Finished my rewatch of season 2 yesterday. Goddamn, that is just an immaculately constructed season of tv
Just thinking about season two fucks me up in a good way Wish we still had the old AP thread so I could see all of us just saying "FUCKKK WHATTHE FUCK" again
I wanna rewatch the first two seasons before this starts up again, but I really don't wanna be in a dark, grim mood for two weeks.
Two episodes in to the second season, fascinated to see where it's going. Besides the kind of bonkers opening sequence, the first big shock was the change of scenery. It was a super interesting choice to have the characters we know barely in the premiere but it worked very well. I liked slowly getting to know this new family, new town, finding that this new location has its own quirks, mysteries and lore. That premiere ending too! Was that...a second departure?! I had never really considered that it would happen but as Nora's told later in the second episode "Why wouldn't there be?" Second episode was more of what I thought the premiere would have been - picking up from the finale, catching up with the Garveys. Now that I've seen even more of it, I think the Kevin/Nora/Jill dynamic works really well - specifically the more agreeable, content Jill. Kevin's arc (and the related Patti ghost/vision/???) is fascinating so far. While there was already some hints of incredibly bizarre town behavior in the premiere (what the fuck at the scene with the firefighters), seeing even more of this "ideal" town's deep flaws and insidious behavior with the variety of security measures and the sense of how difficult it was to even visit the town really gets me thinking about what sort of things they can do with this season and how these people are going to react once they realize they weren't safe from departures after all. Yet another great ending too! Another Kevin blackout, with a cinderblock tied to his leg in a lake? Uhhhhhh Man, this show is fucking great. I had originally planned on just doing an episode a night when I started this earlier this week...which moved to two episodes a night...to finishing the first season in four days... I have all sorts of things going on this weekend but I am absolutely going to squeeze and episode in here and there whenever I can, I just have to know more.
Episode 3: Three episodes, three episodes focusing on different set of characters. This episode was a real journey, starting with Laurie and Tommy's little operation to "save" the heavier doubters of the Guilty Remnant but of course everything soon spiraled out of control. Amy Brenneman was phenomenal this episode and Laurie's path this episode makes sense - her therapist background combined with the events of the finale make her starting a kind of rogue, counter-GR help group seem like a natural fit. After seeing Laurie drive Tommy to his meeting with Jill last episode (and their reunion in the finale) I wondered how he would fit in with his mother, can't say I expected traveling Guilty Remnant double agent and boy, does he go places this episode too. I don't even know what to think about the Meg stuff yet, and there was the lady Laurie saved but couldn't shake off the GR... these episodes are so packed with fascinating moments, motivations, emotion. Yet again, a killer ending too, with Tommy positioning himself as the new Holy Wayne? I don't know if Laurie believes the act but I definitely think Tommy does - I assume this is why he was so unwilling to hug his sister last episode? A little side note but there have been quite a few Australia mentions so far, I've noticed one each episode - the letter the man in the tower gave the son in the first episode, Kevin's father mentioning that it was his next stop in the second, and now the mention of a guy in Australia who says he passed over but can't die. I wonder if we'll get an episode focused around Kevin's father that sheds more light on what's going on there.
I think Chris Zylka gets underlooked for his work on the show. I still get goosebumps at his "Who wants a hug?" at the end of that ep. You're killing these man. I'm excited you'll be on board for the new eps.
This has doubtless been posted but it's such an extraordinary use of music and character. I think we've all been Kevin Garvey listening to Where Is My Mind at some point, or at least I know I have.
Okay! Two more down! Show is still incredible! Episode 4: Might have been the most intense episode so far. The opening sequence with Nora was so good, even though the audience knows Kevin is fine I still really felt for her and got anxious as she feared the worst. I can already tell that the switch from the first season, having people reacting immediately after a departure as opposed to seeing how things have settled years later, is going to be fascinating. The angle of Kevin trying to cover up his nighttime appearance at the lake and investigation into the three girls' disappearance made for a gripping hour. It could go in a sort of typical direction - having Kevin blamed for the disappearance/potential murder, but at this point I have full confidence for the show to do something different and less obvious. As of right now there's a very small part of me that thinks a another departure and perhaps it was something less...supernatural, but I'll see, I guess! Oh, right, and Patti... Ann Dowd is doing very good work here, look forward to where that's going. Five: The Matt Episode! I was wondering when/if we'd get one of these. Man, I really felt for Matt this episode. There's the little bit of doubt that Mary actually woke up but Matt certainly believes it so I sympathize. I kind of saw the pregnancy coming and that storyline will certainly get interesting should the pregnancy reach nine months. I loved seeing more of the mania surrounding Miracle and even more of the desperation outside of the town. It paints a very different picture than Mapleton. The John vs Matt "fight" of the role of faith in the town was interesting, I would be willing to bet that little feud is not over with yet. Great stuff, as always, in these two but I'm dying to see what's going with Laurie and Tommy. Despite the, as of right now, completely separate plotline there, this season still feels really focused and still incredibly compelling with masterful acting and characters. I'm kicking myself for not getting around to it sooner. I'm gonna try and get one more in tonight, just dying to see more.
Great stuff man, I think you'll have a hard time not binging the rest of it after you finish the next couple of episodes.
Rewatching Season 2 as well, the Matt episode was a lot better than I remember it being, really excited to watch the 8th episode again tonight because as others have said, best episode of tv ever.
I'll do some write-ups after I watch 8 but I just had to pop in to say HOLY SHIT THE ENDING TO 7 WHAT
My roommate found me sitting on the floor in my living room staring at the ceiling after episode 7 aired, the wait for ep 8 was torture.