Episode 7: The Experiment
Overall: C
Acting: B
Writing: C
Story: C
Technical aspects: C
Effects: C
Directed by:
Kenneth Fink
Starring:
Joe Anderson
Leslie Hope
Eloise Mumford
Paul
Blackthorne
Daniel Zacapa
Pauline Gaitan
Thomas
Kretschmann
Shaun Parkes
Bruce
Greenwood
Scott Michael
Foster
Katie
Featherston
[Spoilers pretty much the whole damn time, this time.]
Zombies. We went with zombies? Really?
Picking up directly after the end
of episode 6, the crew has arrived at the outpost where they hope to find Emmet
(Bruce Greenwood). But it appears to be entirely deserted, and oddly like the
abandonment happened very suddenly. Wandering around, they discover that this
was a research facility, and Lincoln (Joe Anderson) speculates that they were
trying to find a cure for cancer. Much of their experimentation appears to have
been unethical, killing and studying the Zulo tribe members, who supposedly have
nearly impossible good health. The crew then comes across a freezer filled with
decaying human bodies, though Emmet is not among them.
Kurt (Thomas Kretschmann) goes off
alone, followed by A.J. (Shaun Parkes). He finds a photo of himself and a woman
revealed to have been his fiancée. He also finds Rabbit (Katie Featherston),
the camerawoman who abandoned Emmet in the jungle.
She reveals that Emmet was in the
facility, and though he was still very sick he’d been recovering. But then the
crew is attacked by some of the inhabitants of the facility, who have somehow
been thrown into a cannibalistic fury. Yep. We’ve got zombies. The
zombie-fication is courtesy of Kurt’s fiancée, Mina (Lili Bordán), who was also
on a security mission. She interrupted the scientists dissecting one of the
Zulo tribesmen, telling them that their research would never leave. Shooting
them, she apparently released some type of… virus? energy? or something that
has turned them into zombies. She, too, has been infected.
Tess (Leslie Hope) nearly gives up
hope of finding Emmet, though there’ve been clues that he survived. Then they
spot a dragonfly, and recognize it as a symbol that’s always led them closer to
finding him. Ultimately, they discover him in some type of cocoon, barely
alive. Frantically trying to escape from the cannibalistic doctors and soldiers
of the base, they make it back to the Magus.
But some of the zombies have
followed them, and attack. Rabbit is killed, Kurt has to shoot Mina, and Tess
is nearly killed. But at the last moment, she is saved by Emmet, who is out of his
coma.
Well, again, at least this episode
has plot. But seriously, I just can’t get past the fact that we brought zombies
into it. I love zombies, don’t get me wrong. But they’re an obvious trend as
far as horror and general pop culture goes, and this just feels… weird and out
of place. The horror prior to this may not have been super successful in any
consistent way, but focusing on supposed regional legends and creepy things at
least gave the show some distinction. Or having the ghost ship, which at least
made sense as a plot having to do with being trapped on the river. But zombies
have nothing to do with anything except as a “hey, this is a trendy thing right
now.” I suppose it could be making a point about the excesses of science trying
to understand or replicate or thwart nature, and how it will end in disaster…
but isn’t that more or less all the other zombie movies out there?
Leaving that aside, I guess it was
an okay episode. The found footage style is starting to feel extra contrived,
though, in some regards. Not that it was seamless and totally believable
before. But just happening to find the computer in the facility, that just
happens to contain the footage of Mina shooting the scientists… way too
convenient. Similarly, deliberately not
showing the scary things gets frustrating, too. Like supposedly the cameraman
is disgusted so we don’t get to see more than a tiny glimpse of the bodies in
the freezer. It’s not necessarily unrealistic, but it still feels fake. The
“less is more” theory of horror doesn’t always work in my opinion. Sometimes
it’s a good way to build tension, but sometimes when it comes to filming it
just seems like a way to mask laziness and bad effects.
I’m liking the development we got
for Kurt, even though it doesn’t explain all of his creepy behavior throughout
the series, or why he (and Mina?) were
on the mission that he reveals to A.J. [Extra heavy spoilers]: He reveals he
intends to kill Emmet, probably to “protect the Source” as we’ve gotten cryptic
hints about. And since he seemed to know that Mina would be in the outpost,
they may have both been on complementary missions to do so. [End of spoilers.]
I like Kurt’s willingness to discuss his secret plans and mission in German,
since no one around understands him.
The cocoon thing with Emmet was…
weird. It was intercut with a clip from his nature show about how some
butterflies and dragonflies will essentially retreat into a pupa-like state in
order to wait out hardship, sometimes for months or years. (While I know of
fish and frog species that do something similar by retreating to a near-coma
until conditions improve, I didn’t actually know of any insects that do
something like this. I don’t know if it’s actually a thing, or if the show is
just making shit up. It’s disappointing if they’re just bullshitting, but I
don’t have any knowledge either way.) This “older footage” comes with
commentary from Emmet telling the audience to keep this in mind if they think
they could improve upon nature… that nature always provides a way for creatures
to survive. This seems like the contrast against the scientific disaster
zombies, but… HUMANS DO NOT PUPATE and I just can’t quite get over that. I know
it’s supposed to be a mystery and unexplained and such, but… nature doesn’t
work that way.
We’ve got one episode left. I have
no idea how this is all going to be resolved in any way that actually wraps it
all up. And maybe it won’t be; the implication of the “this is the footage they
left behind” taglines in the commercials is that none of the crew ever returns
from the mission. There also seem to be plans for this to continue for more
than just this mini-season, though whether it’ll be the same characters and
goals, I don’t know. We shall see.
No comments:
Post a Comment