Hemlock Grove – Season 1 & 2 Review
Have you ever wondered what a bromance between a werewolf and a vampire would look like? Well, look no further, because a paranormal bromance of epic proportion is alive and well on Netflix’s Hemlock Grove.
…but is the show worth watching?
Well….it’s complicated. Let’s take it in steps and note, there are spoilers in here, but I’ll warn you before.
Season 1: One-liner summary – Boy with blood obsession seeks moon-inspired wolf for angsty bromance and solving murder mysteries.
Peter is new in town and has a secret – on a full moon, he walks as a wolf – a change he treats the viewers and a new friend, Roman to watch. The two bond over a series of terrible shared dreams – dreams that can lead them to a serial killer targeting teenage girls at their school.
What’s nice about this show, is that each season is dedicated to solving one major mystery, all while allowing the viewer to slowly delve into this town, where the paranormal live along side the blissfully ignorant normal.
Non-spoiler comments –
- Roman and his mother are Upir (Vampire-like creatures who can walk around during the day), but Roman is unaware of his paranormal nature until much later.
- Roman has a sister, Shelley, who was brought back to life by a doctor who…let’s just say he likes to push the envelope. I’m thinking they named her Shelley in honor of Mary Shelley & Frankenstein.
- There’s an interesting character who is a writer and goes around explaining that because she’s a writer she has to ask questions to understand motives and experience things so that she can write great stories. lol
- Since this is a paranormal story with vampire-like creatures and werewolves AND angsty teenagers, there is of course a love triangle. Although this one is extra wrong, because two sides of the triangle are related.
I enjoyed the first season a lot, I’d give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. It was fresh, paranormal, and there were mysteries to puzzle through. I recommend it, however, I’m a little torn about season 2…
Season 2: One-liner summary – last time we had a triangle, this time an awkward, angsty, paranormal three-way (team Jacob and team Edward fans can now unite under one banner).
At the end of Season 1, Peter and his mom leave Hemlock Grove, as it is filled with too many bad memories and sadness. Season 2 starts with Peter’s mom getting arrested and then jailed. Where? Hemlock Grove. Why? Because of plot.
And the Roman-Peter bromance is severely damaged.
But no fear! More mysteries are here! Yay!
Soon our bromance is back in business and more angsty than ever as they try to determine who is behind a string deaths and also navigate a strange three-way relationship.
This season, while weird and a little less strong than the first, wasn’t really annoying until the last episode. I’d probably give this 3 out of 5 stars. And now for spoilers, because it’s the only way I can accurately explain my beefs with season 2.
But first, my favorite line from this season has got to be after Norman breaks up with Olivia. Olivia says: “Fuck me….No, fuck you.” And later she literally rips his heart out. Awesome.
Okay…my biggest issue with season 2 was the season finale (SPOILERS!):
- Item 1 – Miranda jumps off the building with the evil baby who then tries to kill her as she has with others, by looking at her with the crazy baby demon eyes. While Miranda’s eyes begin to bleed, she magically doesn’t die…probably because something flies down and saves them. Which brings me to item 2…
- Item 2 – The dragon and a whole lot of wtf. This dragon was the doctor from previous episodes in the season. How do I know? They put his face on it, in case I was confused and somehow didn’t pick up what they were putting down. Additionally, this dragon doesn’t really look like a dragon, but like a manta ray with talons and a weird dude’s face. My response upon seeing this – a whole lot of wtf… will I watch season 3? Ah, this remains to be seen…
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