Miracles, episode 7: You Are My Sunshine
Jun. 29th, 2023 07:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereIn which Anna Gunn is random victim of the week and things get deliriously over the top.
Haunted cabin, dark and stormy night, vintage stalker song, lights flickering - check and double check on the wall to wall cliches. I had a great time with it. Who cuts themself and lets it bleed all over the onion? Paul, apparently. He also sees blood coming through the wall and instantly feels the need to press his hand to it - just to be sure, you know. Of course he gets possessed.
There's also a mirror scare, a corpses-in-the-cellar cliche, evil stubble, psycho smoking routines and even a last minute "the horror isn't over" twist, leading to the house burning down by accident and taking all the bad juju with it. I avoid horror films and could still predict every scene.
It reminded me of nothing so much as the Highlander episode 'Haunted,' which I hated the first time I watched and have ever since viewed as a side-splitting comedy. I'm pretty sure I'm alone with that one and I don't think I was supposed to laugh here, either? But darn it, this thing's hysterical, a deadpan spoof of the genre. Because of that, it actually made the moments of violence way more shocking to me, so I'm gonna count it as a win - even though I kind of feel like I watched it the wrong way.
Anna Gunn did her usual excellent work in the role of Rebecca, and this was a great vehicle for Skeet Ulrich. I was actually very entertained by Paul having a good time and lapsing from his usual polite seriousness, being flirty, making jokes. Then he went completely off the rails, as I wished. This was more fun than it probably should have been, and the scenes between the core trio were all solid gold. The sense of relationship continues to grow between them.
Evelyn got to do a little more again. Trying to get Paul and Alva talking at the start was sweet. She was fearless and calm when faced with Evil!Paul and I wish their relationship had been developed a bit more before this point, because that would have made it more impactful, but it was still dramatic enough to satisfy. I also liked that the possession of Paul wasn't completely random, and how the point was made throughout that it was his own worst qualities being enhanced.
It's now two episodes in a row selling Paul/Alva to me. The best part of this one was when Paul stopped going on about his history with Rebecca and got down to brass tacks about the important stuff: His conflict with Alva. Good material throughout, with Paul throwing Alva's personal confidences back at him mockingly and accusing him of being jealous. And nothing is resolved at the end, either. Even after everything's all smiles, Paul still doesn't sit down and tell Alva what happened in the police car.
It also turns out Alva can fight, which is cool, and expands his dramatic potential considerably (kind of like Giles, actually, with whom I keep comparing him as cut from the same cloth: the older professor who gives occult explanations in an ever so fetching accent).
For the first stretch of episodes, the monsters of the week were unrelated to the main characters, but these last two have made things more personal, and it really helps give me a sense that these three are shifting from colleagues to true friends. The final scene was lovely for that reason, as well as the whole idea of Paul not having it in him to kill Alva, and Alva taking that as a hopeful sign. I fear I'm going to end up quite attached to them right about when it's over.
Haunted cabin, dark and stormy night, vintage stalker song, lights flickering - check and double check on the wall to wall cliches. I had a great time with it. Who cuts themself and lets it bleed all over the onion? Paul, apparently. He also sees blood coming through the wall and instantly feels the need to press his hand to it - just to be sure, you know. Of course he gets possessed.
There's also a mirror scare, a corpses-in-the-cellar cliche, evil stubble, psycho smoking routines and even a last minute "the horror isn't over" twist, leading to the house burning down by accident and taking all the bad juju with it. I avoid horror films and could still predict every scene.
It reminded me of nothing so much as the Highlander episode 'Haunted,' which I hated the first time I watched and have ever since viewed as a side-splitting comedy. I'm pretty sure I'm alone with that one and I don't think I was supposed to laugh here, either? But darn it, this thing's hysterical, a deadpan spoof of the genre. Because of that, it actually made the moments of violence way more shocking to me, so I'm gonna count it as a win - even though I kind of feel like I watched it the wrong way.
Anna Gunn did her usual excellent work in the role of Rebecca, and this was a great vehicle for Skeet Ulrich. I was actually very entertained by Paul having a good time and lapsing from his usual polite seriousness, being flirty, making jokes. Then he went completely off the rails, as I wished. This was more fun than it probably should have been, and the scenes between the core trio were all solid gold. The sense of relationship continues to grow between them.
Evelyn got to do a little more again. Trying to get Paul and Alva talking at the start was sweet. She was fearless and calm when faced with Evil!Paul and I wish their relationship had been developed a bit more before this point, because that would have made it more impactful, but it was still dramatic enough to satisfy. I also liked that the possession of Paul wasn't completely random, and how the point was made throughout that it was his own worst qualities being enhanced.
It's now two episodes in a row selling Paul/Alva to me. The best part of this one was when Paul stopped going on about his history with Rebecca and got down to brass tacks about the important stuff: His conflict with Alva. Good material throughout, with Paul throwing Alva's personal confidences back at him mockingly and accusing him of being jealous. And nothing is resolved at the end, either. Even after everything's all smiles, Paul still doesn't sit down and tell Alva what happened in the police car.
It also turns out Alva can fight, which is cool, and expands his dramatic potential considerably (kind of like Giles, actually, with whom I keep comparing him as cut from the same cloth: the older professor who gives occult explanations in an ever so fetching accent).
For the first stretch of episodes, the monsters of the week were unrelated to the main characters, but these last two have made things more personal, and it really helps give me a sense that these three are shifting from colleagues to true friends. The final scene was lovely for that reason, as well as the whole idea of Paul not having it in him to kill Alva, and Alva taking that as a hopeful sign. I fear I'm going to end up quite attached to them right about when it's over.
