Even though it's hard to tell from my Season 2 ratings, I still actually like this series, but after 3 episodes, it's become painfully obvious that the showrunners and writers have lost the magic touch that made the show special and unique in Season 1. The MAIN thing that this series did well in it's first season was to masterfully shuffle between the past and present timelines and always connect them together within each episode. But now in Season 2 it's just a lot of random scenes strung together to fill an hour of time until they get to the really good stuff, which will probably come in the second half of the season.
This episode "Digestif" reminded me more of the stretched-out Season 2 premiere than it did of the better focused second episode of this sophomore season. A lot was going on in this episode and the plot kept jumping between scenes to the point of making me kind of dizzy. First, the writers tricked the viewer into thinking this was going to be a Ben-centric episode with the opening scene between him and his boyfriend Paul in a '96 flashback scene, then they proceeded to completely ignore this subplot for most of the episode, only having like one other scene of the duo much later in the episode, which turned out to be a "what if" scenario. This subplot was done kind of poorly, too, coming across as really cliche with a lot of tell instead of show, including the cheap "camera glitching out" effect to show that Ben was having hallucinations and nightmares.
Second, the present-day subplots are really starting to drag. It's just random scenes like Jeff whining about being a boring husband to Shauna, their car getting stolen so Shauna can go into badass cannibal mode to retrieve it (a scene which will most likely earn Melanie Lynskey her 2nd Emmy nod), multiple pointless scenes of a comatose Simone, and repetitive and filler scenes of Tai and her alter ego. This latter subplot is really moving at a snail's pace this season, with every episode of Young Tai's alter waking up and doing something weird with Adult Tai just looking in a mirror and her alter looking evil. And while the Misty scenes with Randy and Elijah Wood's character were certainly funny, there's an overly comic vibe to the present that kind of undermines the more serious, compelling scenes of the past. The most interesting present-day subplot are the cult compound scenes with the feisty and sympathetic Nat and the increasingly shady and manipulative Lottie. The best tie-ins between the past and present were the Nat-Lottie scenes as the younger versions get more overtly antagonistic in the wilderness to counter the more laid-back antagonism between the older versions. This episode would have worked better if it only focused on the Nat-Lottie stuff, but just like the premiere, it jammed in way too random stuff.
Third, speaking of random, even the past timeline has a few issues. While Young Misty's big movie monologue scene was awesomely performed, it felt more like a showcase to give the actress something to do rather than being organic because Young Misty has really been a non-factor so far this season. How did she so effortlessly perform that speech with just one night of practice? And when and where exactly did she practice it in that short time, out in the freezing cold of night? I honestly didn't understand the whole acting conversation between Misty and Crystal (a new character that I could really do without). The flow of it made no sense. I guess the message was that all actors are liars! Lol Much like that annoying scene between Misty and the motel clerk in the premiere, this Misty-Crystal scene is an example of "burying the lead" just so the writers could give Crystal a couple of fake deep lines to try and make her more interesting than she actually is. It's forced writing. I honestly feel that minor characters like Mari and Akilah (both of whom actually existed in the first season in the past wilderness scenes) have far more potential than this oddball Crystal character that appeared out of nowhere. Also, why is Travis more worried about what Nat and Coach are doing than grieving over the "death" of his little brother? It's like the writers completely forgot that he just found out the day before that his brother is gone (in his mind) forever. There's a lack of continuity this season while the storytelling in Season 1 was much tighter.
Finally, a couple of other more quibbles. The 90s music really feels off this season. It's strangely forgettable in the sense that it doesn't match the mood or scene. And the wilderness scenes reek of looking phony because it appears that they are shooting on a big movie set, not in the actual woods when they were doing location shooting in Season 1. The whole lived-in vibe of the first season has all but disappeared into a more stylish and less gritty atmosphere in Season 2. So why 6 stars? Mostly because despite some shoddy writing and editing, there's still some really great acting in this episode, namely the aforementioned Adult Shauna and Young Misty monologues as well as Young Nat's monologue to Jackie's burned and ravaged corpse. The show is still surviving and thriving off it's well-chosen cast, but right now, it feels more like an acting showcase in Season 2 than the more tight, compelling, focused story that existed in Season 1. Hopefully, the rest of the season gets back to it's Season 1 roots.
This episode "Digestif" reminded me more of the stretched-out Season 2 premiere than it did of the better focused second episode of this sophomore season. A lot was going on in this episode and the plot kept jumping between scenes to the point of making me kind of dizzy. First, the writers tricked the viewer into thinking this was going to be a Ben-centric episode with the opening scene between him and his boyfriend Paul in a '96 flashback scene, then they proceeded to completely ignore this subplot for most of the episode, only having like one other scene of the duo much later in the episode, which turned out to be a "what if" scenario. This subplot was done kind of poorly, too, coming across as really cliche with a lot of tell instead of show, including the cheap "camera glitching out" effect to show that Ben was having hallucinations and nightmares.
Second, the present-day subplots are really starting to drag. It's just random scenes like Jeff whining about being a boring husband to Shauna, their car getting stolen so Shauna can go into badass cannibal mode to retrieve it (a scene which will most likely earn Melanie Lynskey her 2nd Emmy nod), multiple pointless scenes of a comatose Simone, and repetitive and filler scenes of Tai and her alter ego. This latter subplot is really moving at a snail's pace this season, with every episode of Young Tai's alter waking up and doing something weird with Adult Tai just looking in a mirror and her alter looking evil. And while the Misty scenes with Randy and Elijah Wood's character were certainly funny, there's an overly comic vibe to the present that kind of undermines the more serious, compelling scenes of the past. The most interesting present-day subplot are the cult compound scenes with the feisty and sympathetic Nat and the increasingly shady and manipulative Lottie. The best tie-ins between the past and present were the Nat-Lottie scenes as the younger versions get more overtly antagonistic in the wilderness to counter the more laid-back antagonism between the older versions. This episode would have worked better if it only focused on the Nat-Lottie stuff, but just like the premiere, it jammed in way too random stuff.
Third, speaking of random, even the past timeline has a few issues. While Young Misty's big movie monologue scene was awesomely performed, it felt more like a showcase to give the actress something to do rather than being organic because Young Misty has really been a non-factor so far this season. How did she so effortlessly perform that speech with just one night of practice? And when and where exactly did she practice it in that short time, out in the freezing cold of night? I honestly didn't understand the whole acting conversation between Misty and Crystal (a new character that I could really do without). The flow of it made no sense. I guess the message was that all actors are liars! Lol Much like that annoying scene between Misty and the motel clerk in the premiere, this Misty-Crystal scene is an example of "burying the lead" just so the writers could give Crystal a couple of fake deep lines to try and make her more interesting than she actually is. It's forced writing. I honestly feel that minor characters like Mari and Akilah (both of whom actually existed in the first season in the past wilderness scenes) have far more potential than this oddball Crystal character that appeared out of nowhere. Also, why is Travis more worried about what Nat and Coach are doing than grieving over the "death" of his little brother? It's like the writers completely forgot that he just found out the day before that his brother is gone (in his mind) forever. There's a lack of continuity this season while the storytelling in Season 1 was much tighter.
Finally, a couple of other more quibbles. The 90s music really feels off this season. It's strangely forgettable in the sense that it doesn't match the mood or scene. And the wilderness scenes reek of looking phony because it appears that they are shooting on a big movie set, not in the actual woods when they were doing location shooting in Season 1. The whole lived-in vibe of the first season has all but disappeared into a more stylish and less gritty atmosphere in Season 2. So why 6 stars? Mostly because despite some shoddy writing and editing, there's still some really great acting in this episode, namely the aforementioned Adult Shauna and Young Misty monologues as well as Young Nat's monologue to Jackie's burned and ravaged corpse. The show is still surviving and thriving off it's well-chosen cast, but right now, it feels more like an acting showcase in Season 2 than the more tight, compelling, focused story that existed in Season 1. Hopefully, the rest of the season gets back to it's Season 1 roots.
