Dark Flower

It is a shame to say this but this episode had all the hallmarks of a filler. It makes you wonder if there is actually a story for a six part mini series.

Also some of the visuals made me think that the director wants to emulate David Lynch in full Twin Peaks mode.

The episode opens in in 1945 with George Hodel having some kind of sex party. It is all a bit Eyes Wide Shut. Little Tamar Hodel watches the action unfold from around the corner.

In 1965 Fauna Hodel is being followed by a creepy man who is in the employment of her grandfather. Fauna realises that the creepy guy she talked to in the bus stop in the first episode is her grandfather when she goes back to the Hodel house. She also meets up with Jay for the first time and they talk to each other in a diner, feeling each other out before she quietly leaves.

As for Jay he is a mess. He nearly loses his eye by Bilis the violent cop and is saved in the nick of time by his cop friend. Jay suffers from post traumatic shock and is desperate enough to try to enlist to fight in Vietnam. He knows there is no future for him in journalism.

The episode makes a more explicit connection with the Black Dahlia murder and Dr Hodel is the chief suspect. The pacing though should had been much better, this could had been all done in the previous episode.

I was prepared to see where this was going for a few eps. I was pretty troubled by the terrible acting and lame direction of the 'mother' in the first episode but I hung in there until this ep. no more. I'm done.

Chris Pine is wildly miscast and out of place. He had modern hair, completely inappropriate clothing for the era (given how they've tried to make everyone else authentic) and he seems like he's acting in a different show to the rest of the cast.

He's an executive producer so clearly he's got far too much influence.

But this ep. Wow. The director is trying to aim for 'trippy' visuals that just seem disconnected and forced, and the mystery that's supposed to be at the heart of this show - which is actually pretty fascinating - is buried under a mass of pretentiousness.

Given how interesting Fauna and George Hodel's story is, and how fascinating the Black Dahlia murder was...why is this so dull and dreary? How could you go wrong with this subject?

Well somehow they have. This ep was it for me, I don't care about the characters and they've ruined the story with so much fluff and tiresome acting. As pretty as the lead actress is, she is completely lifeless. Part of that is the script, part of that is the direction but part of it is that she seems way out of her depth.

The most interesting thing about this ep was the brief one second still of the actual Black Dahlia crime scene photo shown under the credits.

The tombstone for this show should read: "They tried but they failed"

I'll be giving it not a second more. Started bad, got ridiculous and I'm out after 3 eps.