I had read on another site that production for Season 7 was moved to England. Holy crap did they ever move it to England!
The locations, the actors, the director, the tone . . . I know the original Tales from the Crypt movie and sequel were British joints, but there is something uniquely American about this series when done right. It works best with good ol’ American shameless greed and capitalism, shysters, con-men, modern art, televangelists, zoot-suiters, gold-diggers, carnies, door-to-door salesmen, speed traps, kangaroo courts, the death penalty, pulp comics, lumberjacks, ventriloquists [1] . . . and all kinds of American pop references. Sadly, even the fact that they shipped it overseas to save a buck is evidence of its essential Americanism.
But I already shelled out an outrageous $25 for the Season 7 set, so here we go. [2]
Of course rich old Mycroft Amberson wears a silk robe and ascot, of course he lives in a Downton Abbey style castle, of course it is surrounded by statues, of course he has a butler, and of course he has a limey name like Mycroft. If there is a Fiona or Hermione here, I’m done.
Mycroft’s banker says it is time that he get his affairs in order; i.e. have a will drawn up. To assist, he has brought in the lovely Fiona Havisham — damnit!
Mycroft says that he has three sons, but that 15 years ago Frank left home. Actually, it is more like Mycroft threw him out, saying, “I don’t want your sort in my house.” The reason is only clear at the end.
We next meet his son Justin who is practicing Tantric sex with a topless girl. I’m warming up to this new European vibe.
His other son Evelyn is quite the butterball. Maybe he developed an eating disorder because his father gave him a girl’s name. Hopefully he plays an ironically small role because I can’t understand WTF he is saying.
Mycroft describes them as monsters. He amends his will to require that Justin and Evelyn find Frank within 6 months of Mycroft’s death or they get nothing. How does that make sense? If he wants them to be a family again, why wait until after he’s dead? If they make the effort and fail, why penalize them?
There are a few bright spots, but the relocation across the pond kind of ruined it for me. The ending will be no shocker to anyone who has seen the British film The Crying Game. But America did it first 9 years earlier in Sleepaway Camp — Team America, F*** yeah! American ingenuity and creativity wins again! Oh, wait, TFTC used the exact same twist in The Assassin just last month. Damnit!
Other Stuff:
- [1] Maybe they had ventriloquists in the old country, but it took Americans to make one a star on radio.
- [2] This blog started because I needed something to force me to watch the $9 set of Ray Bradbury Theater that I just could not finish.
- [2] The packaging for Season 7, TFTC’s final season, is awful. I guess they figured no one would last that long. Season 6 of AHP is also much cheaper than the previous seasons, and has yet another season to go. I expect those discs to say AOL on the back.