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I marathoned it faster than I should have because I wanted to avoid spoilers. It's from the same guy who adapted Haunting of Hill House and also created Haunting of Bly Manor. Hill House was good, Bly Manor is one of the best mini-series I've ever seen.
Also, horror involving Catholicism? Oh yeah. One of my favorite flavors.
But, it all fell a little flat to me.
I guessed Vampire and also the priest being the same guy pretty early on. That isn't really a flaw, though. If you don't guess it's a cohesive mystery coming together and if you do it just shapes the horror.
The main character dies about 75% of the way through the story. Then it becomes an ensemble cast. This transition from being about Riley to about the town worked pretty well. A lot of plot threads started coming together. How each character faced death was really fitting. But, only Leeza and Warren surviving felt pretty flat to me. Riley and Warren were pretty much nothing to each other. They didn't bond. They didn't fight. Warren grew up without his brother. He's at an age where he's preparing for adult life and is pulling away from his family. Warren having a complete lack of a relationship with him makes sense. But the lack of any connection there made the ending fall flat for me.
If Sarah or Erin had also made it, I'd have liked the ending. If Riley had saved Erin, that would be great. If Sarah had made it off the island, saved by her bio dad finally coming to his senses, that would have been amazing. Also, of all the characters, she's the only one where I have a sense of what her life might be life on the mainland. She has the most connection to it and a transferable career.
Horror endings don't need to be satisfying or uplifting, it just felt blah to have two kids with no real bonds to Riley, Sarah, Erin, or Father Pruitt be the survivors. They didn't even feel developed enough as characters, or in their character relationships to the main characters, to really feel an impact from it being them. Leeza is a central character, but more from things done to her. Her one big character moment where she has a lot of lines was her acting in accordance with her faith, and I bet she's less into the whole god thing now.
Part of the problem was too high expectations on my part and also marathoning a very slow show. A lot of people liked it, but it just fell a flat for me between the sermons, monologues and the tail end of the ending.
Also, there was a weird part near the start of it that I initially put aside. Riles says 'pregnant people' and Erin is all 'they tend to be women' and Riles switches to saying 'pregnant women' instead. I wasn't sure what to make of that. I'm still not 100% because 'pregnant women' is a fine thing so say outside of specific medical articles. In retrospect the whole exchange seems really weird. I took it as 'main character is broad minded but isn't going to push the issue', but I can also see it being transphobic since... since there is literally no reason for the exchange except as just a chance to 'correct' someone.
On a Watsonian level she just might be aware of trans issues, but on a Doylist level there is just no reason to have that there unless you are making a point.
I guess I am not 100% sure either way, but it just sucks to be sitting there trying to figure out if the writer was low key showing support for hatred and supports policies that would make my life hell. Sitting here trying to see if I can pin down anything in the story to give it context and also googling the creator to see if he's said shit publicly... this isn't how I should be spending my evening. I'm also tired of stuff coming up in shows I watch and having to have a sit and think about it.
I'd rather be writing or rewatching Roswell.
Also, horror involving Catholicism? Oh yeah. One of my favorite flavors.
But, it all fell a little flat to me.
I guessed Vampire and also the priest being the same guy pretty early on. That isn't really a flaw, though. If you don't guess it's a cohesive mystery coming together and if you do it just shapes the horror.
The main character dies about 75% of the way through the story. Then it becomes an ensemble cast. This transition from being about Riley to about the town worked pretty well. A lot of plot threads started coming together. How each character faced death was really fitting. But, only Leeza and Warren surviving felt pretty flat to me. Riley and Warren were pretty much nothing to each other. They didn't bond. They didn't fight. Warren grew up without his brother. He's at an age where he's preparing for adult life and is pulling away from his family. Warren having a complete lack of a relationship with him makes sense. But the lack of any connection there made the ending fall flat for me.
If Sarah or Erin had also made it, I'd have liked the ending. If Riley had saved Erin, that would be great. If Sarah had made it off the island, saved by her bio dad finally coming to his senses, that would have been amazing. Also, of all the characters, she's the only one where I have a sense of what her life might be life on the mainland. She has the most connection to it and a transferable career.
Horror endings don't need to be satisfying or uplifting, it just felt blah to have two kids with no real bonds to Riley, Sarah, Erin, or Father Pruitt be the survivors. They didn't even feel developed enough as characters, or in their character relationships to the main characters, to really feel an impact from it being them. Leeza is a central character, but more from things done to her. Her one big character moment where she has a lot of lines was her acting in accordance with her faith, and I bet she's less into the whole god thing now.
Part of the problem was too high expectations on my part and also marathoning a very slow show. A lot of people liked it, but it just fell a flat for me between the sermons, monologues and the tail end of the ending.
Also, there was a weird part near the start of it that I initially put aside. Riles says 'pregnant people' and Erin is all 'they tend to be women' and Riles switches to saying 'pregnant women' instead. I wasn't sure what to make of that. I'm still not 100% because 'pregnant women' is a fine thing so say outside of specific medical articles. In retrospect the whole exchange seems really weird. I took it as 'main character is broad minded but isn't going to push the issue', but I can also see it being transphobic since... since there is literally no reason for the exchange except as just a chance to 'correct' someone.
On a Watsonian level she just might be aware of trans issues, but on a Doylist level there is just no reason to have that there unless you are making a point.
I guess I am not 100% sure either way, but it just sucks to be sitting there trying to figure out if the writer was low key showing support for hatred and supports policies that would make my life hell. Sitting here trying to see if I can pin down anything in the story to give it context and also googling the creator to see if he's said shit publicly... this isn't how I should be spending my evening. I'm also tired of stuff coming up in shows I watch and having to have a sit and think about it.
I'd rather be writing or rewatching Roswell.
