So did nobody watch the Netflix series HEMLOCK GROVE except me?

I found it bizarrely compelling and watched it straight through but can't quite articulate why. I thought ILX could help. In fact I assumed there would already be a healthy thread about it. But nope.

I heard it was terrible, and then had people on twitter watching it and talking about how terrible it is, so I wasn't even going to bother. Open to other opinions though.

Started it tonight. It's totally batshit, only time will tell if its batshit awesome or batshit terrible.

We've watched the first couple of episodes, it seems decent. Famke Janssen's dramatic overacting and English accent are a bit silly, but the other actors are fine. I like that things are developing slowly, you don't even see the werewold until the end of the second episode.

It is kind of a mess in some ways but it's definitely much closer to batshit awesome than batshit terrible. There are a lot of interesting colors in it. People (usually) don't say the lines you expect them to say. A lot of use is made of facial expressions. Exposed intestines, when they appear, do so tastefully.

I totally watched the whole thing over a long weekend. Concur that it is batshit awesome. I understand why reviewers are panning it, but I don't understand why they care; it is super fun.

I guess since I think vampires and werewolves and teenagers are all intrinsically and deeply silly, I like a show that accepts that truth and breathes it in. Also all the actors are ridiculously attractive.

I understand why reviewers are panning it

I don't, actually! I mean, I can imagine somebody taking a unified stance saying "I think weird shows about imaginary creatures where people get eaten and there's some creepy music are intrinsically bad," but television is loaded with such shows and many of them are well-respected. For instance, Hemlock Grove is on every level a much better show than Walking Dead, which is its opposite in every way except that they both have exposed intestines.

The next paragraph has a spoiler, so skip it if you want to watch the show.

Well, the plots and storylines are a mess, and the acting is pretty campy. I like the characters and atmosphere, and their refreshingly oblique take on the supernatural and magic elements (except for the cringeworthy "love is stronger than anything" speech that handwaves away the fact that Peter's face got eaten and he died but in the next scene he's back and as pretty as ever).

The danger here is like Heroes... it's fun to meet everybody and figure out how the supernatural powers might work, so season one is easy to like. But by season two you're familiar with everyone and the fantastical stuff has ground rules, so if the plot isn't compelling it gets tedious and stupid really quickly. Hope they'll get that sorted.

Loving this

Someone explain to me what happened.

they put a batshit awesome show on netflix and nobody watched it

I did. It got kinda schizo there at the end, didn't it.

Listening to Bill Skarsgard try to fake an American accent did drive me batty, but Lili Taylor and Destiny the amazing gypsy fortune teller cousin made up for a lot.

The fortune teller cousin had an aversion to pants.

I sympathize.

I got most everything until right at the end. Spoilers if you haven't seen it:

What exactly did Olivia want Roman to do? Kill the baby? Cut off its tail? Kill her? And why did he make out with his mom?

This was good http://www.tvguide.com/news/hemlock-grove-crazy-moments-1066025.aspx

giant crush on Lili Taylor in this

We concurrently watched 6 feet under, so it was quite a character difference with Lili.

I'm about 2/3rds of the way through. Started like Tommy Wiseau's American Horror Story, and then got more intriguing as it went on, esp since there was little in the way of bloodshed for so many episodes. Then they killed off the twins in the most blase manner, which was a bummer. Will still watch the rest eventually.

Olivia wanted Roman to suicide because that's how they transform into vampires or whatever they're being called in this show. They are only made through taking their own lives, which I think was the point of showing us her childhood elopement & subsequent self-harm. It's pretty cruel to drive your own son to take his own life, though--I realize this is the least of her/the show's problems, I'm just saying. It seems like she just misjudged how far she could push him without getting the backlash?

One thing I did totally love was that they didn't pretend that teenagers don't smoke, do drugs, or have sex, and they didn't cut away or fake the drug scenes afaict. Like shows in which someone is supposed to be a heroin junkie but it's "too much" to show needles so they make them snort something invisible instead or whatever. Teenagers smoking as a matter of course? Hardly in anything anymore!

My favorite thing about the show was Bill Skarsgård (ridiculous accent notwithstanding).

My least favorite thing was that only women died and a (SPOILER) woman was the killer who ate the other women "snatch first" becaus she didn't like their sexuality, which given it was an Eli Roth show I am not going to bother to try and twist into a non-misogynist plot device. Also wasn't too keen on the fish and wildlife woman being skilled alive.

I'll prob watch season two though bc see favorite thing about show.

wait, is there going to be a season two???

yep, in 2014

JUSTICE IS SERVED

This show is so bad yet weirdly compelling

just finished watching this -- so what was the deal with the baby?

netflix is so desperate to get me to watch this, it puts a "if you liked this, you'll love this!" after basically every single thing i watch

was kinda disappointed it became vampires vs. werewolves -- was hoping Olivia and progeny were some other mythical monster

I completely forgot that I watched this... and I can't remember the deal with the baby. Oh dear.

They were kind of demon vampires, which I guess is the slightest twist on the vampire/werewolf thing...

I forgive a lot of this show's shortcomings because of Young Skarsgard and his youthful but weary good looks and hilarious accent.

he is very nice to look at. when it was a possibility that he would be killed, i was upset because i didn't want to be deprived of that visual pleasure.

he is kind of an elongated River Phoenix

The fourth or so time I off handedly (so I thought) mentioned that I found Bill Skarsgard to be quite handsome, Jeff pointed out that I said that at some point during every episode and I felt like a dirty old woman.

In my defense, I think he's the most handsome when he's smoking and drinking like a grownup.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/d5353d1d60e0de5a314861a95fed476a/tumblr_moel8ailhZ1rapogeo1_500.png

Oh ffs this is the second time in this thread I've mentioned Bill Skarsgard...

Oh ffs this is the second time in this thread I've mentioned Bill Skarsgard...

To counteract this I have to keep pointing out the fortune teller that is pants adverse.

Thus proving that Hemlock Grove is a great family show with something for everyone!

though Peter the werewolf looked a bit too much like one of the hobbits from LOTR for me to thoroughly accept how so many women had the hots for him, and he wasn't all that hirsute tbh

Ha yes. That is mentioned in that TV Guide Absurd moments from Hemlock Grove:

13. When everyone acted as though Peter being super hairy proved he was a werewolf, when he's practically bald from the neck down.

http://static.tvguide.com/Includes/newsletter-images/blog-images/hairy2.gif

I guess by TV waxed chest standards he's practically a furry what with his facial scruff and 50-odd chest hairs.

Yeah that was a real denial of reality moment that happened again, and again, and again....

do any of you remember what the sheriff dude looked like shirtless from his BSG days?

It's the dude version of when they put glasses on a woman who meets or exceeds every contemporary beauty standard and call her "plain" or whatever. xp

OH yeah. Chief was my favorite.

like, i kept thinking -- wasn't Chief Sheriff at least as furry in the chest as our "hairy" wereboy

So frustrated this thread revive didn't signal that season 2 was up

This revive is signalling that season 2 will be up on July 11th!

And away we go!

this season is shit

i think i'm up to ep 5 and i'm just gonna stop now - the awful corny speech miranda gave peter and roman before taking them both to bed was just laaaaaaame

yeah it was pretty weak. the last couple of episodes are pretty fun though.

i am on ep 4 or 5. objectively this is completely corny but i can't stop looking at skarsgaard's face in it and i enjoy it much more than i do most "better" shows. it's a show that seems to enjoy being its corny self.

the first season was way ott but it was fun and kept me watching - now it's just corny and kinda boring

Actual line of dialogue uttered by Dr. Price in ep 5 to his Slavic underling: "THAT IS OF NO CONCERN OF YOURS!"

Dr. Price was probably the most fun character this season. I found myself sympathizing with him and his frustration with the incompetence and bumbling of everyone else while he tries to do all that heinous science stuff.

I can't honestly recommend people watch this all the way through, but I gotta say, the last hour was one of the most batshit crazy things I have ever seen.

Like, you feel like they just said "let's take what was already crazy in this series, and can we also throw in a monkey's head exploding, and a huge fucking dragon?"

only 6 episodes in but i'm enjoying this a ton

it is 'bad' in all the ways that i don't really care about given the premise of the show

Season 1 or Season 2?

season 1

will probably watch thru the whole thing over the next week or 2

I don't care if I'm all alone, I've now watched every episode of all three seasons of this gloriously messed up show

I haven't watched season 3 yet... where does it land compared to seasons 1 and 2?

It makes even less sense, to be honest, but it just throws a lot of crazy shit in the pot and stirs it all up and asks everybody to chew the scenery as much as possible. I enjoyed it.