The pilot turns the ponderous dramatics up to eleven, it's all people not answering other people's phone calls, and people piercingly looking out the window, preferrably at other people driving off. The problem is, it never feels like the show is going to deliver on any of it, but rather continue to be a senseless stringing together of supernatural thriller clichés. A bit of Blair Witch, and some bits of other non-descript gloomy horror movies, including the camera-cut-away-from-the-jump-scare copout; I was quickly decided that I did not expect the show to provide enough original content to make it worth watching seven more hours.
What doesn't help is that there is some very poor acting going on, especially among the police force, and some post-production visual effects that are almost as bad. The writing doesn't fare much better, with the exposition feeling terribly forced. Most characters resort to talking to the viewer instead of the other characters on screen at least in some scenes, spelling out their relationships and backstories because apparently the writers couldn't figure out how to weave that information in naturally. Most of the time, it wouldn't even have been necessary because the situation was obvious even before the actor was forced to read off their character's brief. And I guess a police show needs to have cops driving around town to talk to people, even if their question could've been answered in a 30-second phone call.
I liked the cat, it made Alex feel like the only even remotely believable character in the entire episode.
:x: This pilot viewing resulted in a "no" for the rest of the series.
Review by DanielVIP 4BlockedParent2020-02-17T22:40:36Z
The pilot turns the ponderous dramatics up to eleven, it's all people not answering other people's phone calls, and people piercingly looking out the window, preferrably at other people driving off. The problem is, it never feels like the show is going to deliver on any of it, but rather continue to be a senseless stringing together of supernatural thriller clichés. A bit of Blair Witch, and some bits of other non-descript gloomy horror movies, including the camera-cut-away-from-the-jump-scare copout; I was quickly decided that I did not expect the show to provide enough original content to make it worth watching seven more hours.
What doesn't help is that there is some very poor acting going on, especially among the police force, and some post-production visual effects that are almost as bad. The writing doesn't fare much better, with the exposition feeling terribly forced. Most characters resort to talking to the viewer instead of the other characters on screen at least in some scenes, spelling out their relationships and backstories because apparently the writers couldn't figure out how to weave that information in naturally. Most of the time, it wouldn't even have been necessary because the situation was obvious even before the actor was forced to read off their character's brief. And I guess a police show needs to have cops driving around town to talk to people, even if their question could've been answered in a 30-second phone call.
I liked the cat, it made Alex feel like the only even remotely believable character in the entire episode.
:x: This pilot viewing resulted in a "no" for the rest of the series.