Hemlock Grove - General Discussion

[David T. Cole]

Discuss Hemlock Grove Here!

[BetterButter]

Season 2 Trailer

[BonnieD]

Thanks for posting the link to the trailer. I just caught some promo during a show on TV last night and I'll admit it I'm jazzed about the upcoming season. Sure HG isn't the best or brightest or most logical genre show, but it hooked me last time and will probably do so again. It'll be interesting to see how it goes now that it's no longer based on source material. The author never got around to writing a second book so I guess that means the writing team will do whatever the hell they want.

[eXiled]

Good trailer.

 

As I watched Season 1 I often asked myself the same question: WHY?

 

Why was I watching? Why were the characters behaving as they did? Why did very little of the plot make sense? Why could I not bring myself to stop watching?

 

Yet I look forward to tomorrow's premiere for some reason. I hope some logic emerges. Sometimes I saw pieces of what could be a really great show hidden beneath the not-so-good parts. For some reason I WANT to love this show. I just hope Season 2 gives me a reason to do it.

Edited July 11, 2014 by eXiled

[Primetimer]

Based on Alex's expert opinion -- he's pretty sure he watched Season 1 -- here are some predictions for Hemlock Grove's second season.

Read the story

[Chaos Theory]

Based on Alex's expert opinion -- he's pretty sure he watched Season 1 -- here are some predictions for Hemlock Grove's second season.

 

 

 

I like this show. It is fun. It isn't exactly quality television but It is fun.   Two episodes into the 2nd season and I am still liking the show.   Yes it lacks the quality of OITNB and House of Cards but it is still good showing for Netflix.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Chaos Theory

[badbolocolo]

If HG's writers were this funny, they would have a great show on their hands. I give the show credit for trying. Something crucial is missing from the writing.

[Red Fields]

Even though I have watched the trailer I can't remember where things left off! Just watched the first ep of season 2.

[Red Fields]

Same here.

[BonnieD]

 

the not-so-good parts.

That, for me, being any scene with Dougray Scott and Cruella Deville either seperately or together. Their sex was the worst. I had to FF through it every time. I hated them so very very much.

 

Here's what a couple of critics are saying so far http://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/hemlock-grove/reviews/

[missmarple]

I'm too embarrassed to explain it. I can't be believe I just watched the whole thing. I have no idea what happened.

[BonnieD]

You know what I don't understand the most? Why Olivia lost her accent when she learned to speak again. Yes, I know they GAVE a reason--that it happened during the therapy. But why would they even write that in? Why change the actress's accent? It's all so very confusing. (You see, if I focus on a little confuzzlement, it holds back the storm of questions the show would otherwise raise.)

[Chaos Theory]

I still say it was a decent show. I probably would be harsher if it was on the weekly model but I think this show was made for binge watching.

[JayKay]

I'm trying to make my way through season one this weekend after trying once before and not making it through episode two. It's pretty bad when you're on the second episode and you're disappointed because you thought you'd be at least halfway through the season. But about the time Clementine shows up and starts asking questions, it begins to get intermittently better. I don't get why I'm supposed to care about Olivia, but I love when she gets humbled. I kind of think I'm meant to, because of the way she's usually dressed in white and her standoffish aura. This is the first thing I've ever liked Lili Taylor in. The Skarsgard kid doesn't have near enough charisma to play the character as-written, but he looks great in clothes. So far, my favorite character is easily Destiny.

 

Ten episodes in, and even though I don't know half these people's names, still not fed up. It's basically perfect for background viewing. It doesn't make any more sense when you give it your full attention anyway.

[Red Fields]

The accent thing bothers me, too.

[Frisson]

I thought the second season came together better than the first season although it was still messy. I could actually follow all the plot points..or have gotten used to not understanding as a method for watching this show. It's visually stunning, if nothing else.

[Zima]

Did they really write in a threesome involving the two beautiful male leads and then NOT SHOW IT TO US? 

[sjohnson]

If True Blood had written the threesome, they would have showed it. That's why True Blood does not write threesomes with Eric, Bill and Sookie. Or Hoyt, Jason and Jessica. 

 

Nonetheless, the delirium of Roman/Peter (aka Godfree Romance) makes this more entertaining than The Leftovers, by far. 

And to be honest, I love anything with Shelley. Norman's affection for her is the only thing that makes him anything but a dick. 

I do have to point out that mitochondria are inherited from the mother, not the father. 

And I think I agree that this would be unwatchable on a weekly episodic basis. Binge so you don't have to actually stop and think about the plot.

[bookworm]

I'll second everything JayKay is saying.  DD and I just found this on Netflix after finishing OITNB and have watched the first three eps.  We think we're going to go ahead and binge it because it has everything we like in shows, characters, plots, creatures, mythos, etc., just thrown in a blender and mushed...with just about as much coherence as blender mush.  It is awfully pretty, though.  We just saw the tracker for the first time and the boys just decided to go after the killer.

 

What is with Famke Janssen's accent?  Of all the crazy going on, the thing that throws us out every time is the awful accent.  Is she supposed to be English or just "mysterious"?  Well, guess we'll see.  I'll add some notes as we continue the binge.  Back to the pretty!

[Whimsy]

This show is so weird, but I do love it anyway.  I agree- it's binge-only watching.  Weekly would not work.  Mostly, I just love the bromance (and now romance?) between Roman and Peter.  I didn't get the Shelley/spare body thing at all.  I think I got distracted during part of that explanation because I couldn't understand how they both were alive and talking but I didn't care enough to go back and listen.  My biggest LOL moment was the dragon.  We saw a lot of messed up, crazy stuff over the past two seasons but the dragon still took me by complete surprise.  I was unexplicably sad when Norman was killed.  He was never a good person, but for some reason his death saddened me.

[Blue Girl]

I just started Season 2 and I am so disappointed that they changed Shelley out for a different actress! Wtf? I read an interview where TPTB were basically saying, Yeah, Shelley was great in Season 1...so we decided to replace her with a different actress. This show is spotty at best for me so it pisses me off when they can't even keep the good parts of the show intact.

 

Based on Season 1 I was sure I'd watch all of Season 2 but I'm on episode 3 and not really liking where this is going so far.  For the bromance, they aren't setting up another boring love triangle are they?   For anyone who has seen the whole second season, is it worth watching the rest for someone who is a Shelley fan?  Does the New Shelley get better or is this pretty much how she is?

[SpaghettiTuesdays]

I admit, I gave this show a first glance only because I was home alone and bored out of my mind. I actually really liked it. I didn't even know they were doing a season two until last week.

 

My family gives me crap, but I really hate Norman and his family (wife and Leatha). I think that trio is so annoying.

 

Destiny is my favorite, as well. I love her sass. I think she has the most personality and is the least annoying. Christina is my least favorite. That kid is a weirdo through and through and reminds me of this girl that sat behind me in gradeschool and used to sniff my hair. Blech.

[Whimsy]

The new Shelley doesn't get any better, sadly, but if you are interested in Shelley's story and not just the actress you may still want to watch it. And there's not really a triangle for long.

[Blue Girl]

Thank you, GenL! OK, I will check out a few more episodes and see how things go. 

[bilgistic]

I *just* finished the second season, and, just...what. The dragon...?! It took me a minute to even realize who it was, even though his face was fully recognizable, in other words, it looked more like a sting ray than a dragon.

Overall, season two felt a little stale with the same plot of the two male leads in a triangle with a blonde female. For a long while (until it was explained), I thought the blonde in the tank (Prysilla) was Letha, and I'm still not convinced she's not somewhere cooking in broth in the White Tower. Is Prysilla the baby/fetus that was in the tank in the last scene of season one?

Shelley broke my heart. I couldn't give two shits about Olivia and Norman. I'm eh about Roman. Love Peter and Destiny and wanted to see more of their adventures together and apart. Missed Peter's mom. What was the reason for her not being on the show this season?

[bilgistic]

I forgot to post about the most unbelievable thing in this story of supernatural beings and events beyond the realm of our known world: with no experience and no high school diploma, Peter got a job driving a tow truck for $12 AN HOUR.

[sjohnson]

^^^Good point about the job, but technically speaking, a triangle and a threesome are not the same thing. 

[Rina99]

I finished it off this weekend, and I'm so sad that I have to wait a whole year for more.  I can't defend the WTF elements (dragon/demon/dahell?) but I love this show so much.  

Edited July 21, 2014 by Rina99

[seamusk]

I finished it off this weekend, and I'm so sad that I have to wait a whole year for more.  I can't defend the WTF elements (dragon/demon/dahell?) but I love this show so much.  

I think this captures it.  So much WTF, but I can't turn away.  

 

I really like Peter and Destiny and the whole gypsy clan.  I actually kind of like Roman, but that's just because I kind of forgot he's a rapist sicko. I did think the whole "hunger" theme this season sucked.  I know that's partially because it was done so often.  But also, I just couldn't get why, knowing what Roman is, why wouldn't Peter work up that concoction that his mom made and that helped Olivia so much with her hunger?  What happened to that plot line?

 

I have several WTFs.  But, in season 1 I kind of loved that so much of it was filmed a half mile from my home.  They can show the Carrie Furnace all day and I love it.  Partially because it is so photogenic.  And I know that the season 1 plot depending on the "abandoned mill" but it felt like, and looked like, the show moved 90 miles north this season.  And that's in part because I think that the filming did move north.  I don't think that was an accident that the one ambulance was a Clarion ambulance.  I know this particularly angle is just because I know western Pennsylvania so well, but with the white tower so obviously being modeled after the Cathedral of Learning, I wonder why they moved filming so far away.  I guess they couldn't get the ok for the locations or something.

 

Anyhow.  I was disappointed with this season.  The first season was kind of sensational with it's ridiculousness.  And this season had ridiculousness but I felt it was a lot more cliche with much of it.  I mean, i'm ready for season 3!  Because I totally am for some bizarro reason.  I hope it gets renewed.

[Matteo]

I really hope it gets renewed, too.  I can't really say why. Like, I know it's bad-ish, but for some reason I enjoy the characters, the lore, and the filmography especially.  Though, I have to say, that

Dragon with the doctor's face

at the end was beyond hokey and just bad special effects.  They could have made that look so much better.

 

I like Peter, Roman, Olivia and Destiny though.  Miranda grew on me a bit throughout the season and I appreciated her (rightful) WTF reaction to everything.  I still couldn't really get used to the new Shelley and the changes in her look/being able to speak this season, but she wasn't bad, just different. I'm so glad Olivia

reverted back to a stone-cold manipulative witch at the end. She was getting boring and self-pitying with all her 'Poor me, I was a bad mother/wife and now on top of that I have terminal cancer too!' Am I to take it that eating the unicorn will help cure her of her cancer and degeneration of her body, since she's had the perfect nutritional source to eat and thereby recover from these ailments?

[SpaghettiTuesdays]

Straight up lol'ed at PP who thought the creature was a sting ray, 'cause I did, too.

This season was really, really strange and my sister and I had to turn to each other frequently and say "wth did we just watch" before putting the next episode on. Olivia and Norman I could've gone the whole season without seeing. I like Peter, Destiny, and Andreas (?). The baby was cute, Miranda was weird, and Roman was emo. All in all, pretty entertaining, if not high quality. I'm not sure if this is confirmed, but there will be only one more season? I think the tropers said it was planned as a trilogy. I hope they wrap it up in the third season, as I'm not sure I can handle any more recycled plot. But, as I said, it was entertaining. I loved Shelly's side plot as well as Price's. The Russian doctor I could've done without. I think she was just there for some Olivia action and I felt she was kind of useless - I didn't really care about her. I'll say that the sting ray doctor was probably the best. I honestly didn't see that coming.

[KatWay]

This show is all kinds of cray cray, but I enjoy it anyways. Binge watched the whole thing in about a week.

I hope it gets renewed and they don't waste half the season on Peter and Roman being at odds with each other, that would be a waste of great chemistry. They are awesome.

 

Now let's just kill Miranda and I'll be happy.

[Andromeda]

I just finished my binge watch of the first season last night. I'm glad I gave it a chance -- It went from a very mild three stars to a full on four stars by the end (out of five). The ending was sad (Shelly!!), and a little nonsensical.

(Why would Olivia kill her daughter, if she later needed a daughter to mate with her cawled son...huh?). Plus I wasn't sure what the face-eating accomplished.

 

Speaking of Shelly, of course we knew pretty quick how she ended up that way, what with the flashback to the night of the lightning storm, and her NAME. LOL. I love Shelly. What an interesting character. The way she "speaks" when she writes, like Emily Bronte...that was such a fun discovery.

 

Christina

being the big bad was awesome -- the teen angst turned into violence against fellow females for being sexually active and flaunting it was interesting. I was surprised that her two twin friends were no longer virgins, because one thing I liked about the show was the girls acting their age (not like the uber-sophisticaled teens of so many TV shows, like Pretty Little Liars.)

 

The main characters grew on me. I enjoyed the evolution of their strange friendship. And naturally I was on their side, and didn't like the monster hunter when she murdered the wolf girl in jail. That was horrific. Plus, you knew her order wasn't on the side of right -- her bosses were way too pompous and mysterious.

[luckyroll3]

What happened to the threesome scene?!?  All the gratuitous stuff they show and they leave that out.  It was probably because the boys only focused on each other and ignored the annoying girl.  The lack of this scene is almost as dissatisfying as Penny Dreadful not showing the Ethan/Dorian Grey hook up.

[caseylane]

I just finished watching. This show, OMG, what can I say. I love it though. I don't even hate the late, great Norman or Olivia. Thank you for letting me know that I wasn't crazy and there was a different actress playing Shelly. Also love the Peter/Roman almost romance.

 

The dragon, I just can't. Seriously, so bizarre. Is there any news about a renewal because life needs some mindless craziness to help us through the bad.

[caseylane]

Just read that and rushed here. I'm so happy to get one more.

 

How do you think the show will end, a blood bath where Peter and Roman have a fight to the death or the two of them walking off into the sunset together?

Edited September 3, 2014 by caseylane

[Red Fields]

I'll watch it.

[Chaos Theory]

This show is so much pulpy fun. I am in.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Chaos Theory

[Crossbow]

I can't say it's good but it's definitely fun. And I think the werewolf actor is pretty good. I don't understand why they recast Shelley, but I liked both actresses.

 

About the threesome: Yeah, why draw the line THERE?

 

The first thing I thought of with the dragon was that scene in "How I Met Your Mother," where Ted blacks out and when he comes back the whole crowd is singing, "And a draaaagoooooon..."

The dragon, I just can't. Seriously, so bizarre. Is there any news about a renewal because life needs some mindless craziness to help us through the bad.

 

Yes, there will be a "third and final" season. The filming is finished. They're still doing post-production stuff, I guess.

http://www.vcpost.com/articles/80248/20150723/hemlock-grove-season-3-premiere-date-happening-2015-according-netflix.htm

Edited August 26, 2015 by Crossbow

[Rina99]

The premiere date is October 23rd.

 

http://deadline.com/2015/08/hemlock-grove-season-3-teaser-premiere-date-netflix-1201508147/

[Crossbow]

Cool! Thanks.

[caseylane]

Thank goodness they've finally given a release date. I've been going crazy waiting for some kind of announcement.

[greenbean]

What episode was the threesome?

 

Does the show acknowledge this afterwards. I mean is it a canon romance/relationship? From the comments here it seems very tenuous.

[Crossbow]

It was episode 7. It's definitely canon that they have a threesome one time, but whether it would have continued we don't know.

[greenbean]

It was episode 7. It's definitely canon that they have a threesome one time, but whether it would have continued we don't know.

 

Thanks. I downloaded the first season, but honestly, I found some things off putting and the story meandering. I did wonder if they'd go there with Peter and Roman. Other than my love of werewolves, it may keep me watching.

[Crossbow]

Oh, it's episode 7 of season 2. It is a little meandering and the teenage vampire is not a good actor. The werewolf is much better.

[Hamatron]

I tend to think they are both really bad. There is a lot of horrible acting on this show paired with bad writing and hilariously cheap special effects. Which is why I watch. It's stunningly bad.

And if you are holding out for a threesome, you are going to be disappointed. Unless you think watching three people walk up stairs while the show fades to black is sexy.

[Crossbow]

The worst is the guy playing Norman Godfrey. Compared to him, the rest of them are brilliant. He's just painful to watch.

[BetterButter]

[greenbean]

S3 premieres on 23rd October. So tomorrow.

 

I'll be honest and say I'm here to see what happens between Roman and Peter.