S02.E08: Lake

[TexasGal]

Quote

A mysterious drowning uncovers secrets at the bottom of the lake.

Streaming: 09.08.2022

[AnimeMania]

Normally those flooded towns were filled with "People of Color", which would have made the story a little more accurate and have more weight. I don't understand why if the father has been coming to Prescott Lake for years, the submerged are just now taking their revenge. Maybe they could have thrown in a line about many Prescott men dying on the Lake and that his older brother was one of the victims.

Overall not too bad of a story, the underwater scenes were very nice. I don't know why the mother didn't get some scuba gear so she could stay under the water. That rope was very loose, I am surprised it stayed on. That was a good, solid horror story that didn't break any new ground.

[skotnikov]

The final episode was pure trash. 

[AnimeMania]

Alicia Silverstone as Erin, Jake and Finn's mom
Teddy Sears as Jeffrey, Jake and Finn's dad
Olivia Rouyre as Finn, Jake's older sister
Bobby Hogan as Jake
Heather Wynters as Millie Boone, a descendant of the family in the lake
Heather Van Zee as Hayley, The girl Jake had a crush on
Todd Cattell as Wrede Prescott, the businessman who gives a dam to Prescott Lake
Michael Owen as Maynard Boone, war veteran who doesn't want a dam 

[cdnalor]

Another episode very reminiscent of the Tales From the Crypt series right down to the predictable ending.  I suppose all these anthology horror series tend to look alike due to the shortcomings of the single-episode format where they can't really develop a story beyond a set-up and the payoff within an hour or half-hour.  I don't hate it, but they need to come up with better, more original stories.

[sugarbaker design]

1 hour ago, cdnalor said:

I suppose all these anthology horror series tend to look alike due to the shortcomings of the single-episode format where they can't really develop a story beyond a set-up and the payoff within an hour or half-hour. 

There were some really scary episodes of The Twilight Zone, Thriller, The Night Gallery, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but they were most likely based on awesome short stories.  It's a wonder RM and co didn't opt for an adaptation of some current horror short stories.  This one reminded me of episodes of the 70s show Circle of Fear, it ran on CBS, it was an hour scary anthology.  It usually involved a wrong in the past, spirits reaching out to correct those wrongs.  I didn't dislike Lake and almost found it's predictability comforting, a trait one does not want in horror. 

Edited September 9, 2022 by sugarbaker design

[Avaleigh]

16 hours ago, skotnikov said:

The final episode was pure trash. 

I didn't realize this was the last episode. What an underwhelming finale. 

I definitely didn't understand why they didn't use scuba gear on the second dive. Furthermore, what was the point in having the three bodies disappear if their goal is to bring attention to the murders Prescott committed? Also, why were they suddenly present for Alicia Silverstone's character since she wasn't a blood Prescott? 

The opening scene wasn't bad but everything else was boring and predictable. I honestly thought the acting was a little dodgy too.

Black Mirror and the original Twilight Zone both handled the anthology format in a brilliant way and it's disappointing that this series and the reboot Twilight Zone were unable to be as interesting, entertaining or clever. There are ideas that have the potential to be fun but the scripts and execution are almost always lacking. They need better writers.

[tennisgurl]

This was alright, it started out strong but it didn't take long for it to get stupid. I ended up just having a bunch of questions, like how Alicia Silverstone had no idea who her husbands family was considering how important they supposedly are, why the zombies bothered with her when she doesn't have the cursed bloodline, why the zombies only picked that moment to kill the son, why the zombies went to all of this trouble to kill the dad while they apparently left all of the earlier descendants (and the murderer himself) alone, why they didn't bother with scuba gear in the second dive, why was the lake eating random people, and why they only went for the son and not the daughter. Its wasn't awful like some episodes, but I thought that the cool premise, something creepy happening in one those towns that get emptied out for dams, wasn't used to its full potential. It was just another vengeful ghost story. 

Its really too bad that this show isn't better, I would think that the anthology format would be perfect for Ryan Murphy, as he usually has good ideas that break down by the end of the season, but this was extremely hit or miss with a lot more misses. Even the better episodes weren't exactly amazing, none of them got close to the best Twilight Zone episodes, and those were only twenty five minutes long. 

I know that its a stylistic choice, but the obvious one title names feel like first draft place holder names that sit on scripts before the writers come up with real names. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

They need better writers.

I've been saying that all season. This was another one written by Manny Coto. They need to dump his ass. This episode was a very paint by numbers, unoriginal story, something I might expect to see on a Saturday morning children's show. The flaws were rampant and have already been outlined upthread. And Alicia Silverstone's career is really in the toilet if this is the kind of schlock she's been reduced to doing. 

[TexasGal]

The opening credits have consistently been more creepy than the shows.  Of course that weird theme song still does 80% of the work.

[butterbody]

Anyone else think of Finn & Jake from Adventure Time?

I thought this was the worst episode yet. Didn't realize it was the finale, that's a bummer.

[bilgistic]

I liked the episode. The perpetual drought in the western U.S. has caused Lake Mead—created when St. Thomas, Nevada, and several other communities were flooded to create the Hoover Dam—to dry up to the point that bodies that were dumped in the lake are now emerging, so the plausibility of "finding" the town's inhabitants and buildings is sound, in theory.

I have a morbid fascination sunken towns created by manmade lakes. Lake Norman near me is one such lake that was created by the regional power company for hydroelectricity. The lake has become a huge housing and recreation destination. My grandparents had some land there on the 1970s–1990s, and some of my fondest childhood memories are of spending time on the lake with my family.

The Deep House is a good recent creepy movie about a couple that goes diving to explore a sunken town.

[cdnalor]

On 9/9/2022 at 11:43 AM, sugarbaker design said:

This one reminded me of episodes of the 70s show Circle of Fear, it ran on CBS, it was an hour scary anthology

If anyone's interested there are several episodes of Circle of Fear, aka Ghost Story, available on YouTube.  I've watched two episodes and it's pretty tame stuff by today's standards, being a network show in the 70s.  At least there's no gross stuff like in Milkmaid.

[HelloooKitty]

Well, it was better than “Milkmaids”. But that’s about all I can say for it. 

[Bali]

On 9/9/2022 at 10:03 AM, cdnalor said:

Another episode very reminiscent of the Tales From the Crypt series right down to the predictable ending.  I suppose all these anthology horror series tend to look alike due to the shortcomings of the single-episode format where they can't really develop a story beyond a set-up and the payoff within an hour or half-hour. 

Yeah, but honestly even with 13 episodes RM has problems building that