Fans and haters can agree on HBO's Marvel parody.

In the middle of the first episode of The franchisethe new HBO series about the making of a comic book blockbuster, the film's director finds out that an entire civilization no longer exists. Eric (Daniel Brühl), a committed German auteur who has just made the leap from festival favorite to studio space, has been busy filming for seven weeks Tecto: Eye of the Storm when he receives a visit from Pat (Darren Goldstein), a bearlike manager from Maximum Studios. Pat, that part of the Multiverse equivalent of Marvel's Kevin Feige, is also overseeing the concurrent production of Centurions 2the studio tentpole bringing together its biggest, most bankable superheroes, and they've run into a bit of a problem with the third act, a “run of dry plot grist” that doesn't go as smoothly as it should. What the film needs, according to the studio, is an alien genocide that feels brutal and devastating, but also, as Pat proudly notes, “crass.” The species eradicated in the name of raising the stakes also features heavily in Eric's film, scheduled to hit theaters immediately afterward Centurions 2. But the big movie comes first, so Eric and Co. just have to figure out how to live without it. This leaves the fish people in the lurch.

If there is a common characteristic that connects The franchiseFor both of their characters, denial is the only thing that allows them to maintain their sanity and self-respect in a system that is indifferent to one and actively hostile to the other. Eric believes he is an eccentric artist and not the “hipster chinos guy who goes to Muji to buy a towel” type. His leading man, Adam (Billy Magnussen), believes this is the role that will finally make him a star, rather than cement him as a B-list himbo. And Eric's first assistant director, Daniel (Himesh Patel), clings to the idea that he could finally make his own film, even though he knows more clearly than anyone what a miserable fate that would be.

Although the idea for The franchise arose from a meeting between two contemporaries James Bond Director Sam Mendes (who directs the first episode) and VeepArmando Iannucci (executive producer) is series creator Jon Brown, a veteran TV writer who has little involvement with the superhero industrial complex (his previous credits include: Veep, ConsequenceAnd Avenue 5), and the show was looking for actors whose filmographies were mostly colon-free and numeral-free. (Exceptions include Brühl, Baron Zemo from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Richard E. Grant, who had small roles in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker And Loki.) The eight episodes of the first season feel neither defensive nor settling, the rare satire that fans and haters alike can enjoy.

The lack of first-hand knowledge doesn't make it The franchise feel generic. How Veep's authors, The franchisehave certainly done their research, and even the most ridiculous developments have their roots in reality. Eric is clearly a stand-in for the crop of promising indie filmmakers who have found their feet in the Marvel machine, and the PR crisis sparked by the studio's cancellation of a female-focused superhero film is similar to the fate of Batgirlthe DC film that HBO boss David Zaslav quickly rejected. From the latter action arises The franchiseThe best episode of “The Lilac Ghost,” in which newly installed producer Anita (Aya Cash) is tasked with strengthening the role Tectois the only female character who can overcome Maximum's “woman problem”. (It doesn't take long for her to suspect that the studio's issues with gender parity are also the reason she was hired for the film.)

Instead of relishing the opportunity to contribute to women's empowerment and be a role model for a generation of young girls, the actress who plays the Lilac Ghost, a beleaguered Katherine Waterston, is just desperate to finish her role and get going. But then there was no one on set Tecto ever thought about viewing the adjustment as anything other than a way to keep complaining fans at bay. Anita asks that a playwright whose name she can't quite remember rush to the set for a quick rewrite – allusions to Nicole Holofcener's name, uncredited Black widow gloss—but Maximum's newfound commitment to girl power is expressed mostly in details like the extension of the Lilac Ghost's power staff, which naturally worries the film's male lead that his own weapon looks puny in comparison.

Maybe there was a point where the people involved Tecto and the Maximum Universe at large believed they were involved in something significant, but that impulse has diminished to the point where it's barely a stunted twitch. Sure, Eric is convinced he's using a movie about a hero who harnesses the power of sound waves through an invisible jackhammer to make a statement about fracking, but he doesn't seem to have the slightest idea what that statement might be , let alone how to pull it off when he spends his days arguing in the studio about whether his scenes are too dimly lit because “the culture demands a saturated aesthetic.” The closest thing the series has to heroes are the below-the-line stalwarts who keep the production's wheels from spinning: Patel's first AD; Lolly Adefopes Dag, a newly arrived third assistant director who believes she can land herself an executive producer job with some clever power maneuvers; and Jessica Hynes' Steph, the long-suffering assistant who tries to keep Eric on the right side of his mind. There's nothing actually noble about their fight, but at least it's clear what they're actually doing.

The franchise isn't a staple of superhero movies, but the genre is already doing well to die on its own. If the show has anything to say, it's not about fracking, but about the point at which work becomes meaningless – not just for your particular job, but for everyone else, so much so that the idea of ​​even trying Making them important becomes absurd. “Every time I find a hill to die on, I die on it,” Eric complains, “and then I just lie dead on a hill.” The best thing you can do is erase your dignity and to dive in, as Grant's working actor does, with a hearty “Let's eat shit!” If you can't do anything meaningful, you might as well do it quickly Desire.