S01.E03: For Sale by Owner

[AnimeMania]

A lovely lake cabin may be haunted or the owner may be faking; a horror novelist seeks inspiration.

Special guest appearance by Melanie Scrofano as Harper North.

SYFY Premiere date: July 30, 2021

 

[AnimeMania]

God, this show is boring, not scary, and not funny. Everybody in the show treats ghosts like they are no big whoop, they need to find some people who are afraid of ghosts, to make the stories more interesting. They seem to be doubling down on the Luke love interest, Megan and Luke's mother, the two things I hate most about the show. Luke's mother, does anybody talk like that in real life?

[Real4real]

I’m kind of enjoying it.  I like the leads and how the office team is coming together, starting to appreciate each other.  I like that there’s not a lot of horror or gore involved.  I enjoyed this week’s stories with the cabin and the fussy author.  To each his own, I guess!

[Trey]

I liked it too.  It could do with a bit more humour.

I didn't know his mother was an awful person, that came as a surprise.

[auchic]

16 hours ago, Trey said:

It could do with a bit more humour.

Yes! The pilot was really good in that regard. I liked the scene at the beginning, when Luke susses out that Harper's been messing with potential clients by acting all fake spooky. They need to keep going with that. I love Melanie Scrofano in Letterkenny, and she was great here. I liked Harper and Luke bonding; they had a great rapport.

Argh, Susan, I am trying to like you! But when you have a repeat client, it makes sense to go over the old files, especially when you've been told he's eccentric (by your somewhat eccentric boss lol).  I hope we get more of Zooey and Susan working together, because I like what we've seen of Zooey. 

Speaking of, give your supporting cast more to do than being quirky personality tropes! I hope we get an origin episode of how the Roman Agency came to be, instead of the five minute exposition story on each person that we'll probably get instead. I want to know more about Father Phil and August please!

I'm glad they didn't prolong the 'will they, won't they' with Luke and Megan. The only way I'm here for that is if she's somehow involved in whatever's going on with her house. 

So Luke is some kind of medium, seeing ghosts around that others can't? And that's why his mom took off? Or maybe his mom's just a bitch? That was ice cold, what she said.

[Johannah]

Sooooo... Susan still sucks.  Is she going to act like a jerk during every episode just to end with a condescending apology and "I guess I don't know everything" and then do the same thing next week?  I know people don't change overnight, but I mostly like this show and she detracts from that.  I did like her storyline, though. The Stephen King-like author looking for a scary house.  Especially the one house that was actually oozing.  "It's actually oozing!"  LOL.  Thinking back, if she hadn't been so dismissive of the receptionist (Zooey? someone said above?), she might have been okay this episode.

I'm watching this for the fun supernatural element, so they can skip the whole Luke-love story.  Boring and awkward.

The scene with Luke's mom was sad.  I felt bad for him and younger Luke.

The lake house stuff was fun.  Fake ghost stuff propelled by real ghosts.  Nice little twist.  I thought she was doing that so her brother couldn't sell the house because SHE wanted to stay there.  I liked the twist.

If Susan stops being little-miss-know-it-all and Luke's love story plays itself out off-screen, I'd be perfectly happy with this show.  Unless they come up with something else to screw it up, but I'm mostly liking it now.

[Johannah]

On 7/31/2021 at 5:56 PM, AnimeMania said:

God, this show is boring, not scary, and not funny. Everybody in the show treats ghosts like they are no big whoop, they need to find some people who are afraid of ghosts, to make the stories more interesting. They seem to be doubling down on the Luke love interest, Megan and Luke's mother, the two things I hate most about the show. Luke's mother, does anybody talk like that in real life?

Obviously, I don't agree with your first sentence (sorry you're not enjoying it), but, yeah, even the homeowners seem a bit indifferent about ghosts and I would think more people would be afraid.  Even the ghostbusters could seem a little more wary, I think.

I, also, don't like the love story, but the Mom story is a bit interesting, as long as they don't draw it out too much.

[AnimeMania]

I am glad that people are finding the show interesting, that really helps me when I try to hype the show up each week.

[auchic]

A couple of things I had questions about on rewatch:

Granny Sam's dress. Harper isn't that old; let's say she's 35. She has clear memories of Granny Sam. If it's 2021 in show'verse time, then Granny Sam most likely died sometime in the 90s. So why is she dressed like she's Great Great Great Granny Sam? I get that the old timey dress gives off more of a spooky vibe, but it kinda threw me.

Where is this show set, Canada or the States? The horror writer wanted the scariest house "in 12 states". Luke said in the pilot he grew up in Southern California, but Susan was able to show his childhood house nearby? Harper's grandmother came from Saskatoon and she was catching a train to a provincial park. A lake house like that would only be called a 'cottage' by Ontarians. I know it's a Canadian production, but they're being frustratingly vague on the setting.

Or am I just overthinking things? 😂

[Johannah]

On 8/3/2021 at 4:34 PM, AnimeMania said:

I am glad that people are finding the show interesting, that really helps me when I try to hype the show up each week.

Hype up to whom?  From your previous post, I didn't think you liked it, so I'm not sure why you want to hype it up.  Not a criticism, just intrigued...

[Johannah]

13 hours ago, auchic said:

A couple of things I had questions about on rewatch:

Granny Sam's dress. Harper isn't that old; let's say she's 35. She has clear memories of Granny Sam. If it's 2021 in show'verse time, then Granny Sam most likely died sometime in the 90s. So why is she dressed like she's Great Great Great Granny Sam? I get that the old timey dress gives off more of a spooky vibe, but it kinda threw me.

Where is this show set, Canada or the States? The horror writer wanted the scariest house "in 12 states". Luke said in the pilot he grew up in Southern California, but Susan was able to show his childhood house nearby? Harper's grandmother came from Saskatoon and she was catching a train to a provincial park. A lake house like that would only be called a 'cottage' by Ontarians. I know it's a Canadian production, but they're being frustratingly vague on the setting.

Or am I just overthinking things? 😂

Hmmm, never even thought of those things.  LOL.  The last episode made me think they were in the New England area.  Coastal houses and my mind made a Stephen King/Maine connection with the "Number 1 Horror Writer".  But with your remarks, Canada does make sense.

[AnimeMania]

2 hours ago, Johann said:

Hype up to whom?  From your previous post, I didn't think you liked it, so I'm not sure why you want to hype it up.  Not a criticism, just intrigued...

I make all the episode threads, find descriptions and pictures and try to make each episode seem interesting. If you look at the media thread I posted 90% of the content. I am trying hard to create a place where people who like the show can support each other and feel supported.

[call me ishmael]

I’ve been assuming that this is a sort of New England centered show but who knows.  Maybe it’s set in Springfield.

i agree that it can get too serious but I’ve been enjoying it so far.  Susan is the weak link so far.  Each episode shows her she can’t do things the way she normally does and by the start of the next episode she’s....insisting on doing things the way she normally does.  It’s getting a bit old.

[Trey]

18 hours ago, auchic said:

Where is this show set, Canada or the States? The horror writer wanted the scariest house "in 12 states". Luke said in the pilot he grew up in Southern California, but Susan was able to show his childhood house nearby? Harper's grandmother came from Saskatoon and she was catching a train to a provincial park. A lake house like that would only be called a 'cottage' by Ontarians. I know it's a Canadian production, but they're being frustratingly vague on the setting.

I noticed all those discrepancies too.  In the first episode, Susan got a TD1 form, used in Canada but is something else in US. I think the writers are just playing with us😄

[Johannah]

8 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I make all the episode threads, find descriptions and pictures and try to make each episode seem interesting. If you look at the media thread I posted 90% of the content. I am trying hard to create a place where people who like the show can support each other and feel supported.

My apologies.  I don't notice who starts threads, but I appreciate your hard work!

[ZoqFotPik]

The closed captioning gave away the backwards song thing.

[Trey]

50 minutes ago, ZoqFotPik said:

The closed captioning gave away the backwards song thing.

Yes, it did.  But I liked the throwaway line from the guy in the office, "try playing it backwards"

[questionfear]

I'm watching the episode now and it just hit me-the Roman Agency is in Charon Plaza, Charon being the ferryman who brought souls across the river styx in greek mythology. Just a random cool Easter egg!