Watching 'Ravenswood' is like stumbling upon a series nearing its end. The characters and focus are so narrow, you get the feeling you missed important stuff that led us to this point.
So how sad that 'Ravenswood' is only halfway into its first season, and it's taking liberties & shortcuts only long-established shows should be allowed to take.
From the start, 'Ravenswood' makes the assumption that you know & love its characters. Good shows ease into heavy plot, allowing viewers to experience the characters as normal people with real lives/relationships/quirks. Not so with 'Ravenswood'...the show quickly gathers its cast & dumps them into a supernatural mystery.
To make things worse, 'Ravenswood' then makes the assumption that its supernatural mystery payoff is so good...viewers will endure one unexplained supernatural event after another. And that's basically what the show amounts to ("BOO!", 5 minutes later "BOO!", 8 minutes later "BOO!"...tune in next week when..."BOO!"). You are given very little to contextualize what is going on & why, so the show leaves you bored and exhausted.
This was not the original promise of 'Ravenswood'. When the series was first teased on 'Pretty Little Liars'...Ravenswood was presented as a peculiar community inhabited by almost-Amish residents. They seemed to have a unique culture & were fearful of outsiders. You got the sense that whatever their secret was...they were all in-on-it in some way or another. As a viewer, you wanted "in" as well.
But then the series began, and Ravenswood was basically presented like any other podunk town - with mostly boring people, and a couple of creepy weirdos.
I wanted this show to succeed. But as it is executed, I believe it should be quietly brought to an end.
So how sad that 'Ravenswood' is only halfway into its first season, and it's taking liberties & shortcuts only long-established shows should be allowed to take.
From the start, 'Ravenswood' makes the assumption that you know & love its characters. Good shows ease into heavy plot, allowing viewers to experience the characters as normal people with real lives/relationships/quirks. Not so with 'Ravenswood'...the show quickly gathers its cast & dumps them into a supernatural mystery.
To make things worse, 'Ravenswood' then makes the assumption that its supernatural mystery payoff is so good...viewers will endure one unexplained supernatural event after another. And that's basically what the show amounts to ("BOO!", 5 minutes later "BOO!", 8 minutes later "BOO!"...tune in next week when..."BOO!"). You are given very little to contextualize what is going on & why, so the show leaves you bored and exhausted.
This was not the original promise of 'Ravenswood'. When the series was first teased on 'Pretty Little Liars'...Ravenswood was presented as a peculiar community inhabited by almost-Amish residents. They seemed to have a unique culture & were fearful of outsiders. You got the sense that whatever their secret was...they were all in-on-it in some way or another. As a viewer, you wanted "in" as well.
But then the series began, and Ravenswood was basically presented like any other podunk town - with mostly boring people, and a couple of creepy weirdos.
I wanted this show to succeed. But as it is executed, I believe it should be quietly brought to an end.