Grotesquerie

Grotesquerie: A Symbolic Nightmare

I'm not entirely sure how to categorize "Grotesquerie." It isn't strictly a horror series; rather, it feels very symbolic. It reflects the continuous nightmare the world, especially the United States, is living in. The acting is brilliant from all the actors, with each performance adding depth to the story. The idea itself is good, but the execution wasn't as strong. I blame the script and the director for this. Additionally, there is too much violence, which can be overwhelming. Overall, I did like the series and I'm waiting for another season if there will be one. I give it a 7 out of 10.

I decided to watch this through to the end of the 10 episodes before leaving my thoughts here. I'm glad I did because some of the assumptions I made about it thinking they were errors/bad writing/bad acting etc are actually done on purpose.

The start of the show is typical Murphy intended to shock and indeed it does. A slight criticism is that they clearly put a lot of effort into the crime scene and I would have liked to have seen it in more detail.

After that and a couple more gruesome murder scenes, the storyline peters out. The crime is solved at the end of episode 6 and the other four episodes are people talking. To this end, the genre changes from thriller to mystery as scenarios and plots are constantly questioned and the viewer is kept in a constant state of perplexity; which isn't a bad thing in itself, it would have just been better to start out that way so we at least know where we are.

Once you get to the end and reflect on the characters' reactions to scenarios, the unusual events that take place, the ignoring of well known protocols, the actions of people and their motivations it all makes much more sense, so it's worth getting through to the end of nothing else but some closure.

However this isn't American Horror Story so don't feel guilty if you turn it off and never return. It has no grandiose climax that allows you to leave with a feeling of fulfilment. Once it ends, it feels like how it originally changed from a gritty thriller to a trudging mystery: Just sort of fizzling out.

This series was torture and I finally gave up watching it at the end. By the episode 10, I really just had enough of the steam of conscious , dark, depressing mess. I do like Neisy and Courtney as actors even if their performances were fairly one dimensional "Felliniesque" portrayals.

It just did not offer me enough to make me care about any of these characters, so much so that I had to bail because I could tell that Ryan Murphey probably would not resolve it and I would leave angry and unsatisfied . And the cinematography was so dark, much of the time I felt I was watching a black screen. Don't bother!

It's a shame so many people wrote this off after only watching a few episodes. I urge viewers to watch through episode 7, and then make a judgment call. While things seem odd, weird, and chaotic, there is a method to the madness. Niecy Nash is absolutely amazing in her portrayal of Lois. I have always thought of her in more comedic roles, but this role suits her extremely well. The other actors do a fantastic job as well, with each character having very specific reasons for why and who they are in this series. The other surprise is Travis Kelce - I didn't know what to expect from him as an actor, and he did a bang-up job! If you like surprising twists, this is definitely worth a watch.

All I have to say is this right here... If Niecy Nash (I don't have time to worry about a hyphenated add-on to her name) doesn't win some kind of award for these performances in these 10 episodes, there is something wrong with the Hollywood system. Forget about what the show is about, whether you like the show or not, whether the other actors are good, or the direction is good, just watch the show because Ms. Nash is nothing short of interesting as f!*k. Now, I'm going to add this so my required minimum is met for this review. These shows are getting more and more demented because Hollywood is mostly demented.