HEMLOCK GROVE Season 2 Review

Article originally written for Seat42F.

Netflix’s HEMLOCK GROVE, the popular but critically derided supernatural drama, returns tomorrow for a second, shorter season on the streaming service. Season two, which will consist of ten episodes, picks up a few months after the events of season one. Events conspire to bring Peter Rumancek (Landon Liboiron) back to the town of Hemlock Grove and into its scary, dangerous mess once more. Who will make it out alive this time?

HEMLOCK GROVE is a creepy and bloody place to live. Even though our heroes manage to take down a serial killer previously, the premiere this year opens with a new deadly menace. It might be a little hard to swallow another mass murderer in the same place, but then, it’s also apparent that HEMLOCK GROVE attracts the odd types, given the cast of players already in place. This is one area where belief must be suspended for the course of the series, as each subsequent batch of installments will likely present much the same.

It is welcome that HEMLOCK GROVE gets right back to the linchpin stories right after that first scene. Shelley (Nicole Boivin) is still missing, but she is far from forgotten. Norman (Dougray Scott) is continuing to mourn his daughter, Letha (Penelope Mitchell), who died in childbirth, and Olivia’s (Famke Janssen) absence from her big house is definitely felt. More importantly, Roman (Bill Skarsgard) continues to feel abandoned by Peter’s swift departure, and it will take no small amount of repair work if they are to be friends again.

And friends again, it seems they must be. After all, who else is going to stop the killing? Peter’s mother, Lynda (Lili Taylor, still woefully a ‘guest star’) needs their help, too, in the arc that brings Peter back to the area. Besides, while Peter has others to lean on to assist him, Roman does not, and Roman seems much less capable of coping through the tough times by himself, though he’s definitely been trying in the gap between seasons.

The relationship between Roman and Peter is key to HEMLOCK GROVE. It is shattered at the end of season one, but I’m hopeful, despite a very rocky beginning in the return, that they can fix things. They are unlikely pals from completely different worlds and with overlapping, but not completely consistent, values. They make for an interesting dynamic, and Roman’s latent homosexual tendencies only make the sparks dance higher. Whether they ever become a couple (doubtful) or not, they need to come back together with a stronger bond that cannot be broken this time. That, or they will become arch-nemeses, which feels like a much less original way to go to me.

Fans of the series will remember that of the six main characters listed in the opening credits, all three women were presumed dead at the close of the first year. One of those three has been widely reported in the press to be retaining her full-time presence, though I won’t say which one, just in case you don’t already know. Filling the other two slots are two recurring players, Destiny Rumancek (Tiio Horn) and Dr. Johann Pryce (Joel de la Fuente), both established presences earning promotions in the sophomore run, and good choices to make up for the loss of the others.

HEMLOCK GROVE is popcorn fare, to be sure, lacking real depth in the characters and more concerned with moving rapidly from one event to the next than providing growth or making you think. However, it is entertaining, enjoyable, good fun. The writers are clever enough to surprise us, including with a big twist involving a familiar face late in the second season premiere. All of this makes for a pace that is never boring, and by avoiding a lot of the vampire and werewolf clichés, taking older legends as the source material instead of pop culture, it doesn’t feel tired or repetitive of others in the genre.

HEMLOCK GROVE’s entire second season will be available tomorrow exclusively on Netflix.

Fun Fact: This review is exactly 666 words, and that happened purely by chance.

Hemlock Grove is a Familiar Place

Article first published as HEMLOCK GROVE Review on Seat42F.

Grade: 83%

Netflix’s latest drama is called HEMLOCK GROVE. Based on the novel of the same name, HEMLOCK GROVE begins with kinky sex and the murder of a teenager, which are unrelated, I think, but make for a one-two punch with some serious drawing power. It’s important, in a television field crowded with horror and murder mystery entries, that the opening grab viewers. But many a series has had a great hook, then failed to deliver.

HEMLOCK GROVE, not even released yet, has already been beset upon by bad press. Many note that it fails to live up to Netflix’s last original series, House of Cards. Although, just about every series ever created would fail to live up to House of Cards, a brilliant drama, so by comparison, yes, HEMLOCK GROVE is not nearly as good.

Which doesn’t make it bad, necessarily.

HEMLOCK GROVE feels pretty familiar. It’s about a bunch of brooding teens and their equally mysterious parents living in a gloomy town. There are hints in the first episode of both a vampire and a werewolf, and one girl looks like something straight out of FX’s American Horror Story: Asylum. In fact, HEMLOCK GROVE seems to take inspiration from Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle, and The Killing, to name a few.

What it lacks in originality, it does attempt to make up for in pay-cable level content. You will see a topless girl in the first few minutes. The body of Brooke Bluebell (Lorenza Izzo), the character killed early in the pilot’s run, is pretty gory. There is a homosexual predator introduced who goes after girls far too young for her. These are things that HEMLOCK GROVE, being on Netflix, can use to set itself apart from the tamer fare.

I also think Netflix’s model of releasing all thirteen episodes of the first season at once will serve it well. This is the type of show that begs marathon viewing. Want to know who killed Brooke? Just keep watching. You don’t have to wait twelve weeks, with the puzzle slowly doled out forty minutes at a time. That immediacy should help retain viewers who are on fence after the first installment or two.

That being said, I don’t know that HEMLOCK GROVE has real staying power. I only have access to the beginning of the season, not the entire thing, so I can’t say for certain the impact of the complete picture. But, only a few hours after viewing the first episode, I am having trouble remembering very many of the characters’ names, and I’m not entirely sold on the premise, which isn’t completely apparent. The effects are good, and I remember moments, just not people. The cast is capable, but their roles aren’t well defined as unique personalities at this point, certainly no one really standing out right away. I will probably watch more. But I’m not super excited to get back to it, a I was with House of Cards.

At the start of the first episode, “Jellyfish in the Sky,” a Gypsy boy named Peter Rumancek (Landon Liboiron, Terra Nova, Degrassi: The Next Generation) comes to town with his mother, Lynda (Lili Taylor, Six Feet Under). Because they are new to the area, obviously they quickly become suspects in Brooke’s murder case. But they seem gentle enough. Also, they move into a deceased’s relative’s place, so they may have some connection to the locale.

The other major family introduced in “Jellyfish in the Sky” consists of Roman Godfrey (Bill Skarsgard), his mother, Olivia (Famke Janssen, X-Men), and his sister, Shelley. They are rich and not very nice, and we soon see that there is likely more to them than meets the eye. Olivia is accused of being some type of monster, and Shelley visually is one, providing the only really cheesy bit in the pilot, as Shelley shuffles around with her grotesque face covered up, presumably to save on effects, though I have trouble complaining about not seeing her face too often.

While the Godfreys appear evil and the Rumanceks seem good, it’s clear that it won’t be as simple as that. We do get more backstory on the Godfreys in the first episode, so of course we get to see the darker aspects of their clan, including what happened to Mr. Godfrey, and how they interact with remembers of their extended family. But we don’t know much about the Rumanceks, and they may have a gritty side, too, as we see that they aren’t above stealing.

Either way, these are the main characters, or the two boys are, at least, so it’s unlikely that one of them is the killer. Instead, we’ll eventually find out who they are and what their motivations might be. A description of the series says they end up working together to find the killer, which seems an odd pairing, but I’m sure that will explained as things unfold, and it could be interesting.

The guys are surrounded by many other strange characters, each of whom could possibly be the murderer, based on the little bits we see of them. There’s the weird girl next door, Christina (Freya Tingley), who fancies herself an investigator. Norman Godfrey (Dougray Scott, Desperate Housewives) is Roman’s uncle, who has had, or is having, an affair with Roman’s mom. The town sheriff is Tom Sworn (Aaron Douglas, Battlestar Galactica), whom we know nothing about. And surely there will be others in the coming episodes.

I feel like HEMLOCK GROVE distracts us with a large number of characters so that they have room to keep us guessing, which is a good thing, sort of. If only there were any clue that might help us begin that process in “Jellyfish in the Sky.” Or a character to connect to and get behind. As such, it should appeal fine to those who dig the other scary stuff on TV, but I doubt it will have a broad appeal or defy convention.

HEMLOCK GROVE’s thirteen episode first season will be available this Friday on Netflix.

Will Netflix Change Television?

 Article first published as Will Netflix Change Television? on Blogcritics.

Netflix has long been thought of as a minor threat to traditional television, and a little bit bigger danger to DVD sales. Launched in 1998, its streaming service is super convenient, available on a wide variety of platforms such as game consoles, smart TVs, blu-ray players, and, my favorite, TiVo. It also offers a disc service where you can get films and shows delivered straight to your door. It may not have new episodes of stuff currently running on television now, but it's far cheaper than cable, and it's content library is large enough to keep fans happy for a long time.

With this model, Netflix makes a dent in the entertainment industry, but it doesn't throw it on its head. After all, many people will still turn to the channels offering fresh content, rather than switching to a subscription service that features last year's episodes.

Especially when said provider almost doubled its prices two years ago while splitting the disc and streaming services, which angered many, and sent lots of users packing. This was a terrible business move, and I admit, I left them for awhile. Honestly, I suspected an end to the company. How wrong I was, as Netflix recently has bounced back, stronger than ever, mostly in its streaming side, making the disc business a holdover for older users.

And now Netflix has expanded its operation to be a content maker, not just a content provider. Last year's first Netflix original series, Lilyhammer, was well regarded, but posted to little fanfare, and was not widely watched. Now, with the launch of House of Cards last weekend, Netflix has put itself on the map as a destination for great new television.

For those who haven't yet tuned in, House of Cards is an exciting political thriller starring the great Kevin Spacey as a manipulative Congressmen who has a beef with the president. The outstanding supporting cast includes Robin Wright and Kate Mara.

If House of Cards were to air on television, it would be on HBO. It's dark and gritty, but not really violent. It features A-list movie stars and incredibly intelligent writing. The engrossing plot keeps one guessing, and the characters are both deeply flawed and highly intelligent, with their power struggles and influence games having far-reaching effects. It's a character study in power, and also a great way to spend a few hours.

This puts Netflix on par to compete with other pay cable channels. I will be shocked if Spacey doesn't get at least an Emmy nomination, if not a win. It's premium quality entertainment, and the series has single-handedly made Netflix a formidable player in the television landscape.

Rather than rest on its laurels, though, or continue a slow dip into this side of the industry, Netflix has a slate of more programming coming soon. Second seasons have been ordered for both Lilyhammer and House of Cards. The cult favorite Arrested Development, canceled years ago by FOX, will find a new home on Netflix with a brand new fourth season, before moving to the big screen. Ricky Gervais's British hit Derek is coming, as are two more original series, Hemlock Grove and Orange is the New Black, which star the likes of Jason Biggs, Laura Prepon, Kate Mulgrew, Taylor Schilling, Bill Skarsgard, and Famke Janssen. And this is just their 2013 lineup.

It's a slate of comedy and drama, new stuff and revered favorites. It's an impressive batch for a first year, and it means that Netflix is willing to put forward the capital to make a name for itself.

If Netflix begins serving up more new shows, maybe more of their subscribers will flee cable and broadcast. After all, it's cheap, and the quality is high. It will satisfy their urge to watch shows before they age, and it makes more competition for already established networks. If Netflix were to add in-season episodes of other channels' lineups, it would quickly dominate.

One advantage Netflix series have over their peers is that Netflix has decided to drop the entire season's worth of episodes at once. I've only made it halfway through House of Cards in the past week, but for many who use Netflix to consume marathons of episodes, watching them back-to-back, they don't expect to have to wait a week for the next installment, and Netflix doesn't make them do so.

Yes, this makes sense for Netflix subscribers, but will more traditional viewers embrace such a shift? Absolutely. They can still watch weekly, if they prefer, but if one episode ends on a cliffhanger, they have the option to continue viewing the story. It's a brilliant stroke.

Now, I'm not saying that this model makes sense for all channels. While cable may order a season at a time, broadcast still often pulls under-performing series after just a couple of episodes. They would not have this option, making more of a financial investment if they were committed to thirteen or more outings.

However, it could raise the content quality overall. If FOX, ABC, NBC, and CBS knew that they had to pay for an entire season before they could even find out if people would watch, would they continue to deliver some of the low hanging fruit that they currently do? This bigger gamble might mean a more careful consideration of what makes it to release.

I'm not saying that Netflix has presented the television model that will dominate going forward, but it has presented one such option. With declining viewers numbers on regular television, and many hating Hulu Plus's commercials for even the paying subscribers, Netflix is a big player in streaming and Internet-based programming, which is what many young people are interested in. There will be similar competitors, but Netflix has arrived first.

Is this a good thing for television? I think so. Any player that goes after worthwhile stuff, and forces others to rethink or reorganize, is welcome in the marketplace. Competition is good, and Netflix is performing well. I look forward to finding out the next development in this course change.

Want to read some of my fiction? It's on my website, JeromeWetzel.com! Also, for the latest updates and article links, as well as commentary on episodes I don't fully review, please follow me on Twitter.