Mr. October

Mr October continues where Neverland left off, with effective character introductions and moves the action and threat slightly beyond its original location.

For me, the highlights are the scenes involving Wendy and Joe. The filmmakers have achieved my investment in these characters, which feels important for what is to come.

Certain other characters are not as likeable, and one in particular feels like he is being set up for grisly demise at the hands of a foreign body. How, or if, this comes to pass is likely to be a source of interest as the story unfolds.

If you are watching for the Xenomorph spectacle, you will likely not be disappointed, as it offers plenty of creature effects and associated horror sequences. Seeing the unknowing characters facing what we already know is always entertaining. Plus, it has an unknown quantity of non-xenomorph alien lifeforms that adds a further level of intrigue.

Generally, the visuals are high quality. The design, tone (and themes) are as reminiscent of Bladerunner, as they are of the Alien and Aliens movies. This should please fans of Ridley Scott's and James Cameron's work.

Ugh!!! The level this show works at is mind numbing. There's a bunch of half thought ideas mashed into a template that simply doesn't work.

"Hey Let's have the alien who is quite clearly a man in a costume rip a room full of people into chunks of meat".

Cool, let's do that.

"Hey let's have a spacecraft crash into a building. But the spacecraft will land beautifully intact and nothing will be damaged, except for a continuous stream of sparks coming from nowhere and a bunch of small fires bubbling in the background, cos that looks cool".

Cool, let's do that.

"Hey let's have a character do the Amélie hair cut and for no reason have a samurai sword strapped to her back".

Cool, Let's do that.

It makes no sense except on a children's cartoon level and the direction is obviously style over substance but there isn't much style to it either.

It's just distressingly flawed on so many levels.

Literally only writing this review because of getting blown away by tool's stinkfist as the ending song...

Giving this series a real chance and if that song choice was the writer director's doing then I have hope. You'd only get it if you're a fan... I honestly cannot think of any show or movie with a tool track.

Knowing what Noah Hawley is capable of, I'm wondering how such plot holes, non-existing character development and general emptiness could take place.

As for the direction, there is no tension and nothing appealing despite the high budget displayed on screen.

There is absolutely no soul in these first two episodes.

Rival business empires fight to get their hands on the valuable cargo, but the group that is first on board the crashed ship discovers a deadly foe. The ship proves to be the unlikely venue for a family reunion.

It surprised me just how good this was; it's a terrific second episode that really held my attention and left me wanting more. Pace, action, horror, and some of that anticipation you get from the franchise-simply waiting for something bad to happen.

When I think of the early Alien movies, I think of the horror element: helpless people up against a deadly and terrifying threat, beasts that kill without thinking. This brought back some of that intensity.

I'm enjoying the characters, and I like the interesting relationship between Wendy and Joe. I also like that Wendy and her friends are still children; I think they're doing a reasonable job with that.

8/10.