Channel Zero: No-End House: Nice Neighborhood
October 3, 2017 1:53 PM - Season 2, Episode 2 - Subscribe
Jules and Margot meet The Father. Seth, JD and Dylan each go their own way and encounter new realities that the house has to offer.
The episode opens up with flashbacks from Jules - first, in real life, outlining how she had distanced herself from Margot after the death of her father, and then touching on an unknown personal issue that left her sobbing in her car. We also see her room #5 - an endless expanse of darkness, with a hot tub-sized orb made out of something that looks like flesh. When Jules touches it, it lights up and whispers can be heard.
Jules and Margot are invited to sit down and have breakfast with The Father. They both realize that reality is altered-Margot sees a carton of eggs duplicate, Jules mentions how all the flowers have been changed to white orchids. Jules refuses to eat, but Margot is happy to finally get to ask her dad questions. The Father, when alone with Jules, tells her she needs to leave, she's a terrible friend, and Margot needs him. Jules tries to convince Margot to leave, and Margot refuses, letting Jules know that her father committed suicide. The two fight, and Jules leaves at Margot's insistence.
Meanwhile Seth and JD meetup at the House front porch. Seth wants to wait for the girls to come out (though, unknown to him, the girls left last night and it's now morning). JD is too freaked out about room 5 to stay. He says he encountered the masked man from room 2, but this time he removed his mask, and it was himself. He takes off.
Dylan, the drifter with the duffel bag, is seen breaking into several cars and trying to jumpstart them, but they have no engine. A woman runs up to him, saying she's glad she found him. Dylan tells her that he knows she isn't real, and takes out a gun and shoots her in the head. A man taking out the trash doesn't falter.
Seth is seen walking around, he comes to a cul de sac where all the houses are the same, and in the middle is a fenced-in section of grass that holds a family. They call for seth and try to grab him, but he leaves.
JD comes home to find another version of himself in his house, with an attractive and quiet girlfriend. JD and JD2 theorize about what JD2 actually is. JD2 says he knows everything about JD, like his favorite flavor of ice cream, but doesn't know how it tastes. He then berates JD for being a less cool version. JD says maybe JD2 could teach him how to be what he wants. JD2 gets up to pour JD another glass of whiskey(?), and says that what he wants is to know what pistachio ice cream tastes like, and then proceeds to viciously yet unaffectedly beat JD in the head with the bottle, repeatedly.
Dylan finds the house he was looking for, and goes in, calling for Lacey. A woman appears at the top of the stairs. Scars are visible on her arm. She says she's Lacey, but has no idea who he is. He tells her they're married, and that this isn't their house, it just looks like their house, but it's not on their street. He made it out of the last No End House, but she didn't, and he's come back for her.
Jules meets up with Seth at the dead end where the House was. It's gone now. They hole up in an empty house together, agreeing to take shifts in sleeping and taking watch. Seth offers Jules some comforting words.
We see Margot swimming in her pool, her father watching. She looks under the water, and it goes on seemingly forever. Her father comforts her. Margot has flashbacks of them swimming as children. She gets out of the pool, and the Father helps her dry off. He accidentally brushes against her skin, and he instantly is flooded with those same memories. Margot shakes it off. She trips on the steps, and the Father says he never wants to see her hurt.
Jules wakes up, hearing whispers, and heads upstairs, where the orb is in a bedroom. She touches it, and it lights up. A hand with claws presses against the inside, and slowly heads towards Jules' hand.
the Father stands in the doorway of Margot's bedroom watching her sleep. He slowly walks up to her bed, and kneels. He places his hands on her head, and is filled with her memories, focusing on his wife. In the basement, a black puddle gradually seeps, and as if floating up through the floor, the wife appears, nude and in the fetal position, covered in a thin layer of green goo. Upstairs the father continues to touch Margot, absorbing memories.
The Father arrives in the basement, looming over the figure of the mother, which is unmoved. He drops to his knees, and unkindly grabs her arm. With a swift motion he separates it from her body, revealing red pearl-like filler. He begins eating it. He tosses the arm to the side, and yanks her head off, scooping out the contents to devour.
The episode opens up with flashbacks from Jules - first, in real life, outlining how she had distanced herself from Margot after the death of her father, and then touching on an unknown personal issue that left her sobbing in her car. We also see her room #5 - an endless expanse of darkness, with a hot tub-sized orb made out of something that looks like flesh. When Jules touches it, it lights up and whispers can be heard.
Jules and Margot are invited to sit down and have breakfast with The Father. They both realize that reality is altered-Margot sees a carton of eggs duplicate, Jules mentions how all the flowers have been changed to white orchids. Jules refuses to eat, but Margot is happy to finally get to ask her dad questions. The Father, when alone with Jules, tells her she needs to leave, she's a terrible friend, and Margot needs him. Jules tries to convince Margot to leave, and Margot refuses, letting Jules know that her father committed suicide. The two fight, and Jules leaves at Margot's insistence.
Meanwhile Seth and JD meetup at the House front porch. Seth wants to wait for the girls to come out (though, unknown to him, the girls left last night and it's now morning). JD is too freaked out about room 5 to stay. He says he encountered the masked man from room 2, but this time he removed his mask, and it was himself. He takes off.
Dylan, the drifter with the duffel bag, is seen breaking into several cars and trying to jumpstart them, but they have no engine. A woman runs up to him, saying she's glad she found him. Dylan tells her that he knows she isn't real, and takes out a gun and shoots her in the head. A man taking out the trash doesn't falter.
Seth is seen walking around, he comes to a cul de sac where all the houses are the same, and in the middle is a fenced-in section of grass that holds a family. They call for seth and try to grab him, but he leaves.
JD comes home to find another version of himself in his house, with an attractive and quiet girlfriend. JD and JD2 theorize about what JD2 actually is. JD2 says he knows everything about JD, like his favorite flavor of ice cream, but doesn't know how it tastes. He then berates JD for being a less cool version. JD says maybe JD2 could teach him how to be what he wants. JD2 gets up to pour JD another glass of whiskey(?), and says that what he wants is to know what pistachio ice cream tastes like, and then proceeds to viciously yet unaffectedly beat JD in the head with the bottle, repeatedly.
Dylan finds the house he was looking for, and goes in, calling for Lacey. A woman appears at the top of the stairs. Scars are visible on her arm. She says she's Lacey, but has no idea who he is. He tells her they're married, and that this isn't their house, it just looks like their house, but it's not on their street. He made it out of the last No End House, but she didn't, and he's come back for her.
Jules meets up with Seth at the dead end where the House was. It's gone now. They hole up in an empty house together, agreeing to take shifts in sleeping and taking watch. Seth offers Jules some comforting words.
We see Margot swimming in her pool, her father watching. She looks under the water, and it goes on seemingly forever. Her father comforts her. Margot has flashbacks of them swimming as children. She gets out of the pool, and the Father helps her dry off. He accidentally brushes against her skin, and he instantly is flooded with those same memories. Margot shakes it off. She trips on the steps, and the Father says he never wants to see her hurt.
Jules wakes up, hearing whispers, and heads upstairs, where the orb is in a bedroom. She touches it, and it lights up. A hand with claws presses against the inside, and slowly heads towards Jules' hand.
the Father stands in the doorway of Margot's bedroom watching her sleep. He slowly walks up to her bed, and kneels. He places his hands on her head, and is filled with her memories, focusing on his wife. In the basement, a black puddle gradually seeps, and as if floating up through the floor, the wife appears, nude and in the fetal position, covered in a thin layer of green goo. Upstairs the father continues to touch Margot, absorbing memories.
The Father arrives in the basement, looming over the figure of the mother, which is unmoved. He drops to his knees, and unkindly grabs her arm. With a swift motion he separates it from her body, revealing red pearl-like filler. He begins eating it. He tosses the arm to the side, and yanks her head off, scooping out the contents to devour.
Also, again, no jump scares, but good GOD is this show unsettling? John Carroll Lynch is doing a very, very good job of being just...unnerving. In a way you can't quite pin down. I love it. Especially when he starts the record while Jules and Margot are fighting, it's playing Remember by the Shangri Las. So, so creepy in this context.
posted by FirstMateKate at 2:05 PM on October 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by FirstMateKate at 2:05 PM on October 3, 2017 [1 favorite]
I continue to like this, and at this point it seems much stronger than Candle Cove. It definitely has the feeling of the characters being trapped inside the house's dream, with the house feeding off of their memories, emotions, and thoughts. Another aspect that might come into play is the house creating doppelgangers that it then sends out into top-level reality to do its work. The more that I'm writing, the more it feels like the general cosmology of the Twin Peaks universe, with the House serving the same basic function as the lodges.
I'm excited about tonight's episode! Also glad about the format (six episodes and distinct stories each season), because it means we get at least some sort of end to the story.
posted by codacorolla at 8:39 AM on October 4, 2017
I'm excited about tonight's episode! Also glad about the format (six episodes and distinct stories each season), because it means we get at least some sort of end to the story.
posted by codacorolla at 8:39 AM on October 4, 2017
Jules obviously had an abortion, right?
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:31 PM on October 6, 2017
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:31 PM on October 6, 2017
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-Beware the cannibals finds meaning in the end scene
-Is the Father stealing her memories? Is that what happened to JD2's girl? He said she's from the outside, like JD1.
-Did the first scene in the first episode, of Lacey running towards the no-end house, happen before or after the present?
-mother's innards are very reminiscent of pomegranate pearls, I wonder if this is a Persephone and the underworld shout-out? If so, it's wise of Jules to not eat the food.
posted by FirstMateKate at 1:58 PM on October 3, 2017 [2 favorites]