Andy

this is a show you need to personally experience to fully understand just how incredibly poignant and beautiful it is. this is one of the best series i've ever watched, and by far the best i've seen this year. if you want to sob your heart out (as i'm doing right now, just after finishing the last episode), watch this. the chemistry between matt bomer (hawkins) and jonathan bailey (tim) is explosive and feels so authentic. you grow to love them, even if they consistently make less-than-desirable choices. they feel so human, which is what we all are at the end of the day. i truly can't recommend this series enough. watch it.

the bad reviews of this show make me laugh, mostly because they're largely aimed at the sexualization and "wokeness" of the show, which are completely invalid criticisms (like, did we watch the same show?). the one thing i will say, though, is i think the criticisms of the show about EAP's works ARE valid, so if you're a die-hard EAP fan, the show will probably rub you the wrong way. if you're looking for a pretty gory, slightly tense, foreboding atmosphere, i think this show is definitely for you. it's not as frightening as the haunting of hill house, and it's not as tense as hush, but it's still a pretty solid show. for reference, i'm not a tv show person, but i love mike flanagan's works (still haven't watched the haunting of bly manor though oops lmao). i thought this show was pretty great, honestly. the first episode is definitely very slow in my opinion, but the second episode onwards really picks it up (the ending of the second episode for real made my jaw drop... like, hands over the mouth, eyes wide open, pure shock). the criticisms i have, though, are the dynamic of the family overall as well as some character qualms. ***SPOILERS*** i simultaneously understand why the siblings would feel some sort of disconnect amongst themselves and their (definite or almost) spouses, but to write them as if they LITERALLY don't really care? really...? i'm not buying that. the only one who really showed any emotion during any of their deaths was napoleon, and with them obviously not knowing what is going on (besides madeline and roderick), you would think after the second death they would at least, idk, think to try and do something? i understand it's probably meant to show the extent of worldly social disconnect because of their greed, but it comes from an unbelievable angle. i also didn't particularly like juno's arc and thought she was a wasted character. she has a single vulnerable moment with tamerlane, only for it to be overshadowed by the latter's very public breakdown 10 minutes later. i'm also not the biggest fan of the ending, but i understand why it was taken in that direction. ***END OF SPOILERS*** the only explicit "sexualizing" moments i can think of mostly happen in episode two... that's it, lmao. there is, of course, some lewd dialogue thrown in here and there, but it's a modern television show. i also can't really pinpoint a specific moment besides the very end of the last episode (like, in the last ten minutes when a character has a monologue) that jumps out as "woke" to me. if you can't handle characters that aren't heterosexual (literally the ONLY thing i can think of that could be categorized as "woke"), then don't watch the show, i guess? cry to your mommy instead. overall, i'd give this show a 3.5/5, rounded up to 4/5.