. These 4 end up being in the center of a huge mystery in Crystal Cove as a serial killer goes around killing young girls and taking their brains.
Velma must solve the mystery while also trying to find her mother, and maintaining her relationships with the people around her.
Positives
The animation is great with the efficient use of vibrant imagery and an engaging art style. Each character is drawn well and credit goes out to the artists and animators involved for making something that is attractive to the eyes.
Negatives
The series adopts an approach making it ideal for people who love to “hate-watch” anything. It is constantly pushing the envelope with its irascible humor that only lands on occasion.
The constant jokes about race and sexism are self-aware and the characters do make half-hearted attempts to redeem themselves or course correct but it is rarely enough.
Speaking of the characters, they are all so distastefully written. Making them more diverse would not have been an issue if there were more depth to them or if they exhibited better growth in their personalities.
In a bid to make them different from their original counterparts, the writers have moved strongly in the opposite direction, sometimes even insulting the characteristics that audiences actually liked about them.
Verdict
Velma took an esteemed children’s animated series and tried to add in a grittier back story targeted toward adults but all it managed to do was displease most of its target audience and provide cannon fodder for the cynics who enjoy nothing more than to complain about the quality of content these days.
Also Read: Velma season 1 episodes 9 and 10 recaps, review & ending explained: Does Velma find the real killer?
