The story can be separated into two different parts with one focusing on the soldier/monster hunting and the other on the main character, Hank seeking revenge against a friend who betrayed him. They aren’t clearly divided, but more so they are interwoven. The soldier hunting is rather episodic as it mostly has Hank try to track down his former comrades. Comrades who were once under his command due to their ability to turn into monstrous beings known as incarnates. Yet it is because of this ability that problems arise, because not only do they physically change into monsters but their mentality starts to change, as they end up being a danger to those around them. However before anything could be done about them, they all went their separate ways after the war, which in turn lead to their former commander going after them.
These were the more interesting parts of the show, mostly on it’s themes and ideas rather than the writing. Because even though the soldiers have become monster, to some capacity they still retain some human aspect of their former selves, for better or for worse. Since those human aspects become the core of the soldiers action when they are incarnates. Such as the cowardly soldier who made a super fortress to ward of enemies that would never come, or the righteous soldier who came back home and became an executioner against those who even made the most trivial of sin. It showcases how despite how similar they were to their previous selves their main ideas and beliefs have been monstrously skewed that they aren’t presented as mindless beasts, but victims trapped in their own demented minds. This in turn shines a light Hank’s motivation to hunt them down, not only to stop them from hurting others but to also give them some dignity to what bit of humanity they have left before he kills them.
In a sense the incarnates are like an analogue to war trauma. Of men who go into battle and become literal monsters and then become human outside of battle. Yet the more they fight, the more their monstrous form sticks with them outside of battle. And after the war is over and they all go back to their homes literally changed by the war and try to relive a normal life, but in the end they cannot as they inevitably start to mentally change as well and end up becoming a danger. It’s certainly stretching it in terms of meaning in this show but it’s there even if it’s not handled all that well. Especially considering how the only way to help them is via mercy killing even when taking into consideration its 18th century-esk time period.
However that is only one part of what the show is about as Hank is also hunting down a specific friend/comrade, Cain who betrayed him and what led to the events of the show as they are. Cain serves as the main antagonists so the show can have a more central focus and narrative pay out as the show continued on, instead of being episodic vignettes until there is no one left. The real shame is that despite wanting a more structured story, the end result is predictable, boring, and a disappointment from what had been presented before. Cain is the most basic foil there is as he is pretty much everything that hank isn’t even down to their monster forms being so predictable that it’s eye rolling. Even then as a foil there’s not much to write home about Cain because there’s not much to write about Hank. since so much of the episodes before were more focused on the characterization of the former soldiers that Hank didn’t have enough room to be properly fleshed out beyond the first couple of episodes. What is even more egregious is with Cain becoming the main focus, the other incarnates become less focused on and a good number of them become shafted as generic grunts.
The only other character worth mentioning is Schaal who serves as a sort of mediator between the audience and the story. She follows around Hank trying to see if his actions towards the other incarnates, such as her father, are justified. It all does come to a head by the second half as she develops more as a character but it really comes off as expected since that was what her character was about.
Everything else about the show can be passed of as serviceable. But the one thing worth noting is the fact that the story takes place in a pseudo-america setting. Because despite the fact that the maps look similar and that they sort of have similar events, there isn’t anything about the setting that captures the essence of the country. It has no identity and doesn’t bother even copying the identity of americana. Instead all there is left are non-descript villages and towns that are only slightly different from the non-descript villages and castle towns in a psudeo-European settings. The only interesting parallel it had was with Cain mustering the equivalent of southern redeemers against the equivalent of scalawags and carpetbaggers. but in the end that gets quickly shafted aside.
Sacred beast certainly wasn’t a show I expected much out of during it’s reveal. It came off looking more like derivative schlock, and while it did have that, it also had something more that made it interesting. It had somber stories of soldiers terribly affected by war meeting their end. Even Hanks journey for revenge against Cain had its moments. However there really wasn’t enough in terms of storytelling and characterization that made the show engaging or satisfying. Just enough that it can be a serviceable adaptation, that will only be forgotten a few seasons from now.
