Aaron Van Curen

This review will have spoilers later on. I’ve got to say, I really enjoyed the show. It has a great story and as a religious person, I found it quite thought provoking. The show has some amazing suspense, the slow-burn of the story was done perfectly and in fact I believe it might have been rushed. I love the show more for the story idea and atmosphere but some of the dialogue was so awful. Honestly the only characters who actually had good writing was Father Pruitt/Paul, Sheriff Hassan and I hate to say it, Bev Keane. Father Pruitt really made me feel his emotions, his passion and everything about his character. Same with Hassan, the way he delivered his lines really showed the anger, frustration and love that character had. And then there’s Bev, I was so happy when she died, which really shows how good she was written and the way she was performed. She made me feel so many emotions, none of them good emotions, but that’s not the point. She was a developed character that added a certain dimension to the show. As for the rest, Riley & Erin was so dull and their lines were cringe. They repeated themselves to add dramatic affect but it just came off awkward and forced especially during their “deep” talks that just ruined all of the interactions. The actor for Riley just didn’t seem to have any emotion. I figured he’d be a heart broken character trying to deal with his guilt but really the way he was portrayed makes me feel like he could go murder someone else and not even flinch. Then Erin, I think that actress really tried but the lines were soooo bad. She told us of her backstory of a drunken mother and an abusive husband but there was no anger, mourning or sadness. I could’ve turned off the sound, read the subtitles to myself and felt more emotion but if anything it felt more like a list of facts rather than a story. There also wasn’t really any connection with her and her baby so when the baby “disappeared” I was just happy she’d stop saying Littlefoot and reminding me of the Land Before Time (really bad nickname choice by the writers in my opinion). It just didn’t seem that important and there wasn’t really any mourning. PSA: though I find the religious aspects of the show thought provoking, I will say it’s very twisted and cherry picked similar to how the Catholic Church is run (I’d say they’re a cult and that’s coming from a Christian). I find it odd that they forced in characters of the Islamic faith and made them seem like saints but oh Christians are the worst. There wasn’t really a reason to pin the two religions against each other. I don’t really feel like the Islamic characters added anything to the story. Just ask yourself, if you removed the religious aspect of those two characters (the Sheriff and the son) would the story still be just as good? I would say yes, it was a great story and those characters didn’t need a religious background at all. They could’ve been atheist like Riley and it would’ve been the same. In fact, all of the characters were either Christian or not except for those two and IMO it just didn’t really serve a purpose. Even after all of the bad things I can say, I still recommend the show. It’s a great story, has some twists, the atmosphere is amazing, the cinematography is wonderful, and those few characters and well written lines make it all worth it.

Best part of the show was the last 5 minutes aka the post credit scene. That’s about it.