I guess the one thing on every Bedlam fans mind was, "what is the impact the cast change will have?" and thankfully...not much. Although it's a shame to see Jed go and I'm not all that quick to accept STACEH from Eastenders (Lacey Turner) as the lead actress (even if another Eastenders actor was in the last season...) but from the very beginning the show makes sure to tell you that we are in the same universe and this is a direct follow up from the first season. Which I am grateful for.
Despite this though, I am sure there will still be a lot left unanswered by the end of the second season since they are already starting to raise new questions without answering old ones. And the fact that character arcs can't be finished if the characters aren't in the show any more. But I'm still guessing some of the more major questions will be answered by the end of this season. Unless they plan to turn this into Lost that is... then God help us all...
Admittedly though although the cast change doesn't have much impact on the story - it does have an impact on the enjoyment in the sense that most of the new cast are well... just a bit rubbish. Aside from Kate and her father, in the first season everyone was lovely. I admittedly cringed in horror when I saw Will Young was cast, but he was utterly charming as the possibly gay sidekick and I can honestly say by the end of the season I loved all the main cast and I enjoyed all the interesting characters that came in each week - they were admittedly not the best written characters in the world but every actor gave a good enough performance not to care. This new cast though...I don't really find anything likeable about any of them and the only characters making a return from the last season are the least likeable ones, Kate and her Dad... I think the worst character may be Max, who is basically, 'Shit we were so sure Young would renew his contract we already wrote his character into every episode and he didn't! Oh well, we'll just change the characters name and any direct reference to the events in the last season - sorted!'
It seems the show has taken some of my criticisms on board as one of the central conflicts of the episode is STACEH's powers, having only started seeing ghosts six months ago she is only just coming to the conclusion that what she is seeing is real. And (minus Not Will Young) the characters around STACEH don't just jump to the conclusion that she has superpowers, it gives it time to develop and gives a sense of mystery about it.
I also like the sense of scale this provides, with an implication that the powers pass from person to person, when those people die. That being said, I'm not sure how much sense this implication really makes. It was implied in the first season that Jed gained his powers because he was officially dead for several minutes when he was born before he was revived and that was why he could see ghosts, the implication for STA-...sorry I'll stop doing that joke now, is that Ellie's powers are basically a hand me down, passed on when well...Jed passed on but that would basically make both of their powers origins completely different with no real logic as to why. Or any real logic as to why Ellie was the recipient of the powers, except maybe the fact she is surrounded by death all the time. That being said, it would appear her powers are different, since although Jed's powers were eventually plot convenience powers, Ellie's a different from the start - although an initial touch of a corpse gives her visions of how someone died (for the first time in her timeline too) she then repeatedly has extended versions of said vision as the day progresses with the implication that without even coming in contact with anything, Bedlam Heights sets off her powers. And I like the implication that the building makes her stronger due to its high collection of spirits as we know from the first season.
I think they had a bigger budget this time, everything is a lot flashier and I'd actually argue this is a negative, the way it just cut straight to Jed's visions (even if the visions were filmed a bit like a music video) made the visions feel natural, adding a special effects sequence to show the powers are activating takes you out of the story a bit. It's much the same with the ghosts, most of them had no idea they were even dead since they looked practically human except for their black eyes, now there've been loads of special effects added to them as if to say 'THIS PERSON IS A GHOST', do they think the audience got more stupid after watching the first season?
Just overall there just feels a lot less atmosphere this time around which is what normally happens when you try and gloss over every rough edge, some of the soul gets lost in the conversion and although the show isn't less enjoyable, it just feels a lot less heart has gone into this episode than the last season and the heart has just been replaced with money. And that is never a good thing because it makes the thing feel clean and clinical and those things are never scary. The first season didn't need flashy special effects, it just had a great location, great cinematography and excellent use of light and sound - it's the atmosphere that scares us, the tension that any moment something could attack. A guy with a slightly dangling head that wobbles standing about isn't scary. Most of scares come from jump scares, the cheap way to make your show/movie scary. For shame considering how genuinely frightening the first season was in places.
On the other hand though, I have to say I am glad the ghost of the week is more threatening than the first couple from the first season, the Hanged Man feels like a genuine threat, not someone who'd just scratch the walls late at night to annoy you - since has the ability to hang you. Yet on the OTHER hand, (how many howevers, althoughs, despite, other hands and other words like this can someone fit in one review?!), the emphasis on action and jump scares over actual atmosphere and scares makes this feel akin to one of last decades many terrible horror remakes of classics... As if to emphasis this as more of an action series, it seems this season will have a main villain.
Overall the episode leaves me torn - I don't think I could have made that any more obvious throughout the review. For every thing the episode exceeds in over the first season, it does something a little shittier... It was certainly an enjoyable episode overall and definitely worth it if you want to continue with the mystery of Bedlam heights, so here is my TL;DR pros and cons of the episode to close up the review!
Pros;
- I was really scared that the cast change would have direct impact on the story and although it's clear that there will be some things that will never be answered, the mystery of Bedlam Heights is far from over.
- Although Ellie is far from a better main character than Jed emotionally, in terms of writing I like Ellie a lot more. Her character is surrounded by death due to her profession as a paramedic which gives a fluidity to her relationship with death and her powers aren't just a given, the mystery surrounding them is the main driving force behind the episode and it would seem the season as a whole. She just makes a lot more sense than Jed did.
- I enjoyed the fact that the show is trying to flesh out and widen its mythos.
- The ghost of the week is actually threatening and posses an actual, genuine threat!
Cons;
- The new main cast are horrible - there is nothing likeable about any of them and minus Ellie, they are all badly written and just linger in the shadows of the great main cast from the first season.
- Some of the mythos fleshing and widening has confused some points raised in the first season, it's too early to know now if these are genuine errors or mysteries to be explored through the next five episodes.
- It just isn't scary! The first season proved that you don't need lots of action and special effects to be scary, all you need is your heart all in to create a scary atmosphere. This episode seems to forget how well this worked entirely to make the episode feel a lot like one of those crappy modern horror remakes.
- The quality of the writing is spotty throughout and the quality dips wildly in places.
Think About It!
-Locke
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