It is absurd for hundreds of people to give this show extremely low ratings accompanied by statements like "What am I watching??" Well, pay attention, use your imagination, and watch the entire series instead of giving it a three-star review after two episodes.
The miniseries is an improvement over the novel, which I think is one of King's weakest, despite the fact that he says it is his favorite of his books. The book is relentlessly dark and depressing, with literally no humor, with a needlessly oblique and depressing ending. The miniseries, on the other hand, while being equally bleak and depressing for the vast majority, does actually come to a conclusion in a way that the novel did not. It is sad and beautiful, bittersweet, a deeply emotional homage to romantic love, loyalty, and loss. I did not make up my mind about the miniseries until the last 15 minutes of the final episode, it which point it achieved what the novel didn't.
As for reviewers criticizing it for being "all style and no substance," they are either missing the point behind the production design or they haven't lived enough life to understand and appreciate and feel the thematic emotional substance of the story.
With respect to production design, the characters literally traveling into a fantastical alternate realm of reality. Criticizing Lisey's Story for flamboyant visual style it's like criticizing Sleeping Beauty or Peter Pan for the same reason. It's just an absurd statement and which makes it clear that that viewer really doesn't understand how to watch fantasy movies or shows, which has to make you wonder why they are watching this to begin with since it's obvious from the description that that's what it is. As for the idea of lacking substance, I've already remarked on that.
I'm not saying the story or the program are not without their flaws. The novel and the miniseries would have benefited from making Scott's character more multi-faceted and less dower. I also did not appreciate the way Lisey is physically brutalized and repeatedly called the b-word. I found this difficult to take in both versions of the story, and I'm still not sure it was necessary. We get the point well before the end of each scene in question and I have to wonder why King, who wrote the script, and the showrunner both thought these moments needed to be dwelled upon. And, as I mentioned before, the 5-Hour run time would have benefited from at least a few moments of character-developing humor, but there is almost none.
At the end of the day I think this is one of the better adaptations of a King novel, and the only one I can think of that actually improves upon the source material. I recommend it for thoughtful, imaginative viewers of fantasy, and people who have the ability to feel deep emotions and empathy for the characters being portrayed. You have to be able to experience this show on an emotional level in order to get what King is trying to achieve.
