Smiling_slinky
I'm kind of late to the game here, I only just got through Season 1 this week, and started on Season 2. I'm really disappointed with what I am seeing so far in Season 2, and I'm not sure the ship can be righted at this point.Season 1 hit the ground running from the first minute of episode 1, and the whole first episode was amazing. They really captured lighting in a bottle with a number of aspects of the show that made it endearing including: - Emma Roberts and the writing for her character. The satire of the character sets the tone for the show and the world they live in. The writing is great, but also all the ancillary details of the character, her position at the sorority, her rich lifestyle, her interests and goals in life, they all make the Chanel character and she becomes the glue that holds the whole thing together.The dynamic between the Channels. The Channels are a fun little Mean Girls troop, although in comparison to Mean Girls they are a poor imitation. The Plastics were fun, interesting, well written, and well acted down the line, but the Channels really are not. If not for Chanel keeping the dynamic going, and the overall story line, the Channels would be very flat on their own.The production. Wow, from top to bottom this felt like a movie. The sets, wardrobe, cameras, lighting, story line, cinematography (so many of the shots were just awe inspiring for me), score, soundtrack (unreal how good the song choices were), etc. I was wrapped up from the beginning and was taking in the setting and story with delight.Story, setting, tone. Having a good engaging story to keep the characters with interesting things to do was great. The setting at the University was a lot of fun. The tone was spot on, a fun absurd world where these characters could be their absurd selves, and everything was handled with a fun levity.Overall, this was an inspired effort, where they had a vision for something grand, executed at the highest level, and succeeded in many aspects of the show.I'm certain that it is very difficult to create and write interesting characters with this much dialog for a season long effort like this, and it shows. Many of the characters are very weak, and just not interesting.Sadly a lot of the actors were also not up to the task, and were not interesting or likable regardless of the writing. Other than the Channels I don't think they were as inspired about the other aspects of the show. Some characters and aspects of the story started strong, but petered out before the halfway point.This leads into my issues with Season 2, but before that the real segue into disappointment for me, episodes 12 and 13.They ruined the world they created. The source of the fun and humor of the series is the presentation of different clichéd characters being extreme. The Channels are supposed to be the mean popular girls played up to an absurd level, but it only works if you keep the equilibrium that despite all the crazy stuff they do, there are not real world consequences.Things in the series don't play out as they would in real life, nor do characters say or respond to things as they would in real life, that is the whole premise.This was ruined when they had people suddenly start hating Chanel for writing a mean email. The humor is the absurdity of these terrible people being popular, when they wrecked that it pulls apart the whole premise.When episode 13 rolled around, they took the whole thing apart. They took away everything that made the Channels who they are and destroyed the premise by having the judge address them like it was the real world. They took away their setting at the university, the wardrobe, the other characters, their families, their wealth, which was what made them who they are. By the end the whole show was completed gutted.Finally, Season 2 rolls around.The production from Season 1 is gone. Not a single aspect of the production from Season 1 is here. The call backs in the score are even poorly used, and the song selection this time around is off. It has the worst of TV production values, and the whole lure of being like a movie is gone.They drop everything from the first season, and still try to fit a few of the same characters into a completely different series. Nothing that worked before is here. The setting is gone, everything that made the characters who they are is gone, and they just try to inject the same behaviors into this new setting, and it doesn't work because nothing that made the characters who they are is there.It is just bizarre to see the returning characters try to interact in this environment, nothing is in character. It's just a broken way of story telling.They also continue breaking their system by having absurd characters occasionally be held responsible.Overall I don't think this Season has much hope. Maybe they can somehow turn things around and bring it back to the university, but if not, maybe go back to the drawing board for Season 3 (if they make it that far) and start from scratch to make something new and create more magic.
