I finally finished these eight episodes. Spoilers ahead.
I suspect that the intent was something along the lines of Stranger Things, normal people confronting an unexpected supernatural world (in this case something similar to the Time Tunnel from the 1960s TV series.) The oddest parts of the whole show isn't the supernatural part, though. It's the motivations of the characters to do the things they do. None of the characters are very likeable or sympathetic. The family we're supposed to root for covers up murder (or at least manslaughter), triggering a lot of the action for the rest of the series. The other main family are all scheming jerks who fight among themselves as well as with the other family. The sheriff is sympathetic but is mostly clueless (literally, since she has no idea about the central mystery that the show revolves around.) I found I really didn't care about any of the characters, or what they did. I watched to the end because I wanted to see how they resolved the sci-fi aspect of the show, but that, too, was kind of disappointing. If there's a second series, there are an endless number of loose ends that need to be tied up. If the mysterious hippie girl is who Royal thinks she is, the entire ending doesn't make sense. I'm giving it 4 stars because the performances were good considering the material they were working with, but I am guessing that the actors got tired of asking "what's my motivation" and just getting a shrug from the director.
I suspect that the intent was something along the lines of Stranger Things, normal people confronting an unexpected supernatural world (in this case something similar to the Time Tunnel from the 1960s TV series.) The oddest parts of the whole show isn't the supernatural part, though. It's the motivations of the characters to do the things they do. None of the characters are very likeable or sympathetic. The family we're supposed to root for covers up murder (or at least manslaughter), triggering a lot of the action for the rest of the series. The other main family are all scheming jerks who fight among themselves as well as with the other family. The sheriff is sympathetic but is mostly clueless (literally, since she has no idea about the central mystery that the show revolves around.) I found I really didn't care about any of the characters, or what they did. I watched to the end because I wanted to see how they resolved the sci-fi aspect of the show, but that, too, was kind of disappointing. If there's a second series, there are an endless number of loose ends that need to be tied up. If the mysterious hippie girl is who Royal thinks she is, the entire ending doesn't make sense. I'm giving it 4 stars because the performances were good considering the material they were working with, but I am guessing that the actors got tired of asking "what's my motivation" and just getting a shrug from the director.
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