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Yeah. I love camp and pulp, but those aren't the problem. Episode two felt like three episodes had been cut down to fit one time slot, and the editing was so rushed it was borderline random. I feel like they were going for fast paced ride but ended up with desperately rushed mess. I'll probably check out how it went eventually, but this episode was bad enough to knock it off my gotta watch it as soon as it's streaming list.
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Aug 28, 2020 10:30
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The one that stood out most awkwardly to me was that early on in the episode, William told our heroes about the fire that consumed the original lodge. And then, much later in the episode, as the characters are running back through the woods, with neither the lodge nor the fire being mentioned, Uncle George just stops dead and says "hey, I just remembered something about one of your mom's ancestors escaping during a big fire, maybe that's related" or something to that effect. Felt really oddly placed.
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Aug 28, 2020 10:56
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Yeah, that was very jarring. AAAAAHHHHHIIII just remembered some big revelation about your past. edit: actually, they weren't screaming. But it was still weird how they skipped any sort of doubt or "huh, that's eerily coincidental" and skipped straight to Atticus's heritage being cleared up. davidspackage fucked around with this message at 11:15 on Aug 28, 2020 |
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Aug 28, 2020 11:07
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davidspackage posted:Yeah, that was very jarring. It didn't bother me that they connected those facts--they had already established that Atticus was somehow important to this place and the Braithwaite's, it only makes sense that they'd connect "significant piece of local history" with "similar event in Atticus's family history that must have been around the same time." It was more the way that it came up with no context in that moment whatsoever, nothing in the scene seemed like it should have jogged George's memory about Atticus's maternal ancestors or a fire at all. I'd have to rewatch it to be sure, but IIRC he just stops running and goes "oh hey, I just remembered something..." Definitely felt like "the audience needs to know this for the finale to make any sense at all and we've left ourselves with no place to organically slip this into the story, well, guess we'll have to shove it in here."
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Aug 28, 2020 11:39
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The way he froze up first made me wonder if it was wizardly memory manipulation, but by the end of the episode that seems too generous for this show. Stoked for more of this absolutely batshit insane mess, though.
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Aug 28, 2020 14:37
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GimpInBlack posted:The one that stood out most awkwardly to me was that early on in the episode, William told our heroes about the fire that consumed the original lodge. And then, much later in the episode, as the characters are running back through the woods, with neither the lodge nor the fire being mentioned, Uncle George just stops dead and says "hey, I just remembered something about one of your mom's ancestors escaping during a big fire, maybe that's related" or something to that effect. Felt really oddly placed. Yeah exactly it was just crammed in there. I think it'd be better if they would have discovered in looking through the lodge but again it feels like the whole episode was rushed and crammed. I hope it's not a trend because rushing exposition is the first sign of bad writing. It usually doesn't get better from there.
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Aug 28, 2020 23:37
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ZZZorcerer posted:Episode felt extremely rushed, like someone randomly cut out some parts or this was supposed to be at least 2-3 eps Yeah, definitely. Very abrupt jumps all over the place from the dining room to the prison tower to where ever the hell Montrose had climed out of the ground at. The show is still very good IMO, and I have the feeling that these first two episodes were kind of like... I dunno, world building? Background material? Establishing that there are wizard cults and monsters, and now let's go have adventures in that world. I also have to say that while I appreciate the eccentric soundtrack, Whitey on the Moon was a bad pick for the ritual scene because I kept trying to listen to the lyrics, so I couldn't pay full attention to the scene, and when I tried to pay more attention to the scene, I couldn't pay attention to the lyrics anymore.
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Aug 29, 2020 19:32
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This episode was excellent. I love the format of it just being each episode about a new supernatural occurrence.
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Aug 31, 2020 02:57
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Episode 3 was great - best one yet. Episode 2 moved too quickly, but here's hoping that was just a fluke. The pacing in episode 3 is much closer to episode 1.
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Aug 31, 2020 04:24
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Best episode yet imo. Fun little haunted house story. Some decent scary visuals too!
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Aug 31, 2020 04:27
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Yea this one was solid, had a couple of good scares, and also sets up how the rest of the season will go.
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Aug 31, 2020 04:40
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i liked that ep a lot better, much better paced and scored. only minor criticism was some of the basement scene felt very slightly higher-budget AHS, but it was delivered effectively. hoping for more episodes like that!
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Aug 31, 2020 05:53
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Azhais posted:It was a lovely choice, show don't tell. It's part of the standard hack director choice that simply can't stop putting a soundtrack over everything. I cannot get over how bad a take this is in an otherwise okay thread to catch up on. Exposure to dissonance like this elevated what would otherwise be a pretty standard “here’s a spell or whatever powering up!!!” scene. Show don’t tell is fine but that’s a critique for exposition, not soundtrack choices. Anyway. Thoughts overall: I’ve liked this show so far, having just finished episode 3. I finished episode 1 thinking they’d jumped the shark on going too loud with monsters after the racist small town diner car chase, but I understand now that the show is fast fast given episode 2 was just a roller coaster of Lovecraft allusions and pulp action. I think the bodycount of 3 white guys plus presumably the voodoo priestess is a bit much for a haunted house episode, but overall the series has been pretty fast and loose with that kind of thing. 1 or 2 episode anthology arcs of spooky-happenings connected by the not-Esoteric Order of Dagon and Atticus being the scion of the blood under threat of racism and the otherworldly feels fine and good. I’ve read all of Lovecraft’s stories at least once, some more than that, and my memory isn’t perfect - but I think it’s very possible for: -Uncle George to come back Wrong -Hippolyta to start stargazing or something and start inhabiting the body of someone else in her dreams, like in the story Polaris, or maybe to find power somehow related to the stars -Atticus to do more wizardy things! or change because of his dread heritage! I thought the story would borrow from The Shadow over Innsmouth since they were heading to Massachusetts but uh... it didn’t end up being coastal at all. I’m confused why they didn’t go from Chicago to somewhere in the South given the aesthetics evoked but oh well The sizzle reel that played after this ep seems to imply them exploring weirdo Cyclopean architecture so maybe that ties into one of Lovecraft’s alien species from the deep past, so that should be fun. I like that stuff more than this “language of Adam” magic system. Our explanation of the cult leader’s daughter’s (she doesn’t have much character - I can’t remember her name) spell being invulnerability to everything covering cars to .38 revolvers feels appropriately 1930s pulp, and like it will be subverted somehow later on. I can’t tell if she’ll end up a strange bedfellows ally or not, but we’ll see. oh, also, the elevator just going to the super secret corpse tunnel sub-sub-basement feels silly wolfs fucked around with this message at 07:04 on Aug 31, 2020 |
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Aug 31, 2020 06:56
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Maybe it's just me, but Tic seemed really aggressive and hostile in the second episode, and now he just tried to murder an innocent woman.. It seems very strange behaviour for one of the protagonists of the story
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Aug 31, 2020 12:51
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I felt the first part of the episode was...not great, but the second part more than made up for it. Hounted houses stories are all about pacing - and you can't really do pacing in a single episode, especially if that story has to share space with several other things: consequences from last episode, two different main characters's development + the slice of life story. Also, for the first half the "haunted house" story felt suuper cookie cutter compared to what we have seen till now, although both the creole priestess in place of the usual catholic exorciser and the experiment ghosts were great. Plus in this day and age it's always nice to see racist assholes getting their comeuppance. That said, I really really disliked AHS and I hope this doesn't turn into an "1 AHS season/episode" antology - or if it does, I hope it keep things weird enough to be a new take on the classic pulp horror stories instead of just a re-hashing of them + racism. So far, so good. And if the whole apparent macroplot with the aryan wizards doesn't devolve into a mystery box (but gets explored satisfactorily), all the better.
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Aug 31, 2020 14:14
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Oasx posted:Maybe it's just me, but Tic seemed really aggressive and hostile in the second episode, and now he just tried to murder an innocent woman.. Spoiler talking about what he does in the end of episode three? Her being innocent is a bit...debatable. Agree with others here, this episode feels like the show is back on track after the strangeness of the second one.
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Aug 31, 2020 14:31
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I feel like this episode gave me a clearer idea of the anthology style of the show. Fun episode and Lettie really got to let loose in this one. Love her. The baby-headed basketball player was kind of ridiculous but seemed intended to be creepy. Was the idea that Winthorpe had turned him into that with magic? I think I missed a bit of plot, was loving around with an unresponsive set of bluetooth headphones. It was nice to have some payoff at the end, but I'm finding myself almost wanting to switch off when powerless black people get terrorized by white folk and cops now. When it's on the news every day, I kind of want to escape it in fiction (yeah I know, that's lovely)
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Aug 31, 2020 15:31
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davidspackage posted:The baby-headed basketball player was kind of ridiculous but seemed intended to be creepy. Was the idea that Winthorpe had turned him into that with magic? I think I missed a bit of plot, was loving around with an unresponsive set of bluetooth headphones. Yeah, the idea I guess is that That Italian Guy fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Aug 31, 2020 |
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Aug 31, 2020 15:34
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Laughing Zealot posted:Spoiler talking about what he does in the end of episode three? Her being innocent is a bit...debatable. I am not saying that she is a good person, but she did save his life twice now. And she certainly hasn’t done anything that would justify him murdering her.
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Aug 31, 2020 15:39
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Oasx posted:I am not saying that she is a good person, but she did save his life twice now. And she certainly hasn’t done anything that would justify him murdering her. I mean, she did set up things so that Letitia would end up buying a haunted house that almost got all of them killed - in the pursue of Winthorpe's stolen knowledge.
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Aug 31, 2020 15:44
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davidspackage posted:I feel like this episode gave me a clearer idea of the anthology style of the show. Fun episode and Lettie really got to let loose in this one. Love her. Oh yeah you missed some major plot. A former Chicago professor named Hiram Epstein was fired for performing unethical experiments, and the cops who picked up Leti told her that they found 8 dead black people in the basement of that house. The deformed ghosts are all Epstein's experiments and Epstein is the one they tell to get the gently caress out at the end. And yes the baby-headed basketball player was silly--it felt like that scene in Toy Story with all of Sid's toys, especially in comparison to the genuinely horrifying ghost we see pulling on Leti's sheets earlier..
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Aug 31, 2020 15:50
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Was that kid who asked the Ouji board about his upcoming vacation meant to be Emmit Till? He did live in Chicago in 1955 and was dressed similarly.
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Aug 31, 2020 15:55
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That seems likely
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Aug 31, 2020 16:47
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Emerson Cod posted:Was that kid who asked the Ouji board about his upcoming vacation meant to be Emmit Till? He did live in Chicago in 1955 and was dressed similarly. Good catch. REALLY liked the 3rd episode, I think they even outdid the book there. Cutting where it was needed, adding good stuff. Minor spoiler with no influence on the plot, but in case you want to feel what the show changed: the 3 white kids at the end aren't killed, the ghost simply scares them, trapping the last one in the elevator
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Aug 31, 2020 18:28
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Mr. Nemo posted:Minor spoiler with no influence on the plot, but in case you want to feel what the show changed: the 3 white kids at the end aren't killed, the ghost simply scares them, trapping the last one in the elevator I guess that was probably better, if they plan on staying in the house. They already have people setting up burning crosses in their frontyard, having 3 teenage white boys disappear in their house would probably be...rather bad for their future prospects. Sure the sheriff and all the deputies disappeared but things were a lot murkier there, it was in a different state AND there was definitely some
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Aug 31, 2020 18:42
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This focus shifting between episodes is disorienting, in a cool way. This is kind of a weird reference, but this episode reminded me a lot of a single arc of When They Cry. Hilario Baldness fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Aug 31, 2020 |
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Aug 31, 2020 19:19
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Episode three discussion the baby-headed huge basketball player ghost reminded me of various (real and imagined) stories of attempting to swap heads on people or animals, if they'd put more obvious scarring on the neck maybe it would've made more sense? I don't think they explained what exactly the crazy Jack Parsons wannabe was trying to do, but given the theme of body horror, it seemed OK? Episode three was definitely more compact and better than episode 2.
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Aug 31, 2020 20:35
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Oasx posted:he just tried to murder an innocent woman.. She's, uh, very very not innocent. Not only did she send the cash to manipulate Leti buying the house in the first place, she's also the kid of a person who intended to use Tic's body as a racist macguffin in order to open a portal to another world--and even after he loving died she's STILL trying to slide her way into his and their lives. She may have been helpful-ish--or at least not openly antagonistic like her father--but when you're up against a family that can control hordes of spawn I think Not loving Around(TM) is probably the right call. Ep 2 was fast, but it should be. The antagonists didn't give a gently caress about making things make sense to the group because they didn't give a gently caress about them at all outside of being useful tools or hostages. Some of it felt like possibly jarring info dumps, but only because the involved characters were either flippant or smart enough to catch on. Episode 3 was my favorite so far, if only for acknowledging that she's in a sink or swim situation and either needs to stake her claim or be completely hosed. The music was also top notch--which I've felt for each episode so far--thematically consistent or narratively supportive soundtracks are good, actually, even if they "tell," whatever that read means.
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Aug 31, 2020 20:58
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This was a good episode, though the effects were kinda weak and the corny musical stingers were a bizarre choice that robbed the supernatural stuff of any tension IMO. Doesn't seem like anyone is talking about it online though, man that second episode probably did a lot of damage.
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Aug 31, 2020 21:34
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Baby-headed basketball player is clearly going to be the fan-favorite breakout character of the season. Hope he gets a spinoff
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Sep 1, 2020 00:27
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Good episode and yet again the racism stuff is scarier than the horror stuff.
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Sep 1, 2020 00:41
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Outside of Epstein, the ghosts generally helped leti, right? Like they woke her up when he boiler was sabotaged and they killed those intruders... I'm curious what the bathroom ghost in the mirror was doing to help?
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Sep 1, 2020 01:13
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That one was so much better than episode two. Jurnee is an insanely good actress. I wonder how much of that gore was practical makeup?
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Sep 1, 2020 02:44
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Yeah this was a lot better constructed and now that I've calibrated my opinion at goofy episodic pulp horror I'm digging it
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Sep 1, 2020 03:06
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anothergod posted:Outside of Epstein, the ghosts generally helped leti, right? Like they woke her up when he boiler was sabotaged and they killed those intruders... I'm curious what the bathroom ghost in the mirror was doing to help? Being helpful by refusing to have a part in the most cliché jumpscare of them all 
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Sep 1, 2020 09:18
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drat, I feel like the show really hit its stride here. That was a great episode with some buckwild stuff happening. Regarding (supernatural element spoiler)the baby-headed ghost I found it really creepy in a pulpy kinda way. Like, it's just dissonant and gross and weird. I think that's what I like best about the show, everything just feels very weird and audacious at times. They swing hard at every pitch and while they may whiff every once in awhile, I just love the energy.
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Sep 1, 2020 15:22
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Apparently the showrunner has a very specific explanation for babyhead basketghost, and it's nuts:quote:When creator Misha Green spoke with CinemaBlend and other outlets ahead of the Season 1 premiere, I asked what the idea was behind that adorably ghastly baby head, and she said it was inspired by real-world medical experiments combined with the fictional Hiram Winthrop's dark mythology. In her words:
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Sep 1, 2020 18:50
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Oasx posted:I am not saying that she is a good person, but she did save his life twice now. And she certainly hasn’t done anything that would justify him murdering her. My dude she is an evil sorceress, please immediately kill all practicers of the Dark Arts you meet irl, they are merchants of lies
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Sep 1, 2020 19:05
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Wasn't she involved in luring him to Ardham, too?
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Sep 1, 2020 19:38
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Are they intentionally doing a different subgenre each episode? A cabin in the monster-infested woods Spooky cult mansion Haunted house It's based on a book, right? Is Chapter IV a Texas Chainsaw Massacre or a Child's Play homage?
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Sep 1, 2020 19:58
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