Very good, but could've been great

joshlogiudice

This show is most certainly not for everyone. It is a very slow burn which will test your patience at times, but you are always interested in what happens next. There are plenty of positives in this series and few negatives, but those negatives are pretty large.
I'll start off with the positives:
1.The acting is very top notch, it's refreshing to see unfamiliar faces that can go through various emotions successfully. Although there were a few characters I didn't care for much (Mie's mother) most of the cast had solid chemistry
2. This is a unique story in the way it all plays out. I was going into this series expecting a heavy supernatural backstory with drama thrown in here and there. In reality this turns out to be the exact opposite, which also leads to one of the negatives that i'll Get to later.
3. There are many subtle Easter eggs referring to classic films/television that many will appreciate. For example, the wallpaper in the home that Mie moves in with her family is extremely similar to the carpet pattern in the classic movie "The Shinning". Also there are heavy references to twin peaks throughout the series with the ominous force in Mie's dream "Bob" and the surrealistic nature of the forest and everything that occurs in there
Now on to some of the negatives:
My main problem with this series is the ending. This is where the main spoilers begin. As I said earlier, I was expecting a more supernatural aspect to the show. We got hints of spirits and possessions with Romy seeming to be possessed and Mei asking the medium for help. This all really just turns out to not really matter at all because Romy has been dead the whole time but everyone pretends she is still alive for Mei, which when you find this out make some of the scenes with Romy in it seem a little off from that perspective. For example, when Mei was following Benoit to see if he was cheating, she called her mom to come pick up Romy from the parking garage, and so she shows up completely normal and takes Romy from her and leaves. I understand they wanted to make it seem like Romy was still alive, but how can she just pretend to be taking her dead granddaughter so naturally? Finding out what really happened in the accident and what really happened to Thomas is also a little underwhelming. I personally believe they should have ended it after Mei realizes that she locked Thomas in the cellar after figuring out he was the "drunk who killed her daughter" but instead they had to bring about a sense of retribution and forgiveness with having Mei's psychologist be Benoit's ex lover all along. This seemed to be a little cheap to me and a bit of a scapegoat. There certainly had to be a more efficient way for Benoit's ex to try to get him back than attempt to murder his wife and frame an innocent man. The ending to me just seemed a little soap opera like and didn't fill the void that some of the previous episodes created.
All in all this is an interesting show, it's solidly produced with a mixture of flashbacks and current times that loses itself a bit towards the end but I would recommend this to those out there that are looking for something to get involved with that will keep you entertained for a bit.

score 7/10

joshlogiudice 29 March 2018

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4108220/