This episode, while full of scares, shocks and gore, was a little disappointing on the ghost aspect. The episode mainly focused on deaths by real people and once again The Colony felt underused. That said, Kathy Bates was not as she spent more time playing the mad actress Angela Mary Winstead. The meta feel of the previous episode was extended, taking us inside the producer’s trailer and giving us lots of footage shot on mobile phone.
That’s so Meta
Some of the appeal of this show is it’s meta twist half way through the season, particularly taking the Scream angle of being self-reflexive in a mocking way. Yet it takes it a little too far as half the show is what appears to be found footage. Although this is a common theme of horror, the obvious disparity shown again between the footage recorded on mobile phones and the professionally shot TV recording threatens to undermine it. This is most likely another way the makers are mocking ‘reality’ TV, but it’s overdone and runs into the area of ridiculous comedy.
What bugged me, even though it is definitely part of a look at celebrity, was how obsessed every single character became with recording on their own phone. The real life Lee was recording so she could prove she was innocent. Agnes Winstead (Bates) was recording using a stolen camcorder for God knows what reason. The weirdest was when the supposedly cut-off hillbilly Polk family were recording their horrendous actions, presumably to watch again later with popcorn. Personally I think it fits in well with the too often American heard phrase some celebrities use about showing their own ‘truth’, but the shaky camera thing is a bit annoying.
Another aspect of ‘reality’ TV that was shown was producers bringing in rogue wildcard actors whose sole purpose is to cause mediocre drama. In this episode the producer Sidney brings in re-enactment actor Dominic Banks (Cuba Gooding Jr), who it is revealed had an affair of sorts with Shelby Miller. He is there to stir the pot between the Millers but Sidney had no way of knowing exactly how much human drama this would lead to.
Death and Scares Galore But No Ghosts
This is an episode that is chocka-block with death and surprises. More than once I could be heard to say ‘wtf’ very audibly. After the sudden death in the previous episode things were pushed up a few notches with a total of six dying in the course of the hour. Some of the action caused by basic relationship drama is really surprising. Yet all the dead characters introduced in the course of the season were quite under-used. Most of the deaths were related to ordinary people and the real life ‘Butcher’ only showed up once.
From a number of actors on screen point of view, I can understand why characters, after being portrayed by one actor in re-enactments, were not re-introduced, yet it feels like so much less of a horror. It’s probably true to think that the effects of having these hauntings may have caused a lot of the murderous intentions. The Polks only started killing to keep The Colony from their own door, and Agnes has only been driven mad because of portraying such a complex spirit. All in all however, I miss the ghosts of previous seasons, and all that groundwork on previous residents of the house falls flat.
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the episode and have great hopes for the rest of the show, including the next season. What did you guys think of the departure from the unreal horror? Let us know in the comments!
