Spoilers

 

Is there more than meets the eye?

There’s a lot of reconciliation and relationship building as the show heads into its final act. We learn about the deep scars written across the major characters of the show, those who were there before the show started and who’ve survived this far.

From a narrative point of view I found these really interesting but, at the same time, much too late into the show to have the impact I wanted for these characters. To be honest, by this point sheriff Boyd, his deputy, Kenny, and the leader of Colony House, Donna, are all capable of standing on their own two feet without the need to know how they arrived in the bad place.

Once again I find myself reflecting on what might have been. Each of these elements are really well put together – understandable, working to deepen the characters we’re following, but they needed to come earlier. In a ten-part show, we needed to have seen what our main characters were about by episode 5, not in episode 9.

The most plausible explanation I can think of is that the showrunners are aiming for a multi-series structure. Then, we’re finding out about Boyd’s wife in part 9 of maybe 20 or perhaps 30 episodes. That makes more sense.

However, I have to watch this based on the fact that I’ve been baffled by some of the core characters and their motivations over crucial decisions when all this back story was there to establish who they were much earlier. It doesn’t matter to me that there might be more series to come if this, first, one doesn’t stand on its own two feet.

This sense of building to something way beyond season 1 came back to me as we hit the end of part 9. We discover that, as vaguely foreshadowed mainly by a lack of anything resembling answers so far, there might well be much more to the place the townspeople are stranded in than the monsters who hunt them at night.

The problem is that we as much knew that already and by the end of part 9 we still know nothing more than we did at the end of part 2 or 3.

This is still a show I’ve enjoyed watching and that’s what I want to focus on now.

The character work here is really compelling even if it’s a bit jumbled. The interactions of the different protagonists are as infuriating and satisfying as they are realistic. The sense of pressure on people, the sense of desperation and the refusal to simply lay down and die is palpable. In particular, Elisabeth Saunders as Donna is remarkable – portraying a fiery resilience and fragile strength which I’ve wanted much more of.

The feeling of the town, the mysteries which continue to remain unsolved, even the palette, are all great things which have kept me coming back for more and, finally, we see some agency by people other than men.

With only the final part to come I have literally no idea what to expect. Sometimes that’s a good thing, here it serves to remind that this show had all the makings of something great but fell short.

That’s only a mild criticism. I’d far rather something was ambitious (and a locked room mystery involving an entire town is definitely nothing if not ambitious) and flawed than safe and perfect.

From is flawed. It is also actually quite good.

Rating? 7 out of 10.

Stewart Hotston