Earlier
this week, a reader here on the blog asked me for my thoughts about Netflix’s Hemlock
Grove (2012 – 2013), the Eli Roth-produced horror TV series based on Brian
McGreevy’s novel.
I
have watched the first half-dozen episodes of the first season twice, so my
knowledge is based on those episodes and my double viewings of them.
My
conclusion at this juncture is that the series is somewhat inconsistent in tone
and approach.
Sometimes
it is well-acted; sometimes not.
Sometimes
Hemlock
Grove is fascinating and visually-daring…even crazy.
And
sometimes Hemlock Grove qualifies, actually, as droning and tedious.
There
were times I had a hard time staying tuned to the action on-screen, which is why I watched the episodes
twice.
At
this juncture, I cannot report accurately whether this sense of muddled inconsistency or
uneven-ness recurs later in the series’ run… only that the episodes I saw
vacillated wildly between curious strangeness and tiresome cliché.
I
will readily admit that perhaps I didn’t watch enough episodes to find the series' “vibe”
resonant, or to fall in love with the characters. The central mystery is pursued
with such haphazard, variable, irregularity that it did not hook me, either.
Again,
this is my critical evaluation based on what I viewed. The aforementioned blog reader made n interesting case for the
program’s virtues, and two pod-cast hosts that I know and respect greatly lauded the
series to me as well.
I
made the mistake of dismissing The Vampire Diaries (2009 - ) after
the pilot episode, some years back, and don’t wish to make the same error here.
All
I can write is that based on my admittedly-limited viewing of the first season, Hemlock
Grove proved more uneven than enticing.
Hemlock
Grove is the
tale of two young men in a Pennsylvania town: a 17-year old gypsy werewolf,
Peter Rumancek (Landon Liboiron), and Roman Godfrey (Bill Skarsgard), an “upir” or vampire.
They become uneasy
friends and soon work together to solve a mystery: a series of vicious animal-attack style
murders in Hemlock Grove.
The
series, which ran for three seasons, is a
soap opera in its structure and narrative development, and also concerns a
young woman, Letha (Penelope Mitchell) who believes she has been impregnated by
an angel. Others fear she may have been raped.
Meanwhile,
there’s a deeper background to the story as well.
Roman’s sister, Shelley (Nicole Boivin) is a
deformed young woman and outcast. And Roman’s mother, Olivia Godfrey (Famke
Janssen) is having an affair with her former brother-in-law, Norman Godfrey
(Dougray Scott), who works at the mysterious Godfrey Institute of Medicine.
Meanwhile,
Peter’s mother, Lynda (Lili Taylor) also seems to possess some secrets, as well
as a healthy dislike for Olivia.
What
I admire most about Hemlock Grove is the series’ setting.
The
town itself has become a zombie, or undead.
The
rust belt location once thrived as the home of a successful steel mill. But
once the economy took a down-turn, industry and manufacturing died, thus
leaving the town’s denizens stumbling on futilely, trying to figure out where they
belong and how they can live.
The
new “industry” in town, --which hovers on the cutting edge of bio-medicine/and
bio-abomination “science run amok" -- has replaced the rust belt soul of the town
with something, then, that the citizens fear and dread.
There
are a few shots in Hemlock Grove which reflect this new reality.
We see the apricot,
autumnal nature of the town and its lush landscape, but then this strange,
white, high-tech ominous tower occludes the sky-line. It’s like a cyborg growth or blot
on the town’s natural horizon.
The
“feel” of Hemlock Grove, based on my viewing so far, is part-Twin
Peaks (1990-1991), part film-noir.
The episodes I watched seem to embody
the notion, oft-seen in noirs that though you may be done with the past, but
the past is not done with you.
The older, established generation here -- represented
by characters played by Janssen, Scott, and Taylor -- seems dissolute, corrupt, and trying
desperately to overcome old secrets and old hatreds.
The
past, in some sense, is the “real” monster portrayed in the series.
The
younger generation, though embodied literally by vampires and werewolves, seems
like Hemlock Grove’s best hope for a better future.
The
friendship between Peter and Roman is intriguing, and it doesn’t progress
predictably, which is a quality I appreciated very much.
Roman, for example, learns that Peter is a werewolf,
and asks to watch him transform.
Peter
-- for reasons not entirely known even to himself -- agrees.There’s a certain
homo-erotic tension in the relationship overall, but certainly in that moment
of transformation, featured in episode 2, “The Angel.” There’s an electric
feeling of discovery between the two characters, and it isn’t exactly platonic.
Instead,
Roman watches, wide-eyed, as Peter strips down nude, and the transformation
occurs.
Then, in a perfect example of how Hemlock Grove shifts tones radically
moment to moment, the werewolf Peter devours his own cast-off human flesh right
on camera. The series is erotic one moment, and visceral Grand Guignol the next.
That equation probably sounds like it could be terrific, but the pace and plotting are so damn languid.
Individual moments are spiky and weird and
memorable, but overall the series feels like it is on David Lynch-styled cruise
control or automatic pilot, only without benefit of Lynch’s guiding intellect or strange sense of humor. The series even flirts with his trademark "dream sense," but again, it feels applied haphazardly.
Hemlock
Grove is definitely of the Wolf Lake (2002),
Twilight (2008 – 2011), Vampire Diaries (2009 - ), Teen
Wolf (2011 - ) monster school or genre, but it also attempts to
distinguish itself from that competition through its off-kilter
sensibilities.
Two
things result from the series’ off-kilter nature, I reckon.
One,
Hemlock Grove doesn’t feel teeny-bopperish, as one might legitimately fear, considering the milieu. The show is many things, but the vampires aren’t
glittery, and the werewolves aren’t mere boy toys.
The
other result is that Hemlock Grove feels off-putting and
impenetrable at times -- at least as far as I got into the continuity. I found this approach distancing.
Hemlock Grove ended after three seasons of about a dozen episodes per year, and my understanding is that those who stuck with it really enjoyed it.
That's as it should be.
For me, the episodes that I watched had some great promise, some amazing scenes, and a hell of a lot of weirdness for, apparently, weirdness sake.
Hemlock Grove?
Not your average destination spot, but a little too bizarre and sleepy for my tastes.
I watched seasons 1 and 2 and bailed 2 episodes into season 3. In my opinion it started off bad and just got worse. I love horror and tried to enjoy it but it just kept getting more and more muddled as it proceeded.
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