S01.E01: Welcome to Matheson

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

After the Lockes move into Keyhouse, Bode makes a new acquaintance -- and a startling discovery. Tyler and Kinsey try to start over at a new high school.

Dropping on Friday, February 7, 2020.

[Prower]

Well Echo's (or whatever her real name is) plan didn't make a lick of sense. If not for increadible coincidence the little boy would have gone into the mirror prison himself and taken the anywhere key with him...

[formerlyfreedom]

The opening credit sequence is fantastic. I eagerly await the next chance I have to flip someone off and say, ‘Aloha!’.

[magpye29]

I can't believe no one is watching this show!  Aloha!

[Aliferously]

It was compelling enough. 

Until they fell into the trope of someone releasing an evil spirit from a well. Do these people not watch horror movies? Nothing trapped in a well is a good thing. They are in there for a reason. For that matter, whoever traps these beings should also destroy said well lest someone gets in their head to set the creature free. I was literally yelling this at my screen.

I was also pretty disappointed that the villain is basically a spoiled brat in a cocktail dress.

 

[Featherhat]

I watched it knowing nothing about it beyond the basic premise and the fact that they've been trying to get in on TV for years in several different iterations. 

I liked it well enough for a pilot. It's always nice to see an Ashmore and I often like Darby Sanchfield. The kids were all decent enough in their roles.

I really think Bode should have been more freaked out by his "echo" than he appeared to be and certainly much more inquisitive about how/why she was stuck in the well in the first place. It didn't take him long to start finding out important keys. 

I liked the house. I guess the family is the rich/infamous family in town and that's why everyone knows who they are and talk about "The Locke Girl" as if she's potential in crowd party material without ever having met her. And their father's really shitty death. 

[Chaos Theory]

First thing first.  I really enjoyed the first season of Stranger Things.  Maybe it was the nostalgia or maybe the 80s theme.  But I enjoyed the show.  After that the show got increasingly annoying until I actively hate the show now.

I have gone into this actively hating it.  The only character I actually like is the mother.   Hi Abby from Scandal.  You can do so much better then this drivel.   

Serious Question:  Does anyone else want to play Wack-A-Bode for real?  That kid is too cute and too stupid to be anything but a tv character.  First with the middle finger thing.  Then with listening to the voice in the well.   Heck if I was his sister I'd have done more then just tell mom for that stunt he pulled with the bracelet especially since it as a gift from dead dad.

I am probably going to give this a couple more episodes but I'm not expecting much,

 

[Ilovepie]

I like the idea of this more than the actual show. For me though, it's nice to have something that is TV-14 so we can watch with my 15 yo and 10yo. There is so little on Netflix that fits this age group! People were amazed at how well Umbrella Academy performed for Netflix, but we watched it for precisely this reason. I wish Netflix would invest in more shows in this vein - not little kids shows but also not TV-MA. I know our family would watch more if they did. They really need to if they want to compete with Disney+.......

Ok, Rant over. My whole family liked this enough to keep watching. I especially like the teenage kids. Not sure why the ice cream dude is so dumb that he didn't think that maybe the daughter might not be into horror after living it in real life......

Weird that mom didn't remember going into the mirror after but Tyler did. Why is that???

Also, all of these people need therapy, not moving into their dead father's creepy ancestral estate.......

[iMonrey]

So far I really like it. I know nothing of the source material and I'm usually not a fan of comic-based shows. The previews sort of made it look like they were going for a super hero angle but that does not appear to be the case, so I'm glad of that.

Connor Jessup is 26 years old and has been playing a teenager for over a decade. Granted he's still pretty much a baby-face but how much longer can he play high school kids?

Kinsey, Bode and the mother all heard the shooter demand that the father tell him everything he knew about Key House. You'd think that would way much more heavily on them when moving there. 

[Lamima]

So far so dumb. But will watch epi 2 before giving up.

[Blue Plastic]

I kind of like this okay but not sure I will make it through all the episodes.  Maybe, maybe not.  The kids (teen angst) are kind of annoying.  I wish they could have their own personalities instead of TV trope angsty, sullen, generic teens if they are going to be the focus of most of the action.

Okay, the house looking like some kind of Gothic over the top creation is one thing, but why does the school also look kind of Hogwarts-y?  Was that intentional?  They even had that chalked note on the wall saying something like "your Hogwarts invitation is not coming."  I think it would have helped balance the mood of the show for the school to be a bit more run of the mill.

[TexasGal]

On 2/20/2020 at 7:55 PM, Blue Plastic said:

 

Okay, the house looking like some kind of Gothic over the top creation is one thing, but why does the school also look kind of Hogwarts-y?  Was that intentional?  They even had that chalked note on the wall saying something like "your Hogwarts invitation is not coming."  I think it would have helped balance the mood of the show for the school to be a bit more run of the mill.

It didn’t help that the key whispering sounded exactly like the snake whispers from Chamber of Secrets.

[beaker73]

I want to like this because I enjoy Joe Hill, but the actor who plays Bode is...not good.  I feel a bit bad saying that about a child, but he’s ruining it for me. 

 

[BaskingsharkGTX]

While this show is arguably not very good it's an enjoyable enough time-passer and I'm intrigued enough to find out what the deal is with the keys. I wish the characters were a bit less cardboard and I'm not sure who the audience is supposed to be. At times it feels like a Kingian horror but it's not really horrific enough for adults yet it also has cursing and a demon(?) who 

Spoiler

likes to choke people to death while having sex with them (albeit sex where everyone's underwear stays on)

 so it's not really for kids either. 

The score is also inappropriately Christmassy. 

Also, I'm confused as to how they all get around this town. At one point they all drive to school with Javi, then Tyler has a car in one scene, then it disappears then everybody seems to walk everywhere. 

Edited March 1, 2020 by BaskingsharkGTX

[Bruinsfan]

Is the ice cream boy supposed to be autistic? How socially awkward do you have to be to not get that a slasher movie isn't appropriate entertainment for a girl whose father was recently murdered?

[BaskingsharkGTX]

On 3/2/2020 at 7:51 PM, Bruinsfan said:

Is the ice cream boy supposed to be autistic? How socially awkward do you have to be to not get that a slasher movie isn't appropriate entertainment for a girl whose father was recently murdered?

Rufus and the actor who play him are both autistic. 

The ice cream boy is just badly written.

[CoyoteBlue]

Bode is just a terrible, terrible Darwin-award-winning idiot. And Mom walks around like she's on some heavy post-trauma Valium.

I think there was some mention of the skill for using the keys runs in bloodlines so maybe that's why Mom forgot everything to do with them once out of the mirror?

ETA How was Echo able to leave the well? I assume there was something in place keeping her there and Bode is stunningly stupid, but didn't do anything to let her out that I saw. 

Edited October 3, 2020 by CoyoteBlue

[QuantumMechanic]

I’ve just started watching and I’m curious — does anyone see the white balance constantly shifting, sometime even from cut to cut? This doesn’t happen for anything else on my TV, not even other Netflix shows.

[Cigale]

Bode acts like a 3 years old…