Season: 4
Episode: 2
Original Airdate: October 4, 2014
Director: James Head
Writer(s): Billy Brown and Craig S. Phillips
So
from what I've read, this seems to be an episode that people really
like. Do I agree with what they say? Well, let's take a of closer look.
While
visiting his deceased, estranged grandfather's house, Bo discovers his
grandfather's glasses, which give him the power to see a demon that may
be haunting the house — and uncover why his mother hates talking about
her father.
One of the
strongest elements of this episode is the characters. For one thing,
they seem to react to things in a somewhat realistic manner. For
example, when the mother is listening to Bo's claims, she is skeptical
but she tries to believe what she's saying. She also figures out that Bo
might be telling the truth rather quickly. Second, I felt like the
characters got just enough development for me to care about them but not
too much to where it bogged down the episode. For example, Bo's
grandfather abandoned his family to travel the world, as he felt that it
was more important than them. However, when he realized that this
decision came with major consequences in both the physical world and the
afterlife, he decided to take responsibility and right his wrongs with
the help of his grandson. I also like how we get to see how the
situation affects all of the characters, rather than just the main
character.
Unfortunately,
there is one major problem with this episode that just irks me. I'm of
course talking about the demon's voice. So in the episode, a demon
(which turns out to be the mother's anger personified) is trapping the
spirit of Bo's grandfather and preventing him from moving on. The best
way I can describe the voice is that it's a generic, guttural sounding
voice, which is the most clichéd type of voice you can give a demon. In
fact, it's so clichéd, that the voice comes off as unintentionally
funny. Now when the demon first appears, it doesn't talk while it's
stalking Bo and trying to scare him. During this time, the scenes where
it's trying to be scary and/or disturbing are more effective. However,
when the demon starts to talk, it's almost impossible to take it
seriously. Maybe it's just me but I personally prefer monsters who don't
talk because it seems like most of the time, I feel like talking
monsters are difficult to take seriously. If you're wondering why I'm
dwelling on this so much, it's because this show has taken plots that have been done to death and put their own spin on it. So I know this
show can do better with handling clichéd elements like this.
Overall,
Grandpa's Glasses is an episode that isn't too bad, as it can pull off
the emotional moments with the help of its strong characters. But when
it tries to be scary, it just falls flat on its face most of the time
and that's a shame because there have been other episodes that have pulled off both the emotional and scary/disturbing moments before.
Overall Grade: C+
I think this episode is the perfect example of the show coming scary and sweet. Both parts are so great here.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a good episode overall, one with real meaning. I like how the mother was quick to catch on that something was happening because I hate things are clearly happening in a horror movie, but the authorities act dense as cement blocks. "My gosh, I just saw the candlestick move by itself and fling itself at the wall! I'd better punish my frightened child who was nowhere near the incident because it's clearly their fault!" I agree that a silent monster would have been more menacing. Your comments about the demon's voice reminded me of Roger Ebert's review of some movie with a character who was demon-possessed, or had a demon baby, or whatever. He said the movie became conventional and disgusting after she turned green and started talking like The Big Bopper. X-D
ReplyDelete-Raidra