Hemlock Grove Season Two
Growing pains
Release Date: 20 April 2014 | 18 | Blu- ray/ DVD Creators: Brian McGreevy, Lee Shipman Cast: Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron, Dougray Scott, Tiio Horn, Joel de la Fuente
As Netflix’s only original SF offering BM ( before Marvel) in a slate of critically acclaimed shows, how disappointing that Hemlock Grove is the online streamers’ black sheep. No one’s going to be calling it the next House Of Cards anytime soon, but season two is a definite step up from the ropey first year.
Again the format is part murder mystery, part supernatural soap opera. The mystery here revolves around a masked cult killing seemingly random young ’ uns, and the cryptic dreams werewolf Peter and vampire Roman have warning them of the next murder. Elsewhere mad matriarch Olivia spends the season wallowing after losing her vamp powers, Shelley prepares for a life- changing procedure at the White Tower and new girl Miranda Cates finds herself strangely drawn to Roman’s baby.
Hemlock Grove is not a show to do things by halves, and those brutal werewolf transformations are only the start of it. The gore, boundaries of taste and laws of logic are pushed even further this year; it’s also still a melodrama at heart, so expect some dubious dialogue and performances. But characters are better fleshed out, the plotting more tightly focused and the ideas more outlandish than ever.
Crucially, it’s always fun – something the frequently boring first season couldn’t claim to be. The third and final season airs on Netflix in a couple of months; at this rate there’s every chance Hemlock Grove could end on a surprising high.
Extras: None. Jordan Farley