[5.5/10] Not much to jibe with here. There’s a lot of plodding pacing masquerading as tension and class, a lot of heavy-handed symbolism, and a lot of the construction of the mystery box setup that’s standard in pilots for this sort of show which, frankly, I’m pretty tired of at this point.
The best thing “Severance” has going for it is Andre Holland as a lead. The pilot was one big morass of dullness until his Henry Dever show’s up, delivering an ultimately fruitless speech to the jury that makes you sit up and take notice the way nothing else in the pilot does. Holland does a great job at balancing the scales between insider and outsider as he returns to Castle Rock, and he’s the best reason to keep going with this.
I was also pleased to see Scott Glenn as Sheriff Pangborn, who has that weathered world-weary gravitas that makes him a solid foil to Henry. And Sissy Spacek hits a lot of the usual dementia notes for that type of character, but still hits them well. Basically, Henry’s home life and, to a lesser extent, his return home, is a lot more interesting than any, more plot-heavy stuff going on elsewhere in Castle Rock.
That includes the prison. “Severance” eventually gives a few good scares at the end, with “The Kid” killing people, as witnessed on the security cameras, in a way that’s chilling. But otherwise the prison is filled with stock characters: the corrupt corporatist warden, the good-hearted but inexperienced young correctional officer, the collection of juvenile, cynical COs surrounded by both. Basically everything in the prison is tiresome aside from Bill Skaarsgard unnerving blank stares at everyone who talks to him.
I do appreciate some of the aspiration here. There’s a lot of effort to go Twin Peaks here, as a town with a past and a lot of dark secrets to be uncovered. But they’re delivered in such a dull, standard issue way that there’s little to hook me in this opening installment. Hopefully the rest of the season improves from here and a lot of this can be chalked up to throat-clearing.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-08-15T20:31:36Z
[5.5/10] Not much to jibe with here. There’s a lot of plodding pacing masquerading as tension and class, a lot of heavy-handed symbolism, and a lot of the construction of the mystery box setup that’s standard in pilots for this sort of show which, frankly, I’m pretty tired of at this point.
The best thing “Severance” has going for it is Andre Holland as a lead. The pilot was one big morass of dullness until his Henry Dever show’s up, delivering an ultimately fruitless speech to the jury that makes you sit up and take notice the way nothing else in the pilot does. Holland does a great job at balancing the scales between insider and outsider as he returns to Castle Rock, and he’s the best reason to keep going with this.
I was also pleased to see Scott Glenn as Sheriff Pangborn, who has that weathered world-weary gravitas that makes him a solid foil to Henry. And Sissy Spacek hits a lot of the usual dementia notes for that type of character, but still hits them well. Basically, Henry’s home life and, to a lesser extent, his return home, is a lot more interesting than any, more plot-heavy stuff going on elsewhere in Castle Rock.
That includes the prison. “Severance” eventually gives a few good scares at the end, with “The Kid” killing people, as witnessed on the security cameras, in a way that’s chilling. But otherwise the prison is filled with stock characters: the corrupt corporatist warden, the good-hearted but inexperienced young correctional officer, the collection of juvenile, cynical COs surrounded by both. Basically everything in the prison is tiresome aside from Bill Skaarsgard unnerving blank stares at everyone who talks to him.
I do appreciate some of the aspiration here. There’s a lot of effort to go Twin Peaks here, as a town with a past and a lot of dark secrets to be uncovered. But they’re delivered in such a dull, standard issue way that there’s little to hook me in this opening installment. Hopefully the rest of the season improves from here and a lot of this can be chalked up to throat-clearing.