The Two Faces, Part One

Best episode yet. We get to know most of the story, and it forces you to watch the rest of the show. 10 out of 10.

This episode was not written or directed by Mike Flanagan. And you can tell. It has neither his directorial flair not any sense of story. It's merely jumping all around the place without the feeling that it's moving forward.

It seems more concerned with its Hollywood P.C. ideology than characterization and story. It was silly enough having a black governess, a non white male cook and a female gardener, in 1980's rural England (even having a American au pair was a huge stretch), but now we had yet another black character and of course a bad white male. The ideology they're trying to shove down our throats is really wrong. Worst of all, young people may actually believe that this is how people are, or were. It's all false.

And now there is the hint of a lesbian relationship. This has successfully ticked all of the PC 'diversity' boxes and demonized white males as the current mandate dictates. If that was their purpose, which it is, then set it in the modern day. Don't create a completely false environment by setting it in rural England in 1987. It's jarring. It's not like this is one family we're talking about. You have people coming from all different directions to one location. Would you accept random Middle Eastern people coming from all over America to live in a big house in New York state in 1965? No. That would be inaccurate and silly. It's no different here.

Aside from that, the story is weak. It's going nowhere fast. Things are happening but there's no forward momentum. And no scares. Its made a couple of cliché attempts. The biggest scare so far was the kettle going off in the middle of the night. A 'loud noise' scare. Compare this to the first three episodes of Hill House. The only similarity is the production design of the 'big old house.'

Rather than wait around for the obvious decline of characters from the past so they can pop up as ghosts while witnessing a lesbian relationship and further demonization of white men, I'll re-watch Doctor Sleep or one of Mike's other excellent films like Oculus.

This might have his name attached, and look like a Flanagan production, on the surface, but it is certainly not. It's a tame, lame imitation.

Dani gets to learn some of the life of her predecessor, Rebecca Jessel and her bizarre relationship with the twisted Peter Quint.

Interesting, plenty of information being given to you, the mystery certainly deepens.

Pacing, is a little questionable at times, it does move by quite slowly, but again it relies more so on the atmosphere, and the acting. I felt at times that some of what's happening could have been cut out or edited out, but I think it's deliberately moving on quite slowly.

It was great to step back and see Rebecca, we learned about her, and her impact on those around her. I see that there's a second half of this story set to come.

That ending though, who or what, I knew something along those lines was due, but that was freaky.

7/10.

The episode does not please everyone ... it is only 7.6 and it may still hurt ... BUT in my opinion, it is really great, we learn a lot about the characters even if there is still a lot of mystery, the episode will not appeal to everyone because it is quite slow, not in terms of duration but in terms of pace and there is a lot of dialogue.

The series is enjoyable so far, but the researchers/producers need to work harder when they are trying to convince us that this is based in the UK in the 80's/90's. The policeman is decked out in a reasonably close enough uniform but when did the local police ever use truncheons like that? Totally wrong with that one! Plus, they didn't wear utility pouches on their tunic belts!