Hemlock Grove

Sleek and surreal, this new installment from Netflix (produced and directed by fright-man Eli Roth) breathes of noir-style films of yesteryear - if only it were in black and white. About halfway through the first episode I admit I was drifting, having serious doubts of the substantial play of the series. A fan of Netflix's hit 'House of Cards' I was eager to see what was up their sleeves and didn't want to give up too early. The show will pique your interest. It will dabble in sex and bloody-good fun. But this feels like an HBO version of Nickelodeon's Degrassi, with two parts Twilight and a dash of True Blood. Pretty people in over-saturated roles being seen through an over-exposed lens (it's kind of like watching it through a foggy beer glass). But hey, if you can't find a character in this show you wouldn't want to have sex with, then you don't have a pulse. In all seriousness, it will be interesting to see if the characters develop past their inherent sex appeal and find traction in a show that has a lot of potential. It's like riding in the slow lane on a Sunday afternoon in your daddy's Ferrari - when all in takes is an exit and an open road to come alive. Give it the gas and quit toying with us Netflix! A large part of why 'House of Cards' was so great is it hit the ground running and within 10-minutes of the pilot - I'm three episodes in and still waiting for it to make the turn. (Update to come)

The graphics are epic and the characters are perfect, but the story line doesn't fit together very well. When I watched it I felt like they were trying too hard to make it look good and be plausible which is great but, the plot slipped through the cracks. It's a nice try but it could have been better. Also they had to many mysteries going on at the same time. It was hard to remember who knew what and how it all came together. They rushed things that needed time and dragged things out that needed rushed. It's a perplexing show and I don't regret watching it, I just wish things had turned out differently. It's a bit gory but interesting too, if you put up with it long enough to find out.

I'm not really in to making comparisons but this show sort of feels like Carnivale the way it's unfolding and telling you it's visual tale. There is some carnage, but it isn't as brutal as you would expect coming from Roth. Mostly it feels wonderfully strange, like a world you can't help but feel drawn in to. I've only watched the pilot so far, but I love that all the episodes are right there, one right after the next for immediate consumption! That is awesome. There is much going on below the surface and I can't wait to see how it unfolds. It's definitely a show worth watching. I'm looking forward to hopefully a second season, and more Netflix originals!

I cannot even begin to describe how awful my experience watching 5his show has been. And Its a shame because I imagine it could have been really fun if it wasn't for the god awful writing, and even worse acting. I am a huge Famke Janssen fan, and her talent is wasted on a character with a terrible English accent. All the other actors breath as much life into their characters as a coma does a person. The writing...I don't even know what to say. It took every bit of restraint to get through the first 2 episodes. I was going to continue to give it a chance but I just don't think I can. House of Cards was amazing. This is its polar opposite as far a quality. Watch it for yourself and make your own judgment, but for me, I want my 2 hours back.

To me, Hemlock Grove is like a gorgeous dress that doesn't quite fit. You'll wear it anyway because you love the idea of it so much, but you'll always be aware that it just doesn't look as great as it could.

The premise and the script scream for camp and witty - a la Buffy or True Blood - but the direction tries to make it gritty and serious like it's The Sopranos. The problem is that the story lines are just too ridiculous for such a somber tone.

Joss Whedon found the perfect solution to this in the Buffyverse - he made it tongue-in-cheek so that the silly stuff could just be silly and still work, and when things got serious, we really cared. I feel like the director(s) of Hemlock Grove could learn a lesson from that way of making a supernatural/fantasy drama. Or, if they wanted to go the dark gritty road, I wish they'd done it like the much missed Carnivale and focused much more on character development, keeping the supernatural elements teasingly in the background.

That's not to say this isn't enjoyable because it is. It just keeps frustratingly missing the mark in its attempts to be far more earnest than the premise warrants.

Some of the acting comes across as pretty bad, but I'm not sure if that's the actor's faults so much as it's very difficult for them to deliver their lines in the tone the director wants.

I'd hoped the criticism the first season got would be taken on board for the second season, but aside from Famke Jannsen getting rid of the ridiculous accent, that doesn't seem to have been the case.

This could have been the next big thing in supernatural shows. It's got the cool creepy town like Vampire Diaries but without all the Dawson's Creek stuff that goes on in Mystic Falls. It's got some familiar and well loved supernatural entities, and some we've never seen before. Landon Liboiron is great in his role as the gypsy Peter and Joel de la Fuente gives a good performance in an original take on the mad scientist trope.

I just wish they'd either stick with the scripts they're writing but camp it up in tone, or stick with the dark and gritty tone but change the scripts to suit that.