What a ride this season of Slasher has been. Even before the killer showed up, it became clear this family was prepared to do each other in. Their twisted love and hate for one another being a schizophrenic mess of ambition, competition and switching alliances. Sadly, in its deouement, the season relies on its three least able cast members to do the emotional and narrative heavy lifting.
Luckily, for the first ten minutes, Trinh is back! Smirking that villainous way, she reveals the role she played in everything. Jeananne Goossen is fabulous in these moments. Dressed all in black and tired to a pillar, she still manages to be intimidating and charismatic. Losing her, after having lost the delights of Grace, Florence and Christy in quick succession, means we lose the last fun character. This leaves us with half an hour of bad storytelling choices, bad scenes (the post coital glow of Theo and Liv as he sits there with numerous knife wounds is just ridiculous - they established there were no painkillers on the island! He's not even stitched up!) , and actors unable to make the final game of chess riveting as they try to wrap up Spencer's games.
A. J. Simmons fairs better than the rest, mainly because Vincent is an easier stereotype to play: angry, mistreated, good at heart. The flashbacks to reveal evil Theo manipulating Vincent into being beat by his grandad, however, are jarring to watch, because they come in the middle of a scene that took a sharp turn left into a murderous brawl between the brothers. The energy of the scenes does not sync and the following final confrontation in the diningroom, while delightfully gory, would leave most people scratching their heads. Liv also, having most certainly heard the commotion, does not come through to help either. This could be explained as a choice on her behalf to let the twins kill each other, except Sydney Meyer who plays Liv has been such a non-entity this entire time that it just comes across as lazy writing. The actors are not the only ones to blame. Neither Vincent, Theo or Liv have been given much to do besides react to the violence this entire time. Yes, Liv once spent an entire episode trying to fix a boat (badly) and got chased by The Gentleman, but neither situation made her seem adept. She couldn't even kept her mother alive, sending her off to "keep watch" instead of sticking together. None of the final three are interesting on their own, since episode 6 they've sat on the sofa and let everything else happen. Worse yet, we never find out Liv's part in it all. Was she an accomplice of Trinh? Did she just hate the Galloways? We'll never know. Neither the writing nor the actor were able to convince us that Liv was anything more than a token final girl.
I have to give it an above average grade though, because there were interesting themes at play. The toxicity of a family untouched by society for decades imploding, the case of class and working for what you deserve, both are deep themes that run throughout the show. Unfortunately, recent cinema has more succinctly shown these topics but points to Slasher for trying to add them to their potent mix of Christie style murder mysteries. Here's hoping season 5 can stick the landing!
Luckily, for the first ten minutes, Trinh is back! Smirking that villainous way, she reveals the role she played in everything. Jeananne Goossen is fabulous in these moments. Dressed all in black and tired to a pillar, she still manages to be intimidating and charismatic. Losing her, after having lost the delights of Grace, Florence and Christy in quick succession, means we lose the last fun character. This leaves us with half an hour of bad storytelling choices, bad scenes (the post coital glow of Theo and Liv as he sits there with numerous knife wounds is just ridiculous - they established there were no painkillers on the island! He's not even stitched up!) , and actors unable to make the final game of chess riveting as they try to wrap up Spencer's games.
A. J. Simmons fairs better than the rest, mainly because Vincent is an easier stereotype to play: angry, mistreated, good at heart. The flashbacks to reveal evil Theo manipulating Vincent into being beat by his grandad, however, are jarring to watch, because they come in the middle of a scene that took a sharp turn left into a murderous brawl between the brothers. The energy of the scenes does not sync and the following final confrontation in the diningroom, while delightfully gory, would leave most people scratching their heads. Liv also, having most certainly heard the commotion, does not come through to help either. This could be explained as a choice on her behalf to let the twins kill each other, except Sydney Meyer who plays Liv has been such a non-entity this entire time that it just comes across as lazy writing. The actors are not the only ones to blame. Neither Vincent, Theo or Liv have been given much to do besides react to the violence this entire time. Yes, Liv once spent an entire episode trying to fix a boat (badly) and got chased by The Gentleman, but neither situation made her seem adept. She couldn't even kept her mother alive, sending her off to "keep watch" instead of sticking together. None of the final three are interesting on their own, since episode 6 they've sat on the sofa and let everything else happen. Worse yet, we never find out Liv's part in it all. Was she an accomplice of Trinh? Did she just hate the Galloways? We'll never know. Neither the writing nor the actor were able to convince us that Liv was anything more than a token final girl.
I have to give it an above average grade though, because there were interesting themes at play. The toxicity of a family untouched by society for decades imploding, the case of class and working for what you deserve, both are deep themes that run throughout the show. Unfortunately, recent cinema has more succinctly shown these topics but points to Slasher for trying to add them to their potent mix of Christie style murder mysteries. Here's hoping season 5 can stick the landing!