Article first published as TV Review: ROOM 104 on Seat42F.
The Duplass Brothers, the brains behind
the television series Togetherness and films such as The Skeleton Twins,
have another new show on HBO,
premiering this week. Called ROOM 104, it’s an anthology series, with
each roughly half-hour episode featuring a self-contained cast and
story, all set in the same dreary motel room.
Half a dozen installments were made
available for critics (not the first six, but a selection from
throughout the season), and I reviewed two of them in preparation for
this article. In the premiere, “Ralphie,” a babysitter watches a kid
named Ralph, who has an evil side named Ralphie. Or does he? The third
episode, “The Knockadoo,” finds a woman seeking spiritual guidance to
transcend, a task made difficult by a memory from her past.
Going by these two installments, I’d say
that ROOM 104 is going for creepy and supernatural in the makeup of the
program. Both episodes have things that cannot be explained by science
(or possibly reality in general), they’re both a bit scary, and they are
both very dark in tone and lighting. They did kind of feel like the
same episode in a lot of ways, with the narrative arc and ‘twist’
endings following a similar, broad pattern. I am slightly curious if
that trend will continue, not something you necessarily want in a series
like this.
They’re also both kind of ambiguous
about what’s going on. While one may think they’ve surmised what they’ve
seen based on what plays out on screen, there are multiple ways to
interpret the endings of them. When done well, this is a great element
for television shows to make use of. But when done in a mediocre or
gimmicky manner, then it’s an obvious and annoying ploy. In ROOM 104,
it’s sadly the latter. Or, at least, it fails to feel fresh and
interesting.
I kind of found the entire thing
lackluster. While I have enjoyed the Duplass Brothers’ comedy writing
and acting roles, sometimes they go into weird territory that I do not
want to follow them into. This series is that, seemingly weird for the
sake of being weird, no clear vision or point really coming across, at
least not in the two episodes that I’ve viewed.
In general, I like anthology shows.
Black Mirror is a terrific example of the genre, The Twilight Zone is a
classic, and I even enjoyed Metal Hurlant, which never really took off
in popularity here. It’s a cool format in which to tell very different
tales, explore a short-form topic, and pose questions to make one think
without having to deal with continuing consequences or reset to a
baseline.
But it’s tricky to do well, and I just
don’t feel ROOM 104 goes deep enough. While the endings may not be
completely clear, neither episode left me with anything to consider, or
challenged my assumptions and views in any way. I didn’t feel any type
of connection to them, can’t imagine bringing them up for discussion
with anyone, and didn’t feel like the installments had anything to say.
I don’t want to trash the Duplass
Brothers. As I said, they’ve made many worthwhile contributions to the
media landscape, and I have been a fan of much of their past work. I
just think this one falls short for them, or perhaps it just isn’t for
me. The production design seems solid, I just didn’t think the stories
were as innovative or engaging. Maybe some of the other episodes will
prove me wrong. The nice thing about a series like this is there are new
chances every single week to get it right.
ROOM 104 premieres Friday on HBO.
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