A couple nights ago I had a mini-marathon and watched several episodes of Netflix’s new series Hemlock Grove, produced by Eli Roth and based on the novel by Brian McGreevy. I had previously enjoyed the streaming service’s House of Cards series with Kevin Spacey, even though I’m not usually into political intrigue stories, so I was excited when I heard they were releasing a series with supernatural creatures and a murder mystery!
Set in the fictional town of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania, the show follows Peter Rumancek, the “new kid” who is also a werewolf, and Roman Godfrey, the egotistical heir to a family fortune. When a young girl is savagely killed in their sleepy town, the duo become friends and decide to hunt down the murderer. The end result is not so much an “original” series as it is a mash-up of Twin Peaks and True Blood. Roman has the air and looks of Eric Northman, while Peter is a loyal and puppy-eyed Sam Merlotte and Dr. Chausser from the Fish and Wildlife Department is the proverbial Agent Dale Cooper who switched out coffee for a bottle of Jack.
Something that all successful stories share is keeping the audience curious, which Hemlock Grove has in spades… so far. Not sure if that mystery will be enough to keep me watching though if the level of writing doesn’t improve. The dialogue between the lead male characters when they are alone, especially scenes in the car, was severely lackluster. Other times it felt as if they were trying to not make sense on purpose to seem enigmatic, but it just came across as poor writing with shoddy attempts at symbolism. Along with that they are occasionally forced to choke out “young,” hip words or phrases.
On the SFX side of things, Peter’s wolfen transformation is either a laugh-out-loud moment or just a gross-out one depending on your level of desensitization and exposure to werewolf transformations in film. The snake-like shedding of the skin was pretty cool along with his alibi as to why he never leaves home hungry. Meanwhile Roman’s vampiric, or I should say upiric (daywalker), qualities still haven’t completely come to the surface except for his “hypno-roofie” eyes and interesting fetishes.
I’m still curious to find out what the deal is with Roman’s mom, played by Famke Janssen (Jean Grey in X-men). Janssen has a presence and grace that really carries every scene she’s in. Her character, Olivia Godfrey, just screams with giant neon signs “fiendish demonic bitch,” which you really want to see play out in more obvious ways than her sharp tongue. Her eyebrows seem so evil that I wouldn’t doubt it if they hop off her face when she sleeps to kill babies!
My overall score for Hemlock Grove so far is 6 out of 10. It’s not horrible, but it’s not amazing either. Rather, it’s more atmospheric than anything else. I’m going to finish up the show and maybe by the end of the first season I will have changed my tune. If not, I hope they hire better writers for next season.
*Sidenote: For those of you who are Battlestar Galactica fans, you will see some familiar faces. The trailer had Kandyse McClure, who played Officer Dualla, and Aaron Douglas, who played Chief Galen Tyrol, is Sheriff Sworn!
