Students on De Montfort University’s Music, Film and Entertainment Journalism module pick the films, plays, music, TV shows or books they detest. Top tip: don’t get Freya Gerrard started on this adaptation of a Stephen King novel. Oh, hang on … too late
I think one of the most devastating moments of my life was finishing season one of Mr Mercedes on a high, excited to watch the next season, only to realise that season two was pure crap.
After searching for so long to find a series worth watching, I was suggested this adaptation of a Stephen King book. At first glance, it’s a crime series about a serial killer who taunts the retired detective, played by Brendan Gleeson, who was on his case two years ago.
You would safely assume that any adaptation of a Stephen King novel might be worth watching, but then I remembered In The Tall Grass and Pet Sematary and realised that maybe this assumption was my first mistake.
The first season of the show really draws you in. It fools you too, making you think you’ll get two more seasons of mystery and suspense.
It begins with a queue of people at a job centre. Then a man in a clown mask driving a Mercedes mows them all down, including a mother and a baby. It’s an extremely violent, gruesome scene. The goriness carries on throughout as the killer, also known as Brady, who works as a salesman in the local electronics shop, keeps on slaying his victims.
To top it off we also get the delight – not – of watching his relationship with his mum, which surprise, surprise is more than friendly and is very difficult to watch. These cringeworthy scenes however, hold your attention because you want to know what is going to happen overall.
So, when season one ended, I thought I had two more seasons to go. I was so wrong, so so wrong. For some reason, the show takes a supernatural twist. Why? It’s quite possibly one of the worst twists of all time.
Brady is unconscious and brain dead in the hospital. One of the doctors injects him with a new formula that hasn’t passed its testing stages yet and ultimately, it gives Brady powers where he can control the minds of others and continues his murders by making people kill themselves.
Yes, it’s as dumb as it sounds. It’s stupid, foolish, pathetic and just unrealistic since there was no mention of anything even slightly supernatural in the whole 10 hours of season one. It completely ruins the show and after episode four of season two, I had to stop watching it. My anger levels were getting too high for my liking and I wasn’t about to give myself stress over something as silly as this.
