Freaky Friday: Crazy Love

Normally I choose to watch documentaries because I'm familiar with the story/case/people involved.  Crazy Love, however, was an exception to the rule.  Normally I would be so tempted to Google the people named in the summary description but, this time, I'm so glad I didn't.  A documentary with a plot twist?  Hells yeah!
Crazy Love starts off detailing the backgrounds of Burt Pugach  and Linda Riss.  Their story is told through the words of Burt and Linda (along with their friends and family) and, my personal favorite, pictures.  They were both stylish, living their adult lives in the New York City of the 1950s.  Burt was a lawyer and family man and Linda (10 years his junior) was a swinging single gal looking to settle down with Mr. Right.

You so crazy.  I wanna have yo babies.

Unfortunately for Linda, she met Burt Pugach instead.  After a whirlwind courtship, gifts, and vacations, she discovered Burt was a married man and broke off their relationship.  Having attended the school of "If I can't have you, no one can have you", Burt reacted to getting dumped by hiring a local thug to throw lye in Linda's face, blinding and permanently disfiguring her.
I'll leave you at the trial coverage because that is where the documentary goes headlong into WTF territory, and I don't want to spoil it.
Having been a fan of true crime since I was a wee morbid teen, this doc managed to shock my senses that I had thought were just as jaded as the rest of me.  Just when I think I've seen all the messed up things I can handle, Crazy Love came along and showed me the error of my ways.  That's why I chose to give it a Freaky Friday seal of approval.

 

Freaky Friday: Hemlock Grove

It's October which means everyone is sipping pumpkin spice lattes and watching dudes named Freddy and Michael terrorize teenagers out at old Camp Creepypasta.
The promise of Halloween sends my imagination into overdrive as I spend my nights reading /nosleep and then making my dog (Please don't call the ASPCA!) go down the hall first so I can use the bathroom without being murdered by someone with a hook for a hand or the demon that lives in the linen closet.
While I love scary movies, I also hate scary movies because, well, they scare me.  The kind of scary that sticks with you.  The kind of scary that causes you to swan dive across your bedroom at night after turning off the light because you know something is going to grab you in those five dark steps from the light switch to your bed.
So what do you do when you have Halloween spirit but you're a giant sissy?  Well, you can watch Hemlock Grove.  Especially if you like a healthy dose of "what the fuck" in your horror entertainment.
I was on the fence for months about Hemlock Grove.
What's it about?
Werewolves.
No... it's about vampires!
No... it's about both.
Both?  Like Twilight both?
It is definitely not like Twilight. 

Do you understand the script at all, bro?

Hemlock Grove is something of a murder mystery involving werewolves and day-walking (but not sparkly) vampires.  The characters are well-developed but there are times when the plot carves out enormous holes that it can't be bothered to fill in again.  Don't let that deter you, though, gentle viewers.  Just embrace your confusion.  Let it flow through you.  Or, you can be like me, and buy the book hoping for answers and end up even more confused.  (But it's a captivating read!)  The overall mood is that of secrecy and gloom.  A perfect complement to a gloomy October night?  I think so!
Both seasons are full of gore and sex.  Highlights include clandestine medical experiments, demonic babies, clairvoyants, a crash course in werewolf-ery, and a drop dead gorgeous 1957 Jaguar.  In the second season, there's even a nod to David Lynch and Twin Peaks.  Are you still reading?  Why aren't you watching Netflix???  
The third and final season debuts 23 October and the few articles I've read promise that this season will scramble to reassemble the craziness unleashed by the second season.  That means you have plenty of time to watch the first two seasons and get caught up.
To the couch with ye!

What I did on my blogging vacation

Don't let the title mislead you.  I didn't actually go on vacation.  I just took a mostly involuntary vacation from blogging.
So what have I been up to?  How about a bullet list?

• Personal life stuff:  I said goodbye to my bestest furry friend of 11 years in July.  Unfortunately, he was suffering from some degenerative mental issues which were making him aggressive towards our other dog and people.  Also, I've been ill with a mystery disease that the doctors here aren't that eager to find the cause of/treatment for.  *sigh*  I see a specialist in December because he's booked until then.  Small town life.  Gotta love it!  Anyway, I've been tired, achy, and just generally feeling like I'm coming down with the flu.  I have had the downtime to read and watch TV, though, so it's not all bad.
• Reading:  I've been reading lots of books on Buddhism lately.  My two favorites so far:  Transform Your Life:  A Blissful Journey by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and Buddhism:  Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen. I also read a couple Ann Rule books and I'm working through a book of Anne Sexton poetry.
• Playing:  I've been farming it up on Story of Seasons but then Happy Home Designer (an Animal Crossing spinoff game) came out and I've been spending my gaming time designing houses for adorable critters.  (Expect a full report at a later date.)

• Watching:  Season 6 of The League, season 4 of Once Upon a Time, season 1 of The Following, and season 1 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  I've also been re-watching all the Star Wars movies which has incited a household feud of which movie was better:  Return of the Jedi or The Empire Strikes Back.  Obviously Return of the Jedi was better because Ewoks.  Duh!

I hope to get back to blogging, even if it means I only crank out one post a week.  But I'm going to shoot for two because dream big, right?

Freaky Friday: Odd Thomas

Odd Thomas starts out as a seemingly quirky action comedy movie with a supernatural bent.  Odd Thomas (played by the adorable Anton Yelchin) lives in a small town and just so happens to have the ability to see ghosts.  He uses his gift to help solve murders which, in turn, helps put the spirit to rest.  Unfortunately it's not a paying gig so Odd is also a showboating short-order cook at a local cafe.

If you like my psychic abilities, you should try my pancakes.

Odd begins to see some ghostly baddies that are out of the ordinary and, apparently, signal big trouble for the little town of Pico Mundo.  Odd has to save the town and himself while keeping his skills under wraps from friends and coworkers.  Does it lead to hilarious misunderstandings and people assuming that Odd has lost his marbles?  You betcha.
For a movie that deals with dead stuff and ghosts, it's actually quite tame.  So tame, in fact, I debated whether or not this should be a Freaky Friday-worthy movie.  But one girl's tame is another girl's freaky so I went with it.
The ending is predictable in an "ending with a twist" sort of way.  
Throughout the movie I was racking my brain trying to think of where I had heard the name Odd Thomas before.  It wasn't until the credits that I realized Odd Thomas is a series of books by Dean Koontz.  (Dean and I shared a brief but intense literary fling during my first year of junior high but I soon left him for VC Andrews and her love of incestuous siblings.)  I'm tempted to read the books because the movie glosses over the most interesting part of Odd's life which is communicating with the regular everyday dead folk.  I feel that could have been developed more instead of the emphasis on Odd's relationship with his girlfriend Stormy.
Romance in movies bores me.  Yeah, I said it.
Conclusion:
I give it a 3 out of 5 star rating.  It's definitely one of the more original movies I've watched in a while.  And it made me want to pick up where I left off with Dean Koontz.  Any good movie should make you revert back to your junior high self. 

Freaky Friday: The Houses October Built

The Houses October Built is about the least favorite part of one of my favorite holidays: the "haunted" houses that pop up around Halloween.  At the tender age of seven, I was invited to a fall carnival with a schoolmate.  I would have been perfectly happy to stick to the kiddie rides but my friend suggested we walk through the haunted house.  There wasn't anything too terrifying until my friend pushed on a trap door in a wall and disappeared.  I was trapped in a tiny room, unable to go backward.  I pushed the same trap door and it wouldn't budge.  I pushed and kicked every inch of wall I could reach until, eventually, I resorted to a tactic any scared shitless seven-year-old would do:  I cried.  Bawled my eyes out would be more appropriate.  Eventually a carnival worker took pity on me and rescued me.  (The door that lead outside was indeed stuck.)  And for some reason, that friend never invited me anywhere else.
**I still remember her.  Her name was Bonnie.  She could speak Chinese and English and had the cutest bobbed hair.  If you see this Bonnie, I'm sorry and I promised I've stopped crying in public... mostly.**
Oh right... the movie.  The Houses October Built is a mockumentary about a group of people who set out the week before Halloween to find the creepiest seasonal haunted houses, referred to as "haunts", "in the country" (according to Netflix) but, in reality, in Louisiana and south Texas.  The documentary footage is interspersed with interviews from haunt workers talking about people who have died attempting to scare people and why they choose to work at the haunts come Halloween time.

Perhaps the most horrifying part of the movie is being the only chick in an RV full of dudes.

The documentary crew's ultimate goal is finding a sort of "secret society" haunt where the scare actors have carte blanche.  And then they get the bright idea to sort of shakedown the haunt workers to see where the top grade haunts are hidden.  Why they think that's a good idea is beyond me.  Have these people not seen Freaks?  You just don't fuck with carnival worker-type folks and expect to walk away unscathed.  (Except for my haunted house savior.  Please don't come kill me in my sleep, good sir!)
One of the creepiest houses they walked through reminded me of a mashup between Silent Hill and Resident Evil:  Code Veronica X (with the Ashford dude that dressed up like his dead sister).  There were lots of creepy clowns and creepy children.  *shudder*
 I give the movie an "A" for effort in originality.  HOB seemed to lose its documentary feel towards the end which is a bit tragic.  Overall, though, the movie managed to be creepy without being gory.  We were even spared the ubiquitous "topless horror actress" scene.   Perhaps, though, that's the real tragedy.
If you can find it in yourself to look past the lack of nudity, I would definitely recommend giving HOB a watch.  
 

Hits: A quick and dirty movie rec

I didn't quite know what I would be getting into when I added Hits to my queue but sometimes I like to wander outside my comfort zone of mindless comedies and B-grade horror.
Hits centers around a man named Dave Stuben who lives in a small economically-depressed town in upstate New York named Liberty.  Dave's hobbies include bringing home trash from his place of employment and voicing his various complaints at the town council meetings.  Dave's daughter is an aspiring, yet horribly untalented, singer who is obsessed with fame, no matter the costs.  After a video of Dave getting arrested at a particularly heated town meeting goes viral on Youtube, all hell breaks loose.

Written and directed by my favorite anus tart, David Cross.

Hits is a combination of small town living meets Internet bandwagon-ing.  There is a yearning in almost every character that is almost palpable.  The yearning for something more.  Then there is the desperation that sinks in as the townsfolk watch their dreams begin to visibly crumble.  The struggle is interwoven with the reality that almost every moment of our lives are now subject to being recorded and posted to the Internet.  Viral videos and "vaguebooking" and sex tapes and jumping on causes because everyone else is doing it are the undoing of Liberty, NY and a great commentary on our society's online behavior as a whole.
Man, I'm deep.

The devil of Hell's Kitchen

For the past couple of months, everywhere I'd go, people would ask me the same question:
"Would you like fries with that and, OMG, have you seen Daredevil?!?!"
"Your total comes to 32.50 and you should really watch Daredevil."
"You haven't seen Daredevil?  I don't think we can be friends anymore."
I was beginning to think Netflix had implemented some sort of word-of-mouth affiliate program or maybe, just maybe, Daredevil was just that good.
I really wanted to watch Daredevil but I was still a little gun shy after Ben Affleck's embarrassing  portrayal of Matt Murdock in 2003.  Damn you, Ben Affleck!  (And don't even get me started about his upcoming Batman role.)
For those who are new to the whole Daredevil franchise, Daredevil is the vigilante alter ego of Matt Murdock.  As a child, Murdock was involved in a toxic waste spill that robbed him of his sight but left his remaining senses in a super heightened state.  Little Matt's dad is killed by gangsters and, as an adult, he vows revenge.  He also becomes a lawyer.  When you're a masked vigilante, it's good to work both sides of the law that way.
Matt's back story is very well developed.  The show's writers also took the time to develop the back story of his nemesis Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin (although he is never referenced as such in the show).  A gritty, dark New York City (chiefly, the neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen) is the perfect backdrop for each episode's round of underdog versus heavyweight champion.  I'm awarding bonus points for the use of my favorite dramatic device:  the Batman voice.  Almost every character, big and small, uses the husky whisper at some point in the show and it is nothing short of hilarious every. single. time.

I'm Batman.

I hesitate to call Daredevil a super hero (And feel free to disagree with me here.) because I hesitate to call Daredevil a super hero show.  Matt's acts of rogue justice seem more like stepping stones on his path to what is ultimately self-serving revenge rather than serving the "greater good".  In this way, Daredevil gets a lot more Batman-like.  What starts out as a personal vendetta ends up as a full-fledged "saving my city" (read in a husky whisper) crusade.  Luckily for our Daredevil, he only has to deal with one cray-cray at a time in the first season unlike poor Batman's nemeses who always seem to escape Arkham in freaking droves.   (Side note:  If ever I should snap, please put me in Arkham.  My early release is almost guaranteed.)
I'd give Daredevil a seven out of ten.  The episodes' 55 minute run times can actually get a bit tedious.  However, the longer run time allows Daredevil to pack in plenty of (sometimes unnecessary) action (Seriously, who needs to back flip from rooftop to rooftop?) and bad guy ass-kicking but there is also drama and raw emotion and a pinch of romance.  Something for everyone!  Or maybe just you.  I won't tell anyone about your sensitive side.  

Freaky Friday: The Baba Ganoush

This Freaky Friday is brought to you by Mr. Coffee, the letter "B", and the number 5.37.


Hello nerd boys and girls,


I’m taking a break from video games to bring you a review of the latest horror movie being crammed down your throat by Netflix and your Facebook friends: The Babadook.  Just so you’re aware of my tastes, I have a long lasting love of horror movies, but especially terrible ones.  I subscribe to the church of Troll 2 and From Dusk Till Dawn sequels.  If a movie contains Bruce Campbell, Tom Savini, or was endorsed in some way by George Romero, then I am watching it.  Warning!  From this point forward this blog entry may contain spoilers (in white), though I will do my best to not ruin the ending. 


The Babadook is a movie you would label a "creature feature" or boogeyman style horror story where a child is afraid of something that the adults insist just does not exist.  In this movie that child is six-year-old Sam.  Sam’s father died in a car accident on the way to Sam's own birth and is being raised alone by his mother Amelia.  Like many six year olds, Sam is afraid of the monster in his closet, under his bed, in the attic, in the basement...  He rarely sleeps due to his fear and is an all around brat, in general.  Unlike most six year olds though, Sam builds Dennis the Menace-style weapons to defend himself.


Our other main character Amelia, Sam’s mother, is working as a hospice nurse and seems run down from working, raising Sam herself, and struggling through what appears to be a lonely, hard life for the past six years.  To add to Amelia’s stress, Sam gets removed from school for bringing one of his many handcrafted weapons with him.  Amelia’s only outlet is her sister Claire who has a daughter, Ruby.  Ruby’s birthday is close to Sam’s so they share a party every year.  (Every year except this one, of course.)  This is partially due to Amelia’s painful experience of losing her husband on her son’s actual birthday but mostly because a joint party is cheaper and less stressful, obviously.


So what the hell is a babadook?  Well, one night Amelia allows Sam to choose a bedtime story.  He pulls down a book that Amelia has never seen before titled Mister Babadook.  This book tells the story of a being that haunts and tortures those aware of his existence.  His presence is preceded by the sound of a knocking “babadook dook dook” noise.

Grandma Ethel is not allowed to buy you books ever again.

  The book itself is modeled after a child’s pop-up book and, if I'm being honest, is probably one of the more creative horror devices I’ve seen.  Sam, who is already terrified of his own make-believe monsters, now has a name to put to his ever-increasing fears.  Sam’s brat-tastic behavior gets worse, and the house suddenly seems haunted, which Amelia, being the great mom she is, blames on Sam and he in turn blames on Mister Babadook.  Already frustrated by Sam’s behavior and suffering from a severe lack of sleep, Amelia tears the offending book apart and throws it in the trash. 


Is this the end of Babadook problem?  Um... no.  Sam suffers a seizure on the way home from his cousin's drama filled birthday party and Amelia brings him to the hospital get checked out.  The doctors find nothing wrong with Sam, but prescribe him sleeping pills which is something every six-year-old needs.  Relieved that her son is ok, and that she is finally going to get some sleep, things are looking up for Amelia.  Her peace doesn’t last long.  She awakes to find the Mister Babadook book not only intact but with new illustrations, specifically pictures of Amelia killing Sam.  She does what any sane person would do and destroys the book again along with reporting the incident to the police thinking she may have a stalker.  The police don’t believe her based on the lack of creepy book evidence and the vague implication that she may have some incriminating evidence on her person.  Namely, chalk on her hands.  The same chalk used in the Mister Babadook book?  *dun dun dun*


Up to this point in the film I was enjoying the story, the characters, and the tension.  I was asking myself: “Is the house haunted or is the kid just out of his mind?” and “Are they being stalked?” or “Did Amelia snap and is doing all this herself?”  A perfect mix of good writing and a true psychological horror where there are a number of possible paths and each could lead to an exciting and fulfilling climax.
And then it took a nosedive.
The latter half of the movie that attempts to answer these questions felt as if  a completely different writer and director had suddenly taken over a completely different movie.  What starts off as a creative and well thought out plot, turns into a heaping pile of horror movie garbage.  It sort of feels like the scene in Independence Day  where the White House gets blown up and you’re all excited about the awesome explosion but then remember that the White House being blown up is actually a bad thing.  Then Jeff Goldblum suggests that the highly advanced alien species can be brought down by a lowly human-engineered computer virus.  Balderdash! 
The Babadook is the horror movie equivalent of Independence Day: a great idea ruined by a seemingly rushed train wreck of an ending. 

**For those of you reading from 'Murica, enjoy your Independence Day weekend!**

Tales of a Netflix glutton

Greetings from my humble, yet air conditioned abode.  The weekend was a whirlwind of celebrating birthdays (When you're turning seven,  the whole week is spent in you honor, apparently.) and dads.
So I thought I would share a few mini reviews of the shows I've been binge watching.  (Mostly while lying flat on the floor in my skivvies enjoying the cool breeze of a box fan.)

Final 24:  I am guilty of being a tad morbid and Final 24 is definitely on the darker side of shows I've watched.  The show chronicles the last 24 hours in the lives of celebrities that have died.  Tupac Shakur, River Phoenix, and Hunter S. Thompson are among the people profiled.  The shows flips back and forth between reenactments of the deceased's actions in the final hours and interviews with friends and family.  Sadly, there only seem to be two seasons, 14 episodes in total.
My only complaint is that some things presented as fact were actually found to be false.  Of course, when any celebrity is cut down in their prime, rumors will abound but if I can do a five second Google to get to the truth of something, why can't Final 24's writers?

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt:  In case you've been hiding under a rock somewhere and missed everyone and their mom talking about UKS, take my advice and go watch it.  There are only 13 episodes and each episode is about 22 minutes long so I think you could knock it out on a Saturday afternoon.  It is heartwarming and hilarious and chock full of 90s references.  I was only disappointed when it ended because I never learned to pace myself.

Grace and Frankie:  I didn't expect to like this show as much as I did.  I may be able to watch shows about the last 24 hours of a person's life, but the sudden collapse of a long relationship is just too much trauma for me.  I don't know why I'm always drawn to shows about women in their golden years, but I am.  No shame in my game.  There were lots of funny moments but also lots of heartbreaking ones.  I felt all the feels and may have cried a little. 

I can't wait for the second season.

Daredevil:  Admittedly, I had some misgivings about Netflix's Daredevil, having been subjected to Ben Affleck's performance in the 2003 movie, but I am loving this show.  I am nearing the end of the season (Each episode is almost a full hour long, which makes it harder to binge watch on a school night.)  and it is so good.  The show's Frank Miller-esque darkness and the character development of both Daredevil and his nemesis Kingpin are used in just the right amounts.

Now go forth to your couches, my people.

Don't forget to stretch before your marathon.

Bad blogging

Loyal reader(s):

Please excuse P from blogging this week. The creative part of her brain has melted thanks to a faulty air conditioner that still has yet to be repaired.

Seriously, though. Luckily our air conditioner was under warranty which means instead of the 1 million dollars it costs to fix it, we will only pay half that amount.  Lots of people live with only one kidney nowadays, right?
I'm also going out of town and I had scheduled some posts but somehow I ended up deleting the edited drafts and I don't have the time or patience to re-edit them.  Yes, I'm a bad/lazy blogger but I swear I will make it up to you! 
I have posts written (that need polishing) and posts in my brain queue waiting to be written. 
Hopefully you'll have a great week without my witty insight but, just in case you need a little to get by, go watch Daredevil on Netflix. 

Freaky Friday: The Dead Files

I never really thought of myself as a "medium" person.  I never watched Medium or the Ghost Whisperer or, um, other shows about psychic mediums.  I did, however, watch Crossing Over with John Edward.  Ok, it was the episode of South Park spoofing Crossing Over with John Edward.  It's basically the same thing, right?

Your dad died?  Your grandpa?  Your fifth grade class hamster?

Netflix suggested the show The Dead Files to me and I thought "What the hell?"
The show is formulaic:  the psychic (Amy Allan) "reads" the location while the burly former detective investigates the history of the location and the two compare notes at the end.  They have no contact before this point (so they say) and they sometimes employ sketch artists to show "who" Amy has been interacting with.  No spoilers here but, if you choose to watch, brace yourself for a lot of widened eyes and hand-to-chest gasping during the reveal.
The Dead Files mixes ghost whispering, good old fashioned detective work, and cheesy "dramatic" effects to create the television equivalent of a Kahlua mudslide.  Goes down smooth and, if you're not careful, you can consume half a dozen in one sitting.

I get the feeling someone has definitely lived in this 100 year old house before.

I consider myself to be pretty open to the idea of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena.  With that being said, I'm not entirely convinced the show is not as fake as a Rotex watch,  but I can usually keep the skeptical part of my brain quiet enough to watch an episode or five.

Freaky Friday: The Loved Ones

Tale as old as time...
The setting?  Rural Australia.
Girl asks boy to prom.  Boy rejects girl.  Girl has dad kidnap boy so she can torture him.

She's not using that drill to assemble Ikea furniture, I can assure you.

In the various sub-genres of horror, torture films are my least favorite.  Why?  Because that shit can actually happen.  My chances of being revenge murdered by a resurrected camper are slim to none compared to being the victim of a real live psycho killer.  Qu'est-ce que c'est?   Also torture is usually long and drawn out and I watch way too many Forensic File type shows to know that the use of kitchen utensils and power tools by actual serial killers is not as farfetched as the movies would have you believe.
Jason Voorhees might chase your ass until you get a wicked charley horse, but at least he'll kill you quick.  Mentally unstable lovesick teenage girls?  Oh hell no!  You have to pay in blood for breaking those hearts.
No wonder Mr. Bowie stopped believing in modern love.

A good, solid horror film has to give me a nice unsettling feeling throughout and The Loved Ones definitely did that.  Bonus points for a plot twist that made sense of the seemingly disjointed opening scene and the subplot from the point of view of the victim's friends and family, and the stylish use of paper crowns.  I'd deduct points for animal cruelty (which, luckily, doesn't happen on-screen), the incest-y vibes between ol' crazy eyes and her dad, and the somewhat predictable ending. 

Freaky Friday: Darknet

Starting this Friday I'd like to share some of the creepy or macabre stuff I like to watch or read, so I'd like to proudly present:  Freaky Friday.  And maybe your dark side can relate to my dark side. 

Darknet just showed up on my Netflix recs one day.   Not too surprising.  Netflix often recommends horror to me.  (Well, horror and something called Scrotal Recall.  What does Netflix know that I don't?) The description was a little offputting:  A macabre web site called Darknet links the tales in this chilling anthology series whose protagonists face a range of unnameable horrors.

Look, hon.  The interwebs has another one of them there killer websites.

 A macabre website?  *snore*  Unnameable horrors?  *bitch, please*
Then I noticed it was a show (the first/only?? season consists of six 25 minute episodes) and my curiosity was peaked.  Plus I was all out of Supernatural episodes so I thought "What the hell?"
Darknet is actually a Canadian adaptation of a Japanese series called Tori Hada.  If you've ever seen even a tame Japanese horror film (Japanese horror films scare the shiz out of me, on the real!), you'll be able to pick out the influences in the overtones of isolation and barely restrained psychosis happening throughout each episode.  Because it was made for TV, the gore factor is kept at a minimum and most of the violence is implied. 
Each episode is made up of several mini plot lines which intersect at the conclusion.  Some characters make appearances in later episodes, some aren't fortunate enough to make it past their debuts.  I guess that's the price you pay in the world of macabre TV.   
So what is this Darknet?  It's a fictional website for watching snuff films or having all your corpse disposal questions answered by like-minded creepers.  It can also help you with your home invasion problems, your cheating lover, or help you choose an acceptable iPod volume for wandering around town during a psychotic ax murdering spree.  You know...  Basic life shit.
The Darknet website itself plays various roles throughout the series.  Sometimes its role is more dynamic (Creepy anonymous message boards anyone?) and sometimes it seems as if it was tacked on as an afterthought.  Like when you find chocolate syrup in the cabinet and you vaguely remember buying it for ice cream but that was months ago and now you don't have any ice cream so you just stand in the kitchen and eat it with a spoon?
Ok.  Not like that.  Whatever.  Writing analogies is hard.
Well, writing analogies and trying not to binge watch all six episodes in one night.