The set-up lured you in. A flawed prodigal son and a mysterious priest arrive on a small isolated island community where each character plays out their kitchen sink lives. Fans of Stephen King will instantly recognise the signs that small town America is about to be subverted in a maelstrom of self-inflicted horror fuelled by past regrets and secrets. A town where evil can quietly breed.
Flanagan initially does well, but I feel that the format of 7 hour-long (sometimes a little longer) episodes allowed too much scope for navel gazing and existential monologuing by some of the more uninteresting characters, to the point where it drifted into almost becoming a showreel for Flanagan's wife, Kate Siegel.
Hamish Linklater carries the entire show. A standout performance as the priest. Ruminative, brilliantly jittery and conflicted (of course). I do hope that he lands more roles off the back of this turn, he had great timing.
I think that maybe a cut to 3-4 episodes could have condensed this into a modern horror classic, akin to 1979's Salem's Lot (David Soul). The plot tension was often killed off by overly long conversations, particularly in the last episode where a 10 minute monologue by Siegel's character just took the wind out of the climatic ending.
Enjoyable but needed a good editor.
Flanagan initially does well, but I feel that the format of 7 hour-long (sometimes a little longer) episodes allowed too much scope for navel gazing and existential monologuing by some of the more uninteresting characters, to the point where it drifted into almost becoming a showreel for Flanagan's wife, Kate Siegel.
Hamish Linklater carries the entire show. A standout performance as the priest. Ruminative, brilliantly jittery and conflicted (of course). I do hope that he lands more roles off the back of this turn, he had great timing.
I think that maybe a cut to 3-4 episodes could have condensed this into a modern horror classic, akin to 1979's Salem's Lot (David Soul). The plot tension was often killed off by overly long conversations, particularly in the last episode where a 10 minute monologue by Siegel's character just took the wind out of the climatic ending.
Enjoyable but needed a good editor.
