By far the weakest episode of his series I have seen, I think the next "worst" is 6/10, which by the way I have given on a few other episodes of this TV series and maybe an episode of Bly Manor/Midnight Mass, can't remember.
Like, Ilonka's story for the Midnight Club is just...bad. It is half-baked, there are plotholes (like her friends telling her she has been sad for months about the death of her mum, but a minute ago she was throwing away the ashes of her mum while the narration specifically says that this is after the funeral, so it could not have been months) and is the most tired of cliches in one story. Like, the stories of the others were not very impressive either (Amesh' one being kinda decent), but this one made me skip forward out of boredom.
Also, Sandra is the only sensible one, and she is a religious maniac, so there's that...and minutes after she said she is not gonna take part in the ritual...she takes part in the ritual. Out of nowhere, no logical explanation whatsoever given how adamant she was.
In fact, all the others, they are convinced that an ancient ritual, around which most cult members literally died, in a place where they have heard voices, seen shadows and other phenomena...is harmless?
Like, I love Flanagan's work because it is not cheap horror. It is complex, profound, gut-wrenching, involving love, loss, sacrifice, pain, mistakes, atonement...this is a cheap teen horror flick. In the first episode, regarding the first story told in the Midnight Club (Natsuki), Spence says that startling someone is not scary or horror, it is just that, startling them. And then most (not all, there were a couple of truly scary moment through the first 6 episodes I have watched so far) "scary moments" are just plain jump scares, and not the best either.
The actors are all right, not amazing, but not bad either, most of them, but god, does this show fall very short of the mark so far, exemplified by this mediocre episode.
Even the famous "episode 5" of every Flanagan's series didn't fully land, could not believe this.
Like, Ilonka's story for the Midnight Club is just...bad. It is half-baked, there are plotholes (like her friends telling her she has been sad for months about the death of her mum, but a minute ago she was throwing away the ashes of her mum while the narration specifically says that this is after the funeral, so it could not have been months) and is the most tired of cliches in one story. Like, the stories of the others were not very impressive either (Amesh' one being kinda decent), but this one made me skip forward out of boredom.
Also, Sandra is the only sensible one, and she is a religious maniac, so there's that...and minutes after she said she is not gonna take part in the ritual...she takes part in the ritual. Out of nowhere, no logical explanation whatsoever given how adamant she was.
In fact, all the others, they are convinced that an ancient ritual, around which most cult members literally died, in a place where they have heard voices, seen shadows and other phenomena...is harmless?
Like, I love Flanagan's work because it is not cheap horror. It is complex, profound, gut-wrenching, involving love, loss, sacrifice, pain, mistakes, atonement...this is a cheap teen horror flick. In the first episode, regarding the first story told in the Midnight Club (Natsuki), Spence says that startling someone is not scary or horror, it is just that, startling them. And then most (not all, there were a couple of truly scary moment through the first 6 episodes I have watched so far) "scary moments" are just plain jump scares, and not the best either.
The actors are all right, not amazing, but not bad either, most of them, but god, does this show fall very short of the mark so far, exemplified by this mediocre episode.
Even the famous "episode 5" of every Flanagan's series didn't fully land, could not believe this.
