As it seemed, it was going to go... differently:
However, it is safe to say that no-one quite expected the result that showed up on our screens.
In the pilot, we see the Harmons, an ailing family dealing with a cheating father, a mother who miscarried, and a depressed daughter, move to California looking for a fresh start. Naturally, they end up moving into a haunted house. Things just get better from there. Some of the plotlines include a demonic entity that resides in the basement (which used to host jars full of human parts); a dead maid who appears over seventy to everyone but the father, Ben, who sees her as a young, sexy woman; a demented neighbor (played campily by Jessica Lange); a mysterious man dressed in a gimp suit who may or may not have been Ben; as well as a man whose left half of the face has been burned off. Of course, the Harmons are not aware of most of these things.
The series' heroine, Vivien, is played excellently by the sublime Connie Britton of Friday Night Lights fame and serves to ground the perplexing show. Taking a very naturalistic, matter of fact attitude towards the whole thing, she is the center the audience needs. Everything relates back to her. Her issues with conceiving and dealing with her husband's infidelity give her a strong character arc, and you quickly sympathize with her plights.
On the other hand, Ben Harmon is portrayed by Dylan McDermott, who does not have the best reputation when it comes to acting. However, he seems to fit perfectly into the show as the hunky psychologist who can't help but screw up. The show plays up his physical attributes non-stop, featuring McDermott naked for what seems more than half the episode, and it is quite shameless about it.
As mentioned earlier, the show features an assortment of what you would call "cooky," "mysterious" and "scary" characters. Some of them are dead, others are demented and others... who the hell even knows? It's difficult to make up one's mind as to whether this show is really about anything. The script was disjointed and there was not a lot of connection between scenes and events. It almost felt like something you saw in your sleep; it had the ethereal feeling of a dream. Whether that was purposeful or not remains to be seen.
Regardless of this, however, the show remained entertaining throughout and kept one's attention. It was fast paced, well-shot and photographed, and kept moving relentlessly. There was not a moment when the action stopped. When it was all over, I was interested in watching again and finding out where this would go.
It was like a great bucket of popcorn; you enjoy it while it's there (ever so slightly guilty for eating all that) but you are left empty when it's over. And, yet, you never fail to go back again.
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