What a messy trainwreck. And I'm saying that as someone who didn't get all the bad ratings and reviews in the beginning.
The premise is quite interesting. Girl grows up in a cult, escapes after suffering severe abuse, psychologist with a traumatic past takes care of her and makes her part of her own family which causes tension and danger because the cult is not done with the girl yet.
First off, for a show about a supposed evil Satanic cult, the "main antagonists" are almost a non-presence and only steer up real trouble in the finale. Sure, they have looming presence and appear in some flashbacks but overall it's so over the top and ridiculous that they never get as menacing as they're supposed to be.
The story is partially paced well and then suddenly incredibly slow. Nothing interesting happens, is what I am trying to say. Instead of focusing on Mae's background, her trauma and the cult lurking in the background, most of the show focuses on teenage drama and plotlines involving the main family that never actually goes anywhere or feels pretty redunant because the characters are so paper thin that it's almost impossible to be invested in them.
Suzanne, played by Emily Deschanel, is a terrible character. She is bad at her job and an awful mother to her daughters. I get she has suffered through sever trauma herself and never dealt with some underlying aspects of it, but damn how wasn't that woman fired. How is her husband still talking to her? The writing for her character is off and badly researched, it feels like a Google Search for "things a psychologist might say" and that's most of her dialogue. She also negelects her family and actively puts them in danger for a girl she just met (trauma projection as an explanation does not explain all of her irratic behavior). She is also highly unprofessional (even taking in one of her patients is illogical), terrible at reading situations and emotionally easily to manipulate. The finale was really the icing on the top. Who leaves their family like that and then expects some understanding for it? Also, I've never watched all of Bones, but I know Emily D. is a better actor than this show broadcasts. There were acting choices downright irritating here.
Suzanne's husband Peter is not the best of characters either, but at least he is a more decent parent than her. He unfortunately gets stuck in the cliched role of "husband who makes less money than his successful wife and can't be an adult about it," for half of the season, but thankfully that changes towards the end.
Helen, the eldest daughter, is a pointless character. She first is portrayed as some kind of popular mean girl who treats her younger sister awfully at school and then is thrown in some half-baked coming out story. She literally serves no purpose within the story and could've been written out completely without any change to the overall plot.
Middle child Jules is actually the only one of the sisters that serves a narrative purpose. She is a socially awkward loner, with only one close friend, a crush on a rather popular boy and gets unfortunately chosen by her mother to take Mae under her wing. Jules can act slightly irritating as well, though she is a teenager and her behavior is at least understandable. Why I don't agree with calling a trauma survivor who has no idea how socialzing works a "narcissist" I did feel sympathy for Jules and her feelings of neglect and being replaced. She didn't always react in the right way, but at least she was sympathetic in her reasons.
Dani, the youngest daughter, is one of the two most likeable characters on the show. Narratively she also barely serves aby purpose but she is adorable and loves Musicals, so she basically gets a pass for everything.
The other truly likeable character is Alex, the lead detective on Mae's case. He is a genuinely good guy who is also competent in his job and actually moves the narrative forward. I'm also not sure if he was flirting with the younger officer (whose name I never caught) who assisted him or if it was supposed to be a mentor/mentee relationship but who cares, they were kinda cute.
There were also some side characters like Isaac, Jules' best friend who was irrationally jealous of Mae because she spend like a couple of days with her. There's Helen's boyfriend Teddy, who has no personality and exists for some dumb last minute plot twist. There's this evil Sheriff who never feels as threatening as he is intended to be. Noah, Mae's older brother also shows up briefly trying to get close to Jules, but he's also so inconsequential nothing would be missing without him in the story.
Which brings me to Mae herself and my question, what the fuck did the writers even intend with her character. One minute she was supposed to be a sympathetic and misunderstood victim, who just didn't understand social norms and trying her best to fit within the family and the next minute some weird jump scare music started playing (the music in this show was awful) and she was portrayed as a psychotic and creepy horror movie villain. Like what was the intention here? Making her sympathetic made sense, but the villainizing of an abuse victim rang all the wrong bells. Especially since the finale confirmed that apparently the more sinister approach towards Mae was the more intended one (even if it happened because she grew up in that cult, she was shown with a basic knowledge and emotional understanding of right and wrong as well as common morals). So she was a manipulate narcissist after all? What kind of message does that send?
Honestly, I think the show had potential but the bad writing just completely screwed that one up. I just keep wondering if the book is just as irritating.
@tinytinkerbell9 Was thinking about how to describe the show. But you already did an outstanding job. Indeed messy, and only on the end it got me hooked enough to watch further.
Review by TinkaBlockedParent2022-09-25T17:05:59Z
What a messy trainwreck. And I'm saying that as someone who didn't get all the bad ratings and reviews in the beginning.
The premise is quite interesting. Girl grows up in a cult, escapes after suffering severe abuse, psychologist with a traumatic past takes care of her and makes her part of her own family which causes tension and danger because the cult is not done with the girl yet.
First off, for a show about a supposed evil Satanic cult, the "main antagonists" are almost a non-presence and only steer up real trouble in the finale. Sure, they have looming presence and appear in some flashbacks but overall it's so over the top and ridiculous that they never get as menacing as they're supposed to be.
The story is partially paced well and then suddenly incredibly slow. Nothing interesting happens, is what I am trying to say. Instead of focusing on Mae's background, her trauma and the cult lurking in the background, most of the show focuses on teenage drama and plotlines involving the main family that never actually goes anywhere or feels pretty redunant because the characters are so paper thin that it's almost impossible to be invested in them.
Suzanne, played by Emily Deschanel, is a terrible character. She is bad at her job and an awful mother to her daughters. I get she has suffered through sever trauma herself and never dealt with some underlying aspects of it, but damn how wasn't that woman fired. How is her husband still talking to her? The writing for her character is off and badly researched, it feels like a Google Search for "things a psychologist might say" and that's most of her dialogue. She also negelects her family and actively puts them in danger for a girl she just met (trauma projection as an explanation does not explain all of her irratic behavior). She is also highly unprofessional (even taking in one of her patients is illogical), terrible at reading situations and emotionally easily to manipulate. The finale was really the icing on the top. Who leaves their family like that and then expects some understanding for it? Also, I've never watched all of Bones, but I know Emily D. is a better actor than this show broadcasts. There were acting choices downright irritating here.
Suzanne's husband Peter is not the best of characters either, but at least he is a more decent parent than her. He unfortunately gets stuck in the cliched role of "husband who makes less money than his successful wife and can't be an adult about it," for half of the season, but thankfully that changes towards the end.
Helen, the eldest daughter, is a pointless character. She first is portrayed as some kind of popular mean girl who treats her younger sister awfully at school and then is thrown in some half-baked coming out story. She literally serves no purpose within the story and could've been written out completely without any change to the overall plot.
Middle child Jules is actually the only one of the sisters that serves a narrative purpose. She is a socially awkward loner, with only one close friend, a crush on a rather popular boy and gets unfortunately chosen by her mother to take Mae under her wing. Jules can act slightly irritating as well, though she is a teenager and her behavior is at least understandable. Why I don't agree with calling a trauma survivor who has no idea how socialzing works a "narcissist" I did feel sympathy for Jules and her feelings of neglect and being replaced. She didn't always react in the right way, but at least she was sympathetic in her reasons.
Dani, the youngest daughter, is one of the two most likeable characters on the show. Narratively she also barely serves aby purpose but she is adorable and loves Musicals, so she basically gets a pass for everything.
The other truly likeable character is Alex, the lead detective on Mae's case. He is a genuinely good guy who is also competent in his job and actually moves the narrative forward. I'm also not sure if he was flirting with the younger officer (whose name I never caught) who assisted him or if it was supposed to be a mentor/mentee relationship but who cares, they were kinda cute.
There were also some side characters like Isaac, Jules' best friend who was irrationally jealous of Mae because she spend like a couple of days with her. There's Helen's boyfriend Teddy, who has no personality and exists for some dumb last minute plot twist. There's this evil Sheriff who never feels as threatening as he is intended to be. Noah, Mae's older brother also shows up briefly trying to get close to Jules, but he's also so inconsequential nothing would be missing without him in the story.
Which brings me to Mae herself and my question, what the fuck did the writers even intend with her character. One minute she was supposed to be a sympathetic and misunderstood victim, who just didn't understand social norms and trying her best to fit within the family and the next minute some weird jump scare music started playing (the music in this show was awful) and she was portrayed as a psychotic and creepy horror movie villain. Like what was the intention here? Making her sympathetic made sense, but the villainizing of an abuse victim rang all the wrong bells. Especially since the finale confirmed that apparently the more sinister approach towards Mae was the more intended one (even if it happened because she grew up in that cult, she was shown with a basic knowledge and emotional understanding of right and wrong as well as common morals). So she was a manipulate narcissist after all? What kind of message does that send?
Honestly, I think the show had potential but the bad writing just completely screwed that one up. I just keep wondering if the book is just as irritating.