Harper's Island re-watch: Whap & Crackle
First and foremost, if you don't know what 'Harper's Island' is, you should really give it a shot. It's a 13 episode miniseries which amounts to less than 13 hours (thanks to commercials) worth of twists and turns with an interesting cast and some red herrings that keep you guessing. I'm sure you can watch the whole thing in one day on the internet somewhere. It's great if you're a horror fan or even if you're a bit squeamish like me because this is network TV horror and gore so you'll probably be okay for a good 3/4 of the series.
With that in mind I'll post a few thoughts I have after I re-watching the first two episodes including how it surprised me this second time around.
** Light Spoilers beyond here for anyone who hasn't watched this neat horror miniseries yet. **
Okay, so I've watched the first two episodes of 'Harper's Island' on Chiller and I did *not* know there were two stars from Supernatural in it! (I didn't watch SPN when HI first aired on CBS). Supernatural's "Bobby" (Jim Beaver) is Abby's dad! (I knew there was a reason that grizzled, old guy won me over.
) And Supernatural's Demonic "Ruby" 1.0 (Katie Cassidy) is the bride, Trish! (I also knew there was a reason I didn't care much for her!
) Also, Abby Mills is played by someone named Elaine Cassidy and apparently she's not related to Katie Cassidy. Those are some odds.
It's so weird seeing Ruby, er, Katie Cassidy as a brunette. When I first saw the show I didn't quite like her. Between her meeting with her ex and keeping him a secret from Henry (and yes, this was before I knew about Henry's "big secret") as well as her obnoxious, WASPy rich family and friends, I just wasn't relating much with her. In fact I wasn't, and I'm still not, really invested in anyone who isn't on Henry's side of the reception, excluding Henry's supposed best friend Sully who's a sleaze for trying to steal Cal's girlfriend and for almost leaving him to die. BTW, I recognize the British actor playing "Cal" from the first Seltzer and Friedberg movie parody 'Date Movie' starring opposite Alyson Hannigan, aka "Willow" from 'Buffy' and aka "Lily" from 'How I Met Your Mother'. This is some Kevin Bacon connecting right here.
Where was I? Oh, yes: the people I could care less if they died. So Trish and her interaction with Henry doesn't really sell. It didn't then and it doesn't now. Am I the only one who sees little chemistry between them? I'll admit the first time around I was turned off by love scenes between him and his fiancé because of my 'Ugly Betty' bias but rewatching this again, and trying to be as neutral as possible, I'm still not seeing it. If anything, knowing that Henry may not be as in love with her as he lets on kind of reinforces the mismatched pairing they make. Even if I ignored Henry's feelings, I can't help remembering that talk Trish has with her friend about how she left her "bad boy" boyfriend for "good guy" Henry. Does she really love Henry or did she decide to "settle", still harboring some longing for a bad boy? Ugh. Why does that actress continue to take roles that irk me? First Ruby's manipulating and macking on my poor, not-so-little Sammy boy and now she's got her claws into my sweet, bright Henry? Sooo glad she gets killed off both times! (Er, this is one of the more spoilery parts.)
As for the SPN actor I *do* like, well as I mentioned, Papa Mills is played by the gruff but always lovable Jim Beaver and it's not really too much of a stretch seeing him play a sheriff considering his SPN character masquerades as law enforcement on the show all the time. His interaction with his daughter is minimal in the first two episodes so I'll delve into more detail later when he gets more screen time. I will however mention that he raised one heck of a daughter. I really like Abby. She's sweet, and lovely, as well as a terrific friend to Henry (way better than Sully). She can hang out with the guys and she seems tough at times but then parts of the island brings out her poor, vulnerable side and makes me wanna hug her. This protectiveness kicks into overdrive when uber-ass Shane comes into the picture (how the hell is a guy like that friends with such a cool guy like Jimmy?) I know Abby broke Jimmy's heart when she left the island (against her will, as we find out!) but that is no excuse for Shane to make fun of Abby's murdered mother in a lame attempt to "help" his friend, Jimmy. In any case, Abby and Henry have way more chemistry together (mostly friendly) and deserve to be the two leads of this miniseries.
To summarize (and add basic story details I didn't cover): Rich girl (Trish) plans to marry lower class guy (Henry) on Harper's Island despite the fact that people were murdered there by a whackjob named John Wakefield some-odd years ago. One of the island victims was Abby's mom but she's going to Henry & Trish's island wedding anyway because what's past is past and she doesn't want to let her best friend, Henry, down. There's been four kills as far as I can recall, one of them being Henry's uncle (who I kinda liked since he was Henry's only guardian), and the other Kelly (an island native whose mom was also killed on the island and shares that in common with Abby; dead-mom besties, yo!) Trish's rich daddy is paying her ex or something to try and ruin the wedding because he doesn't approve of Henry but the ex doesn't do much so far. What does seem to bring bad luck is Henry's black-sheep of a brother who is so heavily hinted to be the killer that he's so obviously a red herring. Chloe, one of the bridesmaids has a serious fetish or something for the Wakefield murders and her boyfriend puts up with it because she's a hot blond and he's awkward and British (but still cute). Sully hits on her but gets no where and Jimmy still holds a torch for Abby looking all sweet and love-struck but she's not ready to get close to him again because of the break-up and sad island memories. Most of the other bride's friends are kinda forgettable. One of them dies but her little purse dog doesn't. Oh! And how could I forget that rude and creepy the little girl, Madison?? From the get-go the kid rifles through things that don't belong to her, grosses wedding guests out with a severed finger prank, and she burns slugs with a magnifying glass. I'm pretty sure that last part is a sign of a budding serial killer according to the media pros in the know(s). (Plus she's most definitely the creepy girl who chants "one by one" in the show opening. Creepy, creepy girl.)
And I think that's most of the things I wanted to touch upon after the first two episodes of 'Harper's Island' which I, once again, highly recommend. My plan here is to post after every two episodes (that means the next HI post should be coming in two weeks) with the last episode getting it's own post because it's the finale and I've got much to wrap up. Well, that's the plan anyway. Here's hoping I do manage to post every two weeks for the next, I think 2 months.
Unrelated P.S: I almost didn't realize it but today is 4/20! Hah! *Insert drug joke here*
With that in mind I'll post a few thoughts I have after I re-watching the first two episodes including how it surprised me this second time around.
** Light Spoilers beyond here for anyone who hasn't watched this neat horror miniseries yet. **
Okay, so I've watched the first two episodes of 'Harper's Island' on Chiller and I did *not* know there were two stars from Supernatural in it! (I didn't watch SPN when HI first aired on CBS). Supernatural's "Bobby" (Jim Beaver) is Abby's dad! (I knew there was a reason that grizzled, old guy won me over.
) And Supernatural's Demonic "Ruby" 1.0 (Katie Cassidy) is the bride, Trish! (I also knew there was a reason I didn't care much for her!
) Also, Abby Mills is played by someone named Elaine Cassidy and apparently she's not related to Katie Cassidy. Those are some odds.
It's so weird seeing Ruby, er, Katie Cassidy as a brunette. When I first saw the show I didn't quite like her. Between her meeting with her ex and keeping him a secret from Henry (and yes, this was before I knew about Henry's "big secret") as well as her obnoxious, WASPy rich family and friends, I just wasn't relating much with her. In fact I wasn't, and I'm still not, really invested in anyone who isn't on Henry's side of the reception, excluding Henry's supposed best friend Sully who's a sleaze for trying to steal Cal's girlfriend and for almost leaving him to die. BTW, I recognize the British actor playing "Cal" from the first Seltzer and Friedberg movie parody 'Date Movie' starring opposite Alyson Hannigan, aka "Willow" from 'Buffy' and aka "Lily" from 'How I Met Your Mother'. This is some Kevin Bacon connecting right here.
Where was I? Oh, yes: the people I could care less if they died. So Trish and her interaction with Henry doesn't really sell. It didn't then and it doesn't now. Am I the only one who sees little chemistry between them? I'll admit the first time around I was turned off by love scenes between him and his fiancé because of my 'Ugly Betty' bias but rewatching this again, and trying to be as neutral as possible, I'm still not seeing it. If anything, knowing that Henry may not be as in love with her as he lets on kind of reinforces the mismatched pairing they make. Even if I ignored Henry's feelings, I can't help remembering that talk Trish has with her friend about how she left her "bad boy" boyfriend for "good guy" Henry. Does she really love Henry or did she decide to "settle", still harboring some longing for a bad boy? Ugh. Why does that actress continue to take roles that irk me? First Ruby's manipulating and macking on my poor, not-so-little Sammy boy and now she's got her claws into my sweet, bright Henry? Sooo glad she gets killed off both times! (Er, this is one of the more spoilery parts.)
As for the SPN actor I *do* like, well as I mentioned, Papa Mills is played by the gruff but always lovable Jim Beaver and it's not really too much of a stretch seeing him play a sheriff considering his SPN character masquerades as law enforcement on the show all the time. His interaction with his daughter is minimal in the first two episodes so I'll delve into more detail later when he gets more screen time. I will however mention that he raised one heck of a daughter. I really like Abby. She's sweet, and lovely, as well as a terrific friend to Henry (way better than Sully). She can hang out with the guys and she seems tough at times but then parts of the island brings out her poor, vulnerable side and makes me wanna hug her. This protectiveness kicks into overdrive when uber-ass Shane comes into the picture (how the hell is a guy like that friends with such a cool guy like Jimmy?) I know Abby broke Jimmy's heart when she left the island (against her will, as we find out!) but that is no excuse for Shane to make fun of Abby's murdered mother in a lame attempt to "help" his friend, Jimmy. In any case, Abby and Henry have way more chemistry together (mostly friendly) and deserve to be the two leads of this miniseries.
To summarize (and add basic story details I didn't cover): Rich girl (Trish) plans to marry lower class guy (Henry) on Harper's Island despite the fact that people were murdered there by a whackjob named John Wakefield some-odd years ago. One of the island victims was Abby's mom but she's going to Henry & Trish's island wedding anyway because what's past is past and she doesn't want to let her best friend, Henry, down. There's been four kills as far as I can recall, one of them being Henry's uncle (who I kinda liked since he was Henry's only guardian), and the other Kelly (an island native whose mom was also killed on the island and shares that in common with Abby; dead-mom besties, yo!) Trish's rich daddy is paying her ex or something to try and ruin the wedding because he doesn't approve of Henry but the ex doesn't do much so far. What does seem to bring bad luck is Henry's black-sheep of a brother who is so heavily hinted to be the killer that he's so obviously a red herring. Chloe, one of the bridesmaids has a serious fetish or something for the Wakefield murders and her boyfriend puts up with it because she's a hot blond and he's awkward and British (but still cute). Sully hits on her but gets no where and Jimmy still holds a torch for Abby looking all sweet and love-struck but she's not ready to get close to him again because of the break-up and sad island memories. Most of the other bride's friends are kinda forgettable. One of them dies but her little purse dog doesn't. Oh! And how could I forget that rude and creepy the little girl, Madison?? From the get-go the kid rifles through things that don't belong to her, grosses wedding guests out with a severed finger prank, and she burns slugs with a magnifying glass. I'm pretty sure that last part is a sign of a budding serial killer according to the media pros in the know(s). (Plus she's most definitely the creepy girl who chants "one by one" in the show opening. Creepy, creepy girl.)
And I think that's most of the things I wanted to touch upon after the first two episodes of 'Harper's Island' which I, once again, highly recommend. My plan here is to post after every two episodes (that means the next HI post should be coming in two weeks) with the last episode getting it's own post because it's the finale and I've got much to wrap up. Well, that's the plan anyway. Here's hoping I do manage to post every two weeks for the next, I think 2 months.
Unrelated P.S: I almost didn't realize it but today is 4/20! Hah! *Insert drug joke here*