From: Season 3 (Full season)
September 26, 2024 6:05 PM - Season 3 (Full Season) - Subscribe

As the weather grows colder, the residents grow more desperate.
posted by porpoise (16 comments total)
 
Well, I'm going to torture myself again and watch it episode by episode.

The first one's ending is actually pretty brutal (in a way that bodes... better? [Also, it's the weakest cliffhanger I've ever seen.]).
posted by porpoise at 7:37 PM on September 26 [1 favorite]


So mrjohnmuller, were you asked back for season 3?
posted by porpoise at 9:20 PM on September 26 [1 favorite]


Oh gosh, I don't know if I can do it. Season 1 was so so great. And all that great stuff got put on the back burner for season 2. It felt like, "Hey, maybe we can keep this thing going for ten seasons! Shit, then we need a season of filler for season 2." All that momentum was ruined.
posted by jabah at 9:34 PM on September 26 [2 favorites]


I need to never use "actually pretty" ever again. Sorry, world.
posted by porpoise at 9:45 PM on September 26


So mrjohnmuller, were you asked back for season 3?

Yep! Sharp eyed mefites might notice me lurking in the background from time to time!
posted by mrjohnmuller at 3:24 AM on September 27 [5 favorites]


I'm just going follow the comments here before I sink anymore time into this. Season 2 was giving me Lost energy and I am not making that mistake again.
posted by miss-lapin at 3:35 AM on September 27


Just finished the first ep of season 3. Fuck this, I'm out.
posted by Mogur at 7:41 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]


I hope this is going to be more than a bunch of people saying they aren't going to watch Season 3, because that is boring.

I like the way Fatima is hungering for the rotten food, that's a good turn. I'm really disappointed they killed of Tian-Chen. I don't like seeing the monster faces of the weird smiley people, that makes them less creepy. I really like the actress who plays Julie Matthews, she's doing a great job. The whole tale Victor's dad told in the basement about his wife's acid trip felt a little to magical and explain-the-situation-y. I'm also not sure why the picture of the kid in white surrounded by trees made Tabitha's eyes go wide. I found the interaction between Donna and Boyd where Donna yelled at him for going after the cattle to be emotionally complex and realistic. And it is interesting how Julie is seeing the writing on the wall re: her turning into Sara.

All that said, I'm not sure what the big arc is going to be for this season, and it feels like a mixed bag. The ending of Evil was so brutally disappointing that I don't have high hopes, but I'll stick through the whole season, if only because having a show whose name is just a barely Googlable preposition last 3 seasons is a feat worthy of respect.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:28 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]


Brutal(ly good special effects). But yeah, the monster faces make for much less unease. Getting further away from the uncanny valley.

Sooo much emotional labour given and received.

I am interested in Tabitha's arc on the outside. Also, seconding Hannah Cheramy (Julie).

Great casting choice for Victor's dad.

Ethan Mathews "Is that the cow that died from last night?* I've never seen what things look like on the inside before. Is that what Tian-Chen looked like after what they did to her?"

*incidentally, Donna taking the tenderloins out first was another bit of verisimilitude. That and the bonding over Tian-Chen's body.

I actually teared up a bit during the bit between Boyd and Kenny.

re: Tabitha's ohmygod, I think she realizes that Victor's mom has already seen Victor's predicament?

I wonder if in season 1, "Thomas" was already pre-conceived or if they wrote in the dead son later on.
posted by porpoise at 1:30 PM on September 30 [2 favorites]


Sorry if I got triggered in a way that bores people. Next time I'll try to be more entertaining.
posted by Mogur at 2:00 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]


It wasn't a dig at you specifically, Mogur. It was just dispiriting to see the first batch of comments be down on the show in general.
posted by grumpybear69 at 2:09 PM on September 30


I'm sorry for overreacting - I was genuinely triggered by Tien's torture and am only now coming out of it. I've flagged my comment and hopefully it will be deleted soon.
posted by Mogur at 2:43 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]


In season 2 I recall the first episode being the worst in terms of gore and grue, and then a long stretch of not very much. This season, I thought it was quite effective they way they mostly focussed on Boyd's face at the end of ep1, rather than continuing on showing Tian-Chen. Then in Ep 2, they went back to that well and showed the worst of it it in memory flashes, so you may well have made the best decision for you, Mogur.

Agree with the diminishing returns on frightface. It works so much better just before a cut, or as a flash in the darkness, rather than hanging around with the normal darkwalker faces. The water woman with the moving features still creeps me the heck out though.

It took me a while to remember what had happened last season at the start. Out of context and in grungey clothes, Tabitha looked young enough and similar enought to be the daughter.
posted by Sparx at 3:34 PM on September 30


Regarding showing Tian-Chen's mutilated body, I think that had to be done because that's a core part of their experience - sitting with and dealing with the reality of this horror. If it were all offscreen, it would start to feel like a soap opera in purgatory. The whole bit Kristi tells Kenny that of course she'll make his mom look presentable and is then faced with the reality of the task is very effective. And I like how it ends up being a team effort, because of course it would. And they all look traumatized.

I think the actual graphic scenes of mutilation in episode 2 were maybe a bridge too far, though. We already knew what happened - it was gratuitous, and that time could have been spent fleshing out another plot point.
posted by grumpybear69 at 5:47 AM on October 1


So, the boy in white is supposed to be the one who pushed her off of the lighthouse.

The garbage baby arc is... disconcerting and handled sweetly. 'Well then, lets find out." But who line dries laundry outside in sub zero temperature?

This season is straight up telling us that the goalposts have been moved.

Harold Perrineau is showing a bunch of tics similar to his autistic character's in Claws, whenever Boyd is agitated.

A couple of really good jump scares.

And another not-a-cliffhanger. I'm digging Tabitha's arc.
posted by porpoise at 1:18 PM on October 6


I felt like the first two episodes were spinning their wheels a bit, but episode 3 was pretty intriguing. I'm kind of a sucker for "is this real or not" hijinks, if they're done well, and Tabitha's discovery of the bracelet and subsequent reaction was nicely uncanny. I think my favorite bit was the tarot-interrupting crow, though, and my favorite bit of that bit was that the sleeping knitter that the crow awakened was wearing a t-shirt with a crow on it.
posted by whir at 8:46 AM on October 7 [1 favorite]


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