Into the Dark review - Season 1

[angary]

Sarah recommended 'Down' to me and I loved it, so I wanted to check out all the other ones. I really like the concept: a horror anthology centered around different holidays. I like the variety - for the most part - and how each story has a different theme, characters, and setting. There's a high chance that horror/thriller fans will find at least one that they like, and while there are only about 4 that worked really well for me, I appreciate that they were all made, and props to Blumhouse for getting multiple female directors, and for having multiple female protagonists. It's a cool project and I would like to see a second season.

My favorites and recommendations are 'Down,' 'Pooka!', 'Flesh and Blood,' and 'Culture Shock.'

Spoilers after the cut:


(These are in order of release):



Liked:
+ Great acting. Tom Bateman was believable as a menacing assasin, and I bought the party kids' panic
+ I ended up liking Dorothy
+ I like that Maggie killed Wilkes in the end. Take that, dumbass! That's what you get for forgetting she has a gun
+ Some good camerawork and the setpieces were used well
+ Alan's death was creative and creepy, overall it was done well, especially with Wilkes holding up a mirror to him as he was filled with the embalming fluid.

Didn't like:
- It felt like a CW show, and that it was aimed at 20-year-olds and has a very 'edgey' vibe to it, with all the snarky commentary and 'romance'
- Speaking of which, the romance was laughably bad. The plot ground to a halt every time it focused on Maggie/Wilkes and just felt very '50 Shades' or 'Twilght' to me. The whole "There is no 'we.'" / "You said 'we!'" and 'kiss me, kill me' angle just fell flat for me and came off as unintentionally hilarious. I don't look down on anyone who likes it or ships them but for me, personally, the vibe felt very reminiscent of The Vampire Diaries as it started to go downhill and focus on Delena
- Jack was an asshole but I didn't like how he died. He became more sympathetic as the episode went on and I ended up feeling bad for him when he got his eyes gouged out. Poor guy
- Dorothy's death was creative, but I didn't like that she died. I ended up liking her even more than Maggie. While I'm glad Maggie survived and won, I wish Dorothy had made it out too
- The party kids were so frustrating to watch most of the time. I know that if they had taken the body to the police station, the episode would've ended quickly, but it took me a couple days to watch this entire episode because I felt like I had to finish it, rather than being genuinely intrigued with where things were going. The party kids just kept making dumb decisions to feature the setpieces - which were admittedly cool - but it didn't feel organic to me, and the snarky dialogue + the agonizing scenes with Maggie/Wilkes just made this hard to watch
- Wilkes made really bizarre choices for the 'edgelord shock twist' factor, especially throwing a knife and killing one of the party kids, and killing the cop. I just couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to go, 'Oh yeah he makes all these rash decisions yet is really calm the whole time and is supposed to be super experienced and knows better than everyone.' How did he make it this far in the first place if he defaults to killing people out in the open? LOL. I was glad that he died, because he was weirdly erratic. He also shifted from being all about his mission, to suddenly being like 'Yeah I can spend an hour in this bar' just so he and Maggie could have ~sexual tension~ lol
- Maggie getting the latop and using it right next to its owner at the bar felt so unrealistic. No way he would've gone that long without realizing his laptop was missing and someone was using it in the table over. It would've made more sense if Maggie went to a different table, or if she and Wilkes left after that



Liked:
+ Love Kimberly's arc! It's really satisfying and I think this episode handled the 'abusive father-daughter relationship' SO much better than Gamora and Thanos in Infinity War. It felt both realistic and cathartic, in that Kimberly tried to leave, then couldn't because of her agoraphobia. Then she was manipulated by Evil Gavin into lying to the police, and then finally, when Kimberly got up the courage to leave, there was a lot of tension and her escape felt earned at the end. This ending is actually empowering, and it's overall an excellent character study
+ Great tension; during my first watch I kept going back and forth on whether or not Evil Gavin was the serial killer. It might have been a bit less 'on the nose' if he wasn't the killer but instead unraveled while trying to control Kimberly and keep her from leaving him, but I'm fine with him being the killer
+ Excellent acting from both Diana Silvers and Dermot Mulroney. I've never seen Diana in anything and she nailed the role of a mousey girl who gains courage, outsmarts her dad, and finally goes outside at the end. I'd only seen Dermot in Friends as Gavin, and he nailed the part of the seemingly nice father, who turns psychotic and has explosive anger. And the little anectdotes/lines that Evil Gavin gave were the rare occasion when 'tell not show' worked for me. I fully bought that they had a history together, because Dermot sold his monologues so well. (I also thought his 'I told you to pick up your clothes!' line while stalking up the stairs was darkly funny.)
+ I really appreciate that both the police officers were women, and that one of them gave her personal number to Kimberly. This episode had a great message about domestic abuse, and it felt like the writer/director understood that it takes abuse victims a lot of time and attempts to leave, and that it's not their fault, but it's that they were manipulated or scared into leaving. It was overall handled well.
+ The 'mystery' part in the first third was really interesting, and I love that Kimberly connected the dots so quickly. The episode length was perfect for this story, because if it were a 2 hour horror movie, a lot more time would've been spent on Kimberly not figuring things out, but I love that she was so resourceful and intelligent. Her 'mistakes' felt organic because of her dad manipulating her

Didn't like:
- On my second watch, I noticed that some moments of tension were dragged out a little unecessarily, or fell into pedestrian horror tropes, especially when Kimberly got the water and stepped on the earring, and when she was stuck in the crawlspace. This is why I think the runtime works, because on my second watch, the 'tense' bits felt a bit repetitive, and as much as I like the ending and think his death was fitting, Henry got a bit cartoony. The 'shine' wore off a bit on my second watch
- Not happy with Dr. Saunders dying. The lead-up to it is stellar, with her sitting with Kimberly and Henry while Kimberly says what she would say to her mom's killer - whom, at that point, she knows is her dad - and the tension with the note is really great. I get that Henry killing Dr. Saunders was needed to show us, and Kimberly, that he was, without a doubt, a serial killer. But from a Doyleist POV it's disappointing that the black woman dies -.-



Liked:
+ I think this is the best one. It just fires on all cylinders: cinematography, theme, acting, creepy elements, character study, soundtrack, and Pooka's design. I'm totally fine with it being 'all just a dream' and that this apparently copied the concept of another story in a British anthology series. From what I read about the other episode, the story in this has enough differences for it not to be direct plagiarism, and it's done so well that I'm cool with it being similar. The concept/ending has been done before but that's fine. The look, the vibe, the character work, and portraying it as a modern-day 'Christmas Carol' retelling all works for me. All the characters are likable, and even though this has a sad/bad ending, I still love it. It embraces psychological horror full on and I give the director, Nacho Vigalondo, a ton of credit for making it all work. The repetition, the symbolism, foreshadowing, it all works so well. Nyasha Hatendi did an excellent job portraying a guy who seems so likable and made me want to root for him, showing him as sympathetic and tragic, but also realistically showing that abusers can have two sides to them

Things I noticed during my rewatch:

+ Wilson’s audition monologue is for Scrooge when he talks to the Ghost of Chrismas Yet to Come. At the end, there’s a shot of Wilson standing with Pooka looking on, like Scrooge and the ghost (and, visually, looks like Donny Darko with Frank.)

+ Pooka’s eyes = headlights

+ Wilson hears the same song playing in Red’s apartment that was playing in her car

+ Pooka's eyes shifting from blue to red symbolizes Wilson's demeanor and police car lights

+ Wilson’s visions of evil Pooka killing Red are his way of punishing her for crashing into him, because subconciously, he blames her instead of himself. This is also mirrored with their conversation about regret

+ Red looks at the Christmas tree that Wilson set up for her at the beginning. On my first watch, I thought she was having a flashback to a car accident in her past, but it was actually hinting at the crash in real life

+ Wilson struggling to breathe could be read as him rejecting, then needing his ‘bad’ side, and/or it could be him struggling to breathe after the crash

+ “This is a dream” - Finn at the beginning

+ Wilson in the Pooka suit randomly starting a fight with the other family’s dad as he walks by is still absurdly funny to me (it's also realistic in a 'this is how abusers operate' way, because Melanie sees him being violent right after receiving his message insisting he'll change). The shot of Pooka marching down the hall is also both creepy and cute

+ Finn only says ‘Buddy’ a couple times irl to Wilson, so in his subconcious, Finn calls him that in almost every line. I love that Wilson extrapolated what little info he had of Finn and Red to build entire personalities in his hallucination/purgatory

+ There are various interpretations of the ending and I love that it can be read in multiple ways. I don’t think his warning call to the house was real. I think that was ‘good’ Wilson seeing how things really were, and trying to fix everything, but the point was, he was too late. His actions had consequences, he couldn’t change it unlike Scrooge, and the entire movie was him having to face that fact. Whether or not he’s in purgatory, or survived and lost his mind, it’s still a tragedy either way

+ Pooka’s side shuffle in the beginning of the commercial is so cute. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it, the song is really catchy and never gets old

Didn't like:

- The only negative I have for this is that the volume level for Pooka was a bit off and therefore distracting in Melanie's house. I also like the buildup more than the actual climax with Wilson fighting evil Pooka and the part with the house, but overall, that's pretty much it. It's a stellar episode and the directing/cinematograpy elevated an interesting and tragic, but fitting, character study.
~ Not a negative, but I'd like to see the alternate version of Pooka being a haunted costume or demon that slowly takes over Wilson, and he ends up fighting back against it. Wilson is just such a likable character and Nyasha has an air of innocence about him that a part of me would've preferred to see him getting the 'hero' edit and winning. However, I still love the episode as is and I'm glad it was made. I would love to see more work by Nacho and Nyasha, separately or together.



Liked:
+ I think it's really cool that the director is a woman (Sophia Takal), and that there are 0 men in the cast. That's really rare, and this is very specifically a women-centered story. It captures the 'sleepover'/drama vibe so perfectly that a part of it hits close to home

+ I like Kayla

+ Latarsha Rose's acting was great

Didn't like:
- I really didn't like this. I wanted to, but it felt way too mean for me to like it. The pacing sucked, the first 10 minutes are boring, and both Kayla and her girlfriend ended up being the only characters I liked. I liked Chloe, up until she turned against Kayla, but I do give props for the realism in Chloe siding with Danielle because she was so manipulative
- Alexis is so unlikable. That is the point, and I appreciate that she was erratic and hypocritical ('Final' women tend to fit a certain archetype which can get a little stale), and her ending made sense since this is a thriller. But I didn't really root for her and just wanted Kayla and her girlfriend to live. I get that this is horror, but the Bury Your Gays trope was nagl and ANOTHER black woman dying left a bad taste in my mouth)
- There's a really long shot of Danielle convincing Chloe to join her that is shot from outside the house and it was so long and drawn out that it pissed me off. I guess it was supposed to add to the tension or be artsy but it really frustrated me. That shot was so horrid that it's one of the few things that stick out in the episode, but in a bad way. Props to Sophia Takal for her directing, but a lot of her choices fell flat for me



Liked:
+ I go back and forth on whether I like this more than Pooka! and that's a good thing. I like them both for different reasons. Down was the first one I saw, and it gave me an excellent first impression of Into the Dark. This is what Passengers should've been like. 'Down' did more than what I've read and seen about Passengers in less runtime and in an enclosed space. So major props to Down and everyone who worked on it, while Passengers still feels like wasted potential (I'm glad it got bad reviews and didn't do well in the box office.)

+ The actors are on point, and Matt Lauria gave an amazing performance. At first I thought he was kind of stiff and was coasting on his good looks, but when John revealed he trapped Jennifer, his shift from an 'aw shucks nice guy' to 'oh shit psycho Nice Guy,' was chilling and well acted - and that made his earlier performance even more impressive, because I realized he was portraying Guy as awkward and a bit stiff on purpose. He was intentionally being a 'mediocre' actor in the beginning. Not only that, but John showed moments of being vulnerable that were so engaging I even felt bad for him (well, to a point), even after knowing what kind of monster he is. So his acting surprised me the most and is one of the best parts

+ The ending is very satisfying; I love that Jennifer smoked the cigar and used it to light John on fire. Great 'fuck yeah!' moment :D

+ Good tension, especially when Jennifer and John filmed each other. I didn't know whether this would be a supernatural story, and thought there was a ghost in the elevator, so I kept holding my hands up in front of my eyes thinking a ghost or demon would pop up in the camera POV

+ Solid cinematography and color coding

Didn't like:

- The part where Jennifer gives the finger to John is so frustrating. Yes, at the moment she would want that catharsis, but it was such a 'horror protag makes a dumb move' trope that it made me roll my eyes and go 'Omg, just leave! If you left without doing that, he wouldn't have climbed up after you!" If the writer wanted to do that to have him chase her for more tension, she could've just started going up the ladder and John could call out to her and she wouldn't answer, then he would get suspicious and go up. Or he could've had a monologue to himself and come to the conclusion she would call the cops on him after leaving the building. Idk, that choice felt off to me and I was rooting for Jennifer the whole time so it made me annoyed. In a way I guess it was good in that it gave her dimensions, she wasn't the 'perfect' victim, but I was still like 'OMG what are you doing???' so it didn't have that effect on me

- I get that other people had to be killed for the 'horror' factor and to show that John is a psycho, but I felt so bad for his co-worker and his girlfriend. And ANOTHER black woman dies ughhhh



Liked:
+ I get why people don't like this, but overall, I like it. I like that Peter gets the comeuppance he deserves, and I liked that the witches were keeping an eye on him. It was fitting for this being the International Woman's Day episode
+ The housekeeper/head witch (sorry I can't find her name) is a great character. I really liked her, she was funny and honest. I also liked the witch who looks like Elizabeth Olson. I empathized with her and am glad she got justice for her sister
+ The women of color all live, fucking finally! I wouldn't be so grateful for that if they didn't keep getting killed off in other eps
+ Excellent costume design and creepy moments, like the artwork and the creatures that the witches dressed up as. This has some of the best horror visuals in the whole anthology, along with Pooka!

Didn't like:
- The first 10-15 minutes are trash. It took me five times to get through the beginning, I kept tuning out and having to restart from the beginning. The beginning should've shown Peter being a creep instead of just going 'Oh he's like Gordon Ramsey and is a neglectful dad.' It made the reveal of him being a rapist and serial sexual abuser come out of left field, and that could've been handled better. Maybe James Roday didn't want to film a woman being harrassed, which I get, but there wasn't even a hint toward it, just a couple of lines of dialogue, but more could've been done to make his compeuppance really cathartic
- The witches and magic should've been real



Liked:
+ Fantastic cinematograpy, second-best to Pooka! The editing also makes this visually unique. It looks great and due to Chester's look + motel setting, has a sort of timeless quality despite being set in present day and revolving around social media
+ Solid character study with an ending that is fitting for the genre
+ I liked Rachel
+ Hayes MacArthur gave a standout performance. He genuinely creeped me out and was so unpredictable that it kept me engaged. The other actors did a great job, Hayes just took it to another level and fully owned his character. Total psycho who, at times, was really magnetic - I was surprised since I'm kinda tired of this character type. The shot of him holding up the car keys and just standing there grinning was so chilling

Didn't like:
- I can see why a lot of people like this, but the ending, while fitting, really soured me on it. I hate that Rachel was killed, because I liked her a lot. Not only that, but her dead body was mocked. I get that that was the point, but with women getting killed a lot irl I just couldn't find it funny. It really turned me off of the whole episode and the 'black man being choked by a white dude' didn't help. The whole thing was gross, mean, and is the perfect movie for white male edgelords, but I'm not really a fan of it.
- So unrealistic that more police wouldn't have arrived to the motel after not receiving a check-in from the officer who was killed



Liked:
+ The episode that feels the most like Black Mirror - so much so, that this feels like a script that was rejected by Charlie Brooker. So, viewing it from that angle, this is a realy solid episode, and the ending is fitting in that sense
+ Israel Broussard is a chameleon! He was so cute and innocent in the Happy Death Day movies that it was really jarring seeing him as a stone-faced serial killer. So when Spencer insisted he could change and he wanted to be normal, I actually felt bad for him, even knowing he was a serial killer. His performance in that scene was excellent, and as usual, the entire cast was good, across the board
+ Aurora Perrineau is a chameleon too! I didn't reallize it until after I looked up the episodes on Wikipedia, but she was also in 'The Body!' She got to stretch her acting chops in this one, which I appreciate. She's really versatile and did a great job shifting from being the 'party girl' to being a woman with 'amnesia,' and then realizing what was done to her
+ It was an interesting concept and I like that it gradually answered (most) questions as it went on. It's really chilling but did a great job tackling the 'Mother's Day' theme
+ Chelsea Stardust did a great job directing. The directing and the 'cold' vibe in this worked for the story
+ I went FUCK YEAH when Ashley killed Spencer, in the same way he had been killing her clones. Poetic justice!

Didn't like:
- ... Which was short-lived. In the same vein of 'New Year, New You' and 'I'm Just F*cking With You,' the ending made sense, but it wasn't satisfying. I think it's because all 3 of the characters who 'won' just... weren't worthy of it. Which is the point. Ironically, I empathized with Victoria the most out of all those 3, but it still wasn't enough to make me happy with the ending. And I get that it's not supposed to be a 'happy' ending. It fits the 'Mother's Day' vibe and again, it's a thriller and is supposed to be viewed like a Black Mirror episode - but I really, really wanted Ashley to escape and be free. She got the shit end of the stick, as did Marissa. I rooted for both of them to team up and kill Spencer and get Victoria put in jail. It was so frustrating and disappointing that Marissa was killed and Ashely was caught by the police, implied to have been arrested for murdering Spencer
- And it just makes no sense that Victoria would be able to continue her work. I guess it's implied that she was so rich and revered that she could lie and get away with everything, but I still feel like there would've been an investigation of the house, especially with Victoria's company being suspicious about her leaving all of a sudden. I just can't suspend my disbelief enough to buy that she would be able to make a clone of her son. Thematically, it works, but I wonder how she would even live with him. It seemed like when she left her company it was a 'last chance' attempt at her winning goodwill from the donors or other heads of the company, so I imagine they would buy it out because of her absence and abruptly leaving. But I guess in the end, the point is that she would do anything for her son, so in that case, it did work
~ Not really a negative, but I'm confused about her husband. Is he dead, and was that just an AI? Or was he somewhere else and Victoria was communiated with him in a Virtual Reality setting? It seemed like her breaking the device meant she'd never talk to him again, which implied he was actually dead - and it would be fitting, in a character sense, for her to have kept him 'alive' as an AI. But that was the one thing the episode didn't explain. I guess it's supposed to be open to interpretation



Liked:
+ I'm still shocked that the same director who did 'I'm Just F*cking With You' did this. The two could not be any more different. I guess this one was his way to counterbalance him killing Rachel and go "I don't hate women, honest," lol. I think this one was 'nicer' than IJFWY, so in a way it did make up for that. It's a nice family-oriented message
+ The first night with the kids banging on the trailer and talking to the family was creepy
+ Clayne Crawford did a good job as the dad. I really bought his relationship with his daughters; they felt realistic
+ Nathan tricking the black-eyed children with the back of the SUV was cool
+ The scene where Nathan found the dead guy was really creepy. It was very well done
+ Great use of the setting
+ Heartwarming ending

Didn't like:
- I don't know if another director was supposed to do this and Adam picked it up for more $ or to 'apologize' for killing Rachel or whatever, but either Adam was rushed or he wasn't as into this. Aside from the first night and Nathan finding the dead guy, the directing/cinematography felt really lackluster and pedestrian. I'm not sure if Adam wanted to try something new, or tone down his instincts, but this is nowhere near as visually interesting as IJFWY, and I would've expected the visuals to be switched around. But I guess it actually does make sense that a director would want to punch up a story about a crazy serial killer in a motel, but kind of fall back and be like 'Oh the black-eyed kids are already interesting as a topic, I don't need to be as creative.' But that ended up bringing this episode down because it's the ONLY episode with a truly supernatural element, and then it gets wasted in the story and isn't elevated much by the directing. By the third act, the black-eyed children seemed about as menacing as a couple of teenagers hanging around at a 7-11, and then the 'monster' abruptly became the dead mother's shadow or something? It was really weird
- That was the problem with this story. It took an interesting and creepy horror concept but then attached it to a theme that makes no sense to me. I've never seen anything about black-eyed children being affiliated with grief. It seemed like the only reason they were picked is so that Maggie would be kidnapped. The premise has so many possibilities, and the script took it into a generic, predictable Lifetime movie. So the ending felt kind of like the opposite of the other 3 eps in which I didn't like who 'won,' because again, this one felt fitting, and I'm glad the family survived, but it still felt kind of cheesy and I was like, "That's it?" The script just mashed two different stories together because of the 'Father's Day' concept but it actually ended up feeling like it was more of a "Parents' Day" episode. I guess I would've bought it more if Nathan died to protect his daughters. I'm glad he lived but the ending was kind of just... aww that is nice, but uh that's it? When I talked about this episode with Sarah I said that it would've been much creepier if the cast were different, not a family but maybe college students or teenagers - and I read a creepypasta about B-EC in the discussion post on Reddit for this ep, that was from a teen's POV that I thought was 10x creepier! - and Sarah added that it would've made more sense, thematically, because it could've been about transition in a teenager's life and them being afraid of growing up (symbolized by the B-EC) and then embracing it at the end. I think that would've been a much better story
- Nathan made me literally yell at the screen when he came back to the trailer and said, "I found a dead guy and I think those kids that came last night have something to do with him, anyway we should stay here another night and leave in the morning because I don't want to make your sister walk to the highway." She would have to walk anyway in the morning! I would be like "We are leaving right now, I can give Maggie a piggyback ride if her feet get tired but this place is bad fucking news." He literally found a dead body and saw that there was a connection to the kids roaming around, at night, in the wilderness and he was like "Welp one more night can't hurt." If it had been getting dark then I maybe would've seen his point, but it was still bright out and he couldn't have been gone for more than five or six hours. Even though he got lost, I think the latest he got back would be around 2pm, that would've given them plenty of time to leave! Ugh! I get that he was one of those 'logical' type of people and was still hung up on his wife's death, but FFS you dumbass just leave! That made me so irritated and I couldn't understand his choice. It was just to pad out more horror and fulfill the 'giving Mom her resting place' moment. Speaking of which.... congrats on having your ashes dumped in some creepy abandoned amusement park, Mom. Lol that was so bizarre
- The B-EC were so weirdly handled in the final act. Suddenly they became corporeal and Nathan could trap them in a car, and then they became more like henchmen and there was a different spirt posing as the mom. It was super weird and disjointed. The script for this episode wasn't great. It really feels like all the writers and directors banded together and were like "We don't want to do anything with actual supernatural elements" and Blumhouse was like "We gotta do at least one," and they all begrudgingly drew straws and the team that did this episode went 'Fuck!' And that's why the episode came out the way it did. Ok, it's really not that terrible, but I think it could've been much better



Liked:
+ Great episode. Very topical and I like how it merged different vibes: Get Out, Pleasantville, Matrix, and Inception
+ Acting is great. It was so funny to see Santo go from an intimidating-looking guy to super cheerful
+ On retrospect the ending is fitting, though bittersweet, and I appreciate it. It makes sense that Santo would keep going, like many people want to, and it makes sense that Marisol decided to go back home, like many would also want to, to preserve and appreciate their culture
+ The look of the AI town was great, in that it was bright and cheery but also creepy. All the parts with the kids were especially chilling
+ Hi, Shawn Ashmore! I fully bought him as the scientist who realized that the government was doing something wrong with the migrants and he decided to turn against evil Creed (or, well, just Creed lol). I thought Shawn's character would turn out to be bad too but I like that he ended up doing the right thing
+ Marisol was really likable and I'm so glad she and her son got to live! I'm not happy with her 'rape as trauma' background because it's been done to death but it is realistic and I appreicate that she got to kill her rapist. That part was satisfying
+ Creed! So that's where he went after Dunder Mifflin. He had moments of coming off as very creepy in The Office, so his actor was a great choice for the Dump-like character. Got what he deserved, too!
+ This felt very eye-opening in showing all the shit that Mexican immigrants have to go through in order to even cross the border. Maybe I'm just a bleeding heart but I don't mind if people want to come live here if they want to have a better life. And it's really because our military went into a lot of the countries in Central and South America to interfere with the government and exacerbate the problems, causing people to want to flee and looking for better lives. Yes, there is a problem with drugs being smuggled into the U.S., but these days, it's very apparent that brown immigrants are being targeted and blamed for all the problems in the U.S., and I really respect Gigi Saul Guerrero for showcasing how fucked the U.S. government/military is and how some Americans treat Mexican immigrants as subhuman. I think she was brave for directing this because the episode could've gotten a ton of backlash, so she and the other writers deserve a ton of credit for making this, and props to Blumhouse for giving them the platform to tell their story

Mixed feelings:
- I was really shipping Marisol/Santo and hoping they could immigrate to America to be a family together with her baby, and was sad when they parted. But as I said, in retrospect it's realistic, and in a way it is a happy ending for both of them. Plus, it's refreshing that the main female character doesn't have to end up with a guy. I would like to think that Santo came back to Mexico eventually and he settled down with Marisol and her child, but in 'canon' I appreciate the ending as is
- I get that the rape/attempeted rape was realistic and I appreciate that none of it was sexualized or romanticized. It was brutal and realistic in its depiction. But I'm kind of tired of female characters needing to have that kind of trauma. In this story it absolutely fits, it's just that in a narrative, I'm kind of over it. Also, while I think it was satisfying that Marisol killed her rapist, he went into that OTT cartoony bit that was clearly done so that no one would get mad at Marisol. I don't think he needed to start raging at her to deserve death. I still appreciate that she went through with it and that Santo got to kill a bunch of the guards. The ending had a lot of justified wish fulfillment and I haven't seen much of it for characters of color, so in an iddy way, the climax worked for me
- It really sucks that Thomas died. I was hoping he'd live. However, that was also part of the realistic aspect, and on a narrative level, I appreciate that the writers didn't pull their punches



Liked:
+ The school was utilized really well for the story, and I like how the hallways were shot
+ That kill with the paper cutter was both horrific and creative, and I appreciate that it didn't just take one time for the head to come off
+ Fuck yeah, the main girl lives! I was satisfied with her outsmarting the serial killer and killing him, then throwing in his face that she wasn't 'his angel.' I thought that was a cool twist, in that deep down, the serial killer was a shy kid with a crush (an obsessive crush) and he had his fantasy of the main girl, but she was actually pragmatic, ambitious, and sexual - she wasn't the rote virgin girl who lives because she's pure. She survived because she was smart. It was a fitting ending and unlike the other 3 characters who 'won' in other episodes, I was rooting for her
+ Pretty cool idea for it to be a horror take on The Breakfast Club
+ I liked the blonde girl and thought her friendship with the main girl was cute
+ The spirit's costume was good
+ The classroom set up with all the corpses was creative
+ Love the KC + Jojo throwback - but I realized how old I am when I heard it lol

Didn't like:
- It was really easy to tell who the killer was. I called it when he went outside of the room while the first kid in the group got killed. And it became even more obvious when he 'left' the main girl to be alone with her ex. The actor who played the serial killer was great, and he did such a good job I actually found him endearing when he wanted to dance with the main girl (still glad she killed him). But it was SO obvious - there was a moment when I thought that the teacher was in on it with him, but that was answered at the end
- The teacher could've been handled better. I get that this was the main girl's story, and in that sense this episode did what it was supposed to, but there was some weird writing in that it built up the teacher to have a character arc, then went 'nah whatever' and killed him. He was built up to be this hardass who is taking out his anguish with his wife leaving, and his alcoholism, out on the students, but then he ended up being killed offscreen. What? It felt like his death was originally written, then cut to fit the runtime, but then why focus on him so much? Sarah said that she would've preferred it if he sacrificed himself to save the students, and I think that would've worked better than him getting killed offscreen
- There was a similar problem with the 'bad boy.' He got this mini-arc of covering up his insecurities with machismo, and I thought, "Oh good, now he'll face the fact that he's actually scared like anyone else would be, and he'd gain courage to fight against the spirit," but then he just... died scared. I guess the point was he was a coward all along, but I was rooting for him despite his demeanor and I thought there was something deeper going on, but nah he was just canon fodder. That was disappointing
- I didn't like that the blonde girl died, and so abruptly. While, I'm glad she got to pull the fire alarm, it just felt very eye-rolling that she stood there instead of bolting before the killer could get her with the axe. It felt so abrupt and again, felt like it was shortened for time
- Another serial killer! 🙄 Individually, they do work in their stories, but this is, what, the 7th serial killer? And they're all dudes! I do want to see another season, because I really like this concept for an anthology, but I really hope if anoher season is made, they roll back the serial killers and do more supernatural/cryptid stuff. There's so much else to explore! Falling back on 'serial killers' and 'thriller' tropes is getting kind of stale and I really hope the last episode doesn't have a serial killer. Or, if there is one, please let it be a woman! And please let the black woman live ffs! I think only two of them have lived, and they're both only in the episode for like 5 minutes, and one of them isn't even real! Again, I really like this concept, and even with the episodes I didn't like, I appreciate that they got made. There's a lot of interesting things in the episodes but there's room for improvement. I'm rooting for you, Blumhouse!
- It's a solid episode but I think I would like it more if the spirit was real, and if the main girl, blonde girl, and 'bad boy' survived. I was hoping they'd team up to work together, and the shy kid could've been another kill for the spirit if he'd lost it and did something bad, like he could've tried pushing the 'bad boy' in front of him and saying that he was 'better' so he should survive, then the spirit kills him. The ending is fine as is and I like it because the main girl wins and isn't a typical 'Final Girl,' but I would've preferred that alternative ending

ETA:



Liked:
+ Jahkara Smith knocking it out of the park! The acting was solid across the board, and she shined in this
+ I really liked Shay's character arc, especially that she was so desperate to connect to her dad after she lost her mom, then realized how controlling and evil her dad was. I also like that she went from being scared of Lilith and rejecting her, to researching her, to accepting her in at the end so Lilith could act through her
+God, that ending was so great of Shay/Lilith killng the evil dads! It was a very creepy and realistic cult - which apparently is rooted in reality, as a couple of people on Reddit confirmed D: - and I think the religious aspect/angel-demon Lilith fit in nicely with Shay's arc
+ The jump scare during Shay's first conversation with the creepy dude (Gabe?) was super effective! I jumped at that shot of Lilith/Shay
+Shay and Jo's relationship was great! I thought it was very realistic in that Jo was jealous of Shay being the 'perfect' daughter and taking her father's attention away from her, then Jo sympathized with Shay and they stood against their father at the end. Pretty much everything that was done in this was far more satisfying than how Gamora's and Nebula's 'story' was scrawled out in IW and Endgame
+ Great cinematography and nature shots! Hannah MacPherson did an awesome job making things stylized, especially with Lilith's design and focusing on details like the rings, contracts, and the pictures
+ Scott Porter put in a great performance as Pastor Seth. I really hated him and he felt so realistic. I can see how some people would find the misogyny on the nose but I think it was presented the most realistically in his sermons, especially the gum 'test' he did with Shay. I appreciate that Hannah MacPherson and the writers didn't shy away from that and stuck the landing at the end in turning the tables around on all the dads
+ This was overall extremely satisfying and a high note for Season 1 to go out on. It addressed the biggest issues I had with this season, in that there weren't any main female black characters who survived, much less were the protagonist - and that there wasn't much actual supernatural horror. 'Pure' did an excellent job fulfilling both of those things that were lacking, and I really enjoyed watching it!

Didn't like:
- Other than some lines being a bit clunky, a couple of predictable jump scares, and Lacey's arc not going in a direction I was super happy with - I get that it kicked off Shay and Lilith's bond but I was a little let down that Lacey killed herself - I thought this was very well made!

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All in all, it was good for me to get out of my MCU bubble and check out something new. I think it helped that this was an anthology so I could focus on each individual episode at a time; I didn't have to invest a ton of time watching the series (maybe it's my shortened attention span or being burned by IW and Endgame, but I'm more into movies and short series nowadays, rather than having to commit to series with long seasons and characters that might end up OOC or getting treated like shit.) I like the concept, and the actors are stellar. The production values are pretty good and it's cool seeing different directors' takes on the material. But as I mentioned, there's room for growth and even more diversity, even more different types of horror, so I'm hoping that Blumhouse takes it a step further in both areas, in whatever it does next. I really appreciate that this series was even made in the first place, and there are a coupe of them that are fantastic and that I would recommend to anyone interested in the genre.

Ranking (objective):
1. Pooka!
2. I'm Just F*cking With You
3. Culture Shock
4. Down
5. All That We Destroy
6. Pure
7. The Body
8. Flesh and Blood
9. New Year, New You
10. School Spirit
11. Treehouse
12. They Come Knocking

Ranking (personal):
1. Down
2. Pooka!
3. Flesh and Blood
4. Pure
5. Culture Shock
6. School Spirit
7. Treehouse
8. All That We Destroy
9. They Come Knocking
10. I'm Just F*cking With You
11. New Year, New You
12. The Body

I'm looking forward to the last one!