The Imperfects is a 20022 series by Shelley Eriksen and Dennis Heaton blending classic young adult fiction tropes with fantasy settings.

This film tells the story of these three, Tilda Weber (Morgan Taylor Campbell), Abbi Singh (Rhianna Jagpal), and Juan Ruiz (Iñaki Godoy), who are brought together by a series of extreme circumstances. Each was diagnosed as teenagers with a genetic disorder and forced by Dr. Alex Sarkov (Rhys Nicholson) to undergo experimental treatment with synthetic stem cells. 

The three only discover in adulthood that the treatment has given them superpowers that are unleashed once they run out of stabilizing drugs. Tilda has super hearing and can scream so loud that it shatters glass. Juan turns into a vicious beast at night, blacking out and killing small animals, leading him to be known as the Terror of Tacoma. This leads Tilda to realize their powers are taken from supernatural or mythical creatures: Tilda is a banshee, Abbi is a succubus, and Juan is a chupacabra.

So the three team up to find Dr. Sarkov and hopefully find a cure. During their quest, Dr. Sydney Burke, Dr. Sarkov’s estranged former partner, acts as a mentor and guardian for the group. 

However, the sweet twist is how all of those things ultimately affect their lives. Interestingly, Tilda, who is a banshee, is the band’s lead singer, and Abbi, a succubus, is asexual.

In a sense, The Imperfects is like a mashup of X-Men, The Umbrella Academy, and Fringe, blending genetically modified mutant youths with supernatural forces, as well as dark, sometimes dangerous teen angst giving off the irresistibly strong pheromones.

Character-Driven Genre Series

The entire storyline is character-driven which is exactly what makes it intriguing from the very first episode. Well, that and the fact that episode one really is very strong and lays out the perfect groundwork for many storylines.

The resulting mystery heightens each episode of The Imperfects and the overarching narrative continues to the end as well. The visuals aren’t afraid to lean toward the gory side. The soundtrack speaks for itself, as all the songs played throughout the season reflect the rebellious nature of human characters. 

Tilda is an amazing character, her dry wit draws you in from the start, while Juan and Abbi provide a sweet and much-needed counterpoint to her gritty personality. Also, all the mad scientists doing this and that weird science around them and just one step away from wreaking havoc were super funny. Sometimes they are not the brightest of minds, but that’s part of the fun. Like Misfits, most of the problems came from the characters themselves.

Dr. Sydney Burke is a deeply complex character, one whose motives and feelings are often not quite clear, either to the audience or to her young mentees. A brilliant geneticist who agrees to help the main trio while maintaining a certain distance from them, she is torn between her desire to help others and the weight of her past mistakes, which manifests in the character of Isabel Finch (Kyra Zagorsky).

As mentioned before, the soundtrack has similarities with a number of series in the same category, and this is also reflected in the color scheme, which has the same gloomy tone.

It should come as no surprise that the search for Dr. Sarkov isn’t a piece of cake. On their way to stop the scientist and cure themselves, they encounter other monsters, government agencies that want to trap them for the safety of the public, concerned civilians, and various other obstacles. But will they end up curing themselves or will they resign themselves to what they have become, even if it happened through unfortunate circumstances?