S01.E01: Book I: Genesis

[jewel21]

Quote

Riley Flynn returns home to family dysfunction, familiar faces and a new priest at St. Patrick's. Elsewhere on the island, a dark storm is brewing.

Airdate: 09/24/2021

[krankydoodle]

I loved The Haunting of Hill House until the ending and didn't make it all the way through Bly Manor, but was still optimistic about this. Unfortunately, starting with the casting of Kristin Lehman as Zach Gilford's mother, this isn't off to a great start. The dated glasses and hairstyle are trying to do some of the work of making her believable in the role despite there being only a 10 year difference between the two, but it's not enough IMO.

And while it's great that Mike Flanagan has assembled a troupe of sorts, some of the actors don't seem like great fits for their roles here--specifically, Henry Thomas and Samantha Sloyan. As with Lehman, I find their performances mannered and not very convincing. To be fair to Sloyan, the writing for her character doesn't help. Zach Gilford, Hamish Linklater, Igby Rigney, and Annarah Cymone are faring better so far. The last 2 admittedly haven't been given much to do, but they at least come off as natural and like real people. And I love Rahul Kohli, but am having trouble adjusting to his American accent and graying hair after watching him on iZombie for years.

I haven't seen the trailers so don't know where the show is going, but hopefully it get better. The dead cats are a bad sign, though. Not a fan of that development.

[non sequitur]

The make up and prosthetics are really taking me out of the entire show this time. 

The Haunting of Hill House was almost perfect, and so far nothing is coming close to matching that.

[calliope1975]

I'm hoping there's a story reason for the old people makeup because it is obvious. But I like the atmosphere. 

[Lady Calypso]

So, I watched this pilot. I was hoping it would be better than I thought it would be. Sadly, there's a lot to be desired. The actors are all usually very good, but it feels like they were thrown in with barely more than a script and being told to just go for it. Some don't seem to be connecting to their characters. The young actors in elderly makeup is not doing it for me. Unless the older characters are going to start de-aging, I have zero idea why they cast actors in their late 40s/early 50s to play characters in their 60s/70s/80s. 

Rahul Kohli is fantastic, but man, am I not a fan of his attempted American accent. I don't even think it's solely because I've only heard him speak in his natural accent, but I think he's just not doing a good American accent. Samantha Sloyan is given the bitch gossip character and I think she's doing a fine job portraying that side, but there's no other depth to her. Kate Siegal is doing fine with the material she actually has, but I think I'm at a point with the actress where I wish she'd stop acting in her husband's films and TV series. She's clearly a good actress, but because she keeps appearing in her husband's work, she basically plays in horror pieces and kind of plays similar characters a lot. 

I will praise Zach Gilford and Hamish Linklater, though. Both of the actors are doing a great job with their characters.

I HATE dead animal stuff. Dead cats? Almost an immediate turn-off for me. I'll try the second episode, but my hopes aren't very high for me liking this series. 

[NeenerNeener]

Kristin Lehman is unrecognizable. I had to look in the IMDB because I couldn't tell who was playing Zach Gilford's mother.

[gesundheit]

18 hours ago, calliope1975 said:

I'm hoping there's a story reason for the old people makeup because it is obvious. But I like the atmosphere. 

Yes, my assumption is that we're going to get major flashbacks, otherwise there's no point. It's seriously half the cast, including people in what are just bit roles so far in crowd scenes. Something about that makes this feel a little community theater-esque, so it better not just be an "oh we shot during COVID, so we did what we had to" silliness.

[Kiss my mutt]

I’m not feeling optimistic after the first two episodes. 
The prosthetics are horrible so it’s difficult to even pay attention to anything they say, not to mention cat carcasses everywhere. 
I mostly tuned in because of Hamish Linklater but seeing ET guy looking like my dad when we’re the same age is throwing me off. I haven’t decided if I’ll continue yet. 

[Brn2bwild]

What decade is this supposed to be set in?  The characters seem like they live in the modern day, yet all of the TVs are at least 40 years old.  I don't know if that's just for aesthetics - to show how backward/out of sync this island is - or if the story is actually set in the 80s-90s.

[ferjy]

21 minutes ago, Brn2bwild said:

What decade is this supposed to be set in?  The characters seem like they live in the modern day, yet all of the TVs are at least 40 years old.  I don't know if that's just for aesthetics - to show how backward/out of sync this island is - or if the story is actually set in the 80s-90s.

I think it’s present time and they’re just depicting a dying town like a lot of fishing villages became, with the oil spills and catching quotas. Hence the dismal look of it all... no new paint on the dilapidated houses, old appliances that were never replaced, no fashion to speak of, etc. 

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by ferjy

[I-Kare]

It's only seven episodes and I like Zach and Rahul enough to stick it out. 

I will say I agree with what everyone is saying above regarding the aging makeup and even Rahul's accent (why not just let him keep his British accent?). 

A few nitpicks though since I'm from a predominantly Catholic town of around 150 (so about the same as this one) and am highly familiar with a lot of towns that size: 

• Literally everyone is either related to you or knows you, so the people getting off the ferry with Riley would have been chatting with him, Bev would have said hello, and everyone they walked by going home would have said hello. 
• With a town that size, you'd have had more than 30ish people at Mass. Small towns like that stay alive because of two things - their school and their church. Even if there are a lot of atheists flocking to the island (to fish?), there probably aren't a lot of other religions since pockets of the same religion tend to settle together in small towns, so even in today's world the pews would be more full. 
• There is literally a character like Bev in every.single.town. 
• I'm not sure what the local priest would have done to be awarded the title of monsignor. That's usually not handed out for simply serving a town of that size, especially if the flock has slowly dwindled to the point where they could hold Mass in someone's kitchen instead of the church. 
• My home town is a fairly poor farming town that is dying out and is only still alive due to what I said above - the school and the church - and every house has a modern tv, a satellite dish on their roof since it's about 90 miles from any tv station, and cell phones. So if this town is modern, they're stuck in some unrealistic time warp that mine and most of the ones I'm familiar with aren't. So more than likely they thought "hey, wouldn't it be cool if the prop people went and found some old TVs and radios for the homes?" 

Disclaimer - I'm, of course, not an expert on every single small town in the U.S., so YMMV with what I said above. 😁

Edited September 26, 2021 by I-Kare

[ferjy]

4 hours ago, I-Kare said:

My home town is a fairly poor farming town that is dying out and is only still alive due to what I said above - the school and the church - and every house has a modern tv, a satellite dish on their roof since it's about 90 miles from any tv station, and cell phones. So if this town is modern, they're stuck in some unrealistic time warp that mine and most of the ones I'm familiar with aren't. So more than likely they thought "hey, wouldn't it be cool if the prop people went and found some old TVs and radios for the homes?" 

I think you’re right. I think they went overboard in making it look desolate. Even in hard times, at least some of the people would be house proud and put on a new coat of paint.

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by ferjy

[I-Kare]

6 hours ago, ferjy said:

I think you’re right. I think they went overboard in making it look desolate. Even in hard times, at least some of the people would be house proud and put on a new coat of paint.

 

Yes! I've stayed in houses steps from the ocean and they had paint, so it's not like it's impossible. 

[merylinkid]

11 hours ago, I-Kare said:

There is literally a character like Bev in every.single.town. 

Too right.   And somehow no one ever says "Shut up Bev, you're being a martyr again."   

What got me is the town is so small and its still dwindling but there is a school on the Island.   Usually when that happens the kids go to the Mainland every day for school.   But yeah, like the tvs and record players, they are going for "desolate backward place, perfect for Something Strange is Happening to OUr Little Town."

[Paloma]

39 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

What got me is the town is so small and its still dwindling but there is a school on the Island.   Usually when that happens the kids go to the Mainland every day for school. 

Also, it seems unlikely there would still be enough kids on the island to fill even a small school. In a dying fishing town, the younger adults who have kids or plan to have kids would probably have less of an attachment to the town and would want to move to a place where they would have job opportunities and their kids would have a better education. I would expect that most of the remaining population would be older (50s and up) with grown kids who may have already left the island.

[raven]

I don't find the school operating unusual.  RI's Prudence Island has a one room schoolhouse that is still operating, so it happens as long as there is funding and parents who want it.  There are around 80 people on PI and 3 kids in school, I think.

Someone paid for Riley's childhood love interest to teach at the school.   

I'm enjoying the atmosphere and don't find the housing to be that bad.   Being so exposed to the elements, they may just do the basics to keep their homes secure.   There was talk that people are leaving and so we see the empty buildings that are getting even more run down.

It does seem odd that no one has a satellite dish, at least.  What about internet?  I don't think we saw anyone using a cell phone. 

The island actually seems ripe for gentrification to me.

[Whimsy]

I came here to see what you all were saying because I honestly just randomly pushed play on this out of boredom today. Didn’t realize it was from the same person as Haunting of Hill House, etc so now that I know that I’ll stick it out, I guess.
 

My initial thoughts were - why do so many of the actors have aging prosthetics on? How did they get so many good actors but have them basically act like amateurs? What year is this supposedly set?  
 

Now that I further in on the episode, I see that it’s modern times based on the Sheriff’s son texting on an iPhone.

Rahul’s accent threw me, too.  He sounds so charming with his natural accent, I wish they had let him keep it. 

[Brn2bwild]

4 hours ago, raven said:

The island actually seems ripe for gentrification to me.

I was thinking that, too.  Someone is going to see it as a tourist attraction or a new development of wealthy get-away homes.

Spoiler

If anything, the vampire events will make the location more appealing over time, the same way so many cities have success with ghost tours.

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Brn2bwild

[archer1267]

How long was Riley supposed to be away for? The Neil Diamond songs in the beginning made me think it was the 1970s, backed up by hairstyles and dress...so it was a small shock to hear the word "texting." I know he can't have been gone THAT long though.

Was anyone else expecting the priest to emerge from the steamer trunk, a la Nosferatu? They kept showing that trunk...

[Anela]

On 9/25/2021 at 12:53 PM, NeenerNeener said:

Kristin Lehman is unrecognizable. I had to look in the IMDB because I couldn't tell who was playing Zach Gilford's mother.

I just had to look her up, too.  

[Anela]

The basis for the story, reminds me a bit of that Stephen King story, where a man shows up just as a blizzard hits them. Except the storm was over before the episode ended.  

Edited September 28, 2021 by Anela

[tennisgurl]

I really like Mike Flanagan, even if I think he can be a bit self indulgent when it comes to building atmosphere that can hurt his shows pacing, so I am really curious as to what this is going to be like. They are doing a really good job at setting up a creepy foreboding atmosphere, its giving me some real Stephen King vibes, and while there weren't a whole lot of scares they seem to be setting up some interesting ideas. 

The town might be falling apart, but its really beautiful by the water, if fishing is not going so well they should possibly try to turn it into a tourist destination. The town does feel in a lot of ways like its somewhere in the past, except for the presence of cell phones, but I think that might be the point, that the townsfolk aren't adapting to the modern world out on their own in the middle of nowhere. I am certainly no expert on small fishing villages, but I am familiar with small rural towns, and they do a lot of times feel like stepping into a time warp, especially more hilly areas or the really tiny towns off of highways. 

I love Rahul Kohli, but his American accent is very shaky. Luckily his natural charm makes up for it pretty well, but it is even more noticeable than the obvious old people makeup. 

Edited September 30, 2021 by tennisgurl

[Macbeth]

The main problem I had was all that old, dilapidated housing right on the coast.  On an island that regularly braces itself for hurricanes.  No way those houses continue to stand after a couple of major hurricanes sweep through.  I understand it's a beautiful to shoot off the water, but those fishermen would have their houses father inland.   They are on the sea all day - they know how dangerous the ocean can be.

There is also no way that island wasn't ripe for gentrication decades past.  That's Nantucket right there.

Also, there are no Women Deacons in the Catholic Church.   I am not saying you won't see women helping out the local church, but they will not be on the altar in a robe.  I agree with a previous poster that a Monsignor would not be installed there.  Also they talked about the Archdiocese.  Nope.  Archdioceses are for large populations like Boston and Chicago.  Everywhere else is run by a Diocese.  

I mean Google exists for a reason writers.

I accidently opened up Episode 4 here - so I spoiled myself - but I will continue to watch now.

 

[hypnotoad]

I just started this today. When the townspeople started singing the song in church - omg - that took me back! I am a retired Catholic and haven't been to mass in ages. But I guess you never forget.

I am from a small town in Northern Minnesota. The population was about 2500 when I was growing up but now it's probably closer to 1000 or even less than that. Mining has taken a hit and so the towns in the area have too as far as people sticking around. Still though I found the seeming lack of cell phones, internet etc quite odd. And yes my hometown has a lot of abandoned places but people that live there do care about their homes!

The old people makeup is disconcerting.

[TipseyGirl]

Quote

How long was Riley supposed to be away for? The Neil Diamond songs in the beginning made me think it was the 1970s, backed up by hairstyles and dress...so it was a small shock to hear the word "texting." I know he can't have been gone THAT long though

His prison sentence was four years. I during the car accident scene, Riley's license plate said 2016.

Edited October 5, 2021 by TipseyGirl
Grammar

[Mattipoo]

Why does Riley look as old or older than his parents? Especially the dad looks like he is much younger and wearing a bad wig and moustache in a SNL skit! LOL the mom also looks like Kate McKinnon in old lady makeup playing Hillary Clinton!

[Aliferously]

I sat through both Hill House and Bly Manor and figured what the hell.

What the hell indeed.

1) I'm quite convinced there's a pterodactyl flying the skies at night, and plummeting the fish supply. 

2) I'll agree that it's odd that a teeny underpopulated island has a monseigneur. Perhaps they thought it was fancy back in the day (the 80's or so, since they do seem permanently stuck there). Wouldn't a small town just have a reverend? 

I think I liked Bly Manor better, you at least knew there was something to be afraid of. 

[TattleTeeny]

On 10/10/2021 at 12:04 PM, Mattipoo said:

Why does Riley look as old or older than his parents? Especially the dad looks like he is much younger and wearing a bad wig and moustache in a SNL skit! LOL the mom also looks like Kate McKinnon in old lady makeup playing Hillary Clinton!

I just said this to my BF tonight (we finally got around to starting this—though he ate a gummy and went to bed, so we’ll have to start again). TBH, almost every female character looks like Kate McKinnon in makeup (especially the OB-GYN’s old mom).

 

[SunnyBeBe]

I just started watching this.  I thought it looked promising.  I’m late to the party. I wish I had seen it last year, but wasn’t getting Netflix then.   I think it starts out strong, but goes downhill.  We’ll see.  

[millennium]

A nocturnal creature that eats cats.   around here we call them coyotes.

[Affogato]

On 10/2/2021 at 2:47 PM, Macbeth said:

The main problem I had was all that old, dilapidated housing right on the coast.  On an island that regularly braces itself for hurricanes.  No way those houses continue to stand after a couple of major hurricanes sweep through.  I understand it's a beautiful to shoot off the water, but those fishermen would have their houses father inland.   They are on the sea all day - they know how dangerous the ocean can be.

There is also no way that island wasn't ripe for gentrication decades past.  That's Nantucket right there.

Also, there are no Women Deacons in the Catholic Church.   I am not saying you won't see women helping out the local church, but they will not be on the altar in a robe.  I agree with a previous poster that a Monsignor would not be installed there.  Also they talked about the Archdiocese.  Nope.  Archdioceses are for large populations like Boston and Chicago.  Everywhere else is run by a Diocese.  

I mean Google exists for a reason writers.

I accidently opened up Episode 4 here - so I spoiled myself - but I will continue to watch now.

 

I think that the old  priest had Alzheimer’s and Bev likely covered for him and this took liberties. Everyone on the island let her because they knew what was happening and knew she is a pushy bitch. 
 

the title monseigneur, via Wikepedia, can be given to a parish priest as a chaplain of his holiness, for distinguished service, currently only to priests over 65 years.  Pruitt was old and had served the community for a long time. They need to be nominated by the head of their diocese. 

Edited January 19 by Affogato