Tuesday, February 19, 2013

'Cult' 101 Review "You're Next"


CW
The CW is a network that’s always been known to have its passionate fans, I’m looking at you in particular Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries fandoms.  And we all know there are certain parts of your fandom that are beyond over enthusiastic--that corner of the fandom the other fans shake their heads at because they others come off as more than slightly crazily into the show. So it’s only natural that a show that shines a dark light on fandom would air on this very network.  Enter Cult, two shows in one with a built-in fandom of people who put their energies into something far more terrifying than night blogging, instead they’re into abduction and murder.




CW
Let’s talk about the fans first. By the end of the first episode it’s clear that they could be anyone from a police officer to a waitress.  Which speaking of the Fandomain Cafe, why isn’t something like that a real thing somewhere?  Probably because we’re all hermits, but the show really makes the fans appear more socially engaged in the series, even the casual fans, than you might see in real life.  The show within the show only appears to have sixteen episode so far but already there are people committed enough to showing their devotion for it that they hold LARPing events for it. I’m eager to see how they show the various kinds of fans as the episodes progress.



CW
So we’ve also got the show within a show, aptly named Cult.  It even has a mysterious show runner who writes and sends in scripts without ever being seen.  I’m right now crackpot theory-ing that we have already seen Mr. Steven Rae, possibly in the form of the show’s antagonist Billy Grimm, or the man who’s playing him anyway.  Robert Knepper sells the hell out of it and I’m eager to see us dig more into the actors behind the characters on the show--his in particular.  Which we got a small glimpse of when Jeff literally ran into him on set.



CW
Which brings us to the third part of the show, Jeff (Matt Davis) is on the search for his brother who went missing in an eerily similar fashion to a character on the television show.  I like Skye, the show’s researcher who is helping Jeff try and navigate the fandom to find his brother.  She’s far more relatable than Jeff himself considering he’s completely outside and I daresay he acts like he’s above fandom itself.  But you have to admire his dedication when it comes to trying to find his brother to mix himself up in such a dangerous unpredictable situation.



CW
Now I’m sure you’re saying to yourself: this show looks a lot like The Following.  Which it is on some level, but Billy Grimm hasn’t ever murdered anyone on his own like Joe Carroll.  And if you’re like us and think that The Following is pulling a few too many punches and stalling their storytelling, then perhaps Cult will give you more of what you’re looking for.  I for one can’t wait until next week, maybe I’ll even go look for some secret fan sites in the meantime.

2 comments:

  1. Finally after 6 years we get Cult...and so far, so good. I like that it seems to genuinely be darker in tone than other shows on the CW, even some of their previous shows that were supposed to be a bit darker and edgier. Also, the two leads seem to have a great natural chemistry based off the pilot. I loved Matt Davis in The Vampire Diaries, and think he was a great choice for Jeff.

    One other thing I loved too was how they were able to use some good haunting music to set the mood in the pilot. A great example was when they used Junip's "White Rain" in the cafe when we see Nate for the first time - it totally has a cool haunting vibe without being overboard spooky or goth music.

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