"Two Sentence" is a nigh-endless source of frustration to me. How can a show produce at least one decent episode ("Quota") and then flip when doing practically the same thing?
In the case of "Quota" versus "Essence", both are dealing with fairly standard horror tropes: zombies versus attacking the young to find a cure for eternal life and/or beauty. "Quota" presents a couple of interesting characters; not as well drawn as most characters in the original "Twilight Zone", because none of these writers are anywhere close to Rod Serling, and none of the actors are close to Klugman, Meredith, John Anderson, Ross Martin, or even William Shatner.
And part of it is that the "Two Sentence" writers and/or production staff seem to feel the need to add flourishes. And flourishes, and flourishes. But not do the basics. Put 'the protagaonists in trouble, give them an unseen family, and that's all you can do in 20 minutes.
But could writer Megan Rosati do that in "Essence"? Hell, no. Does anybody watching know anything about the characters of Mina and Tram? Why Kora is such an obsessed beauty-wanter that she's willing to kill someone painfully to do it? Who or what Jessica is? How Kora could overpower an ailing Mina, but then an ailing Tram could overcome Kora? Where the surgical team came from that extracts organs for the beauty process, and why they decided to start working for Tram and the other VIP girls?
Instead we get Mina and Tram becoming buddies in the space of literally seconds. All we learn about Mina is that she's homeless because she was a foster child who was dumped on the streets when she hit 18. We learn nothing about Tram, we learn nothing about Kora. Okay, "Quota" wasn't great shakes when it came to character development, but at least it threw the audience a bone or two. Rosati and the production staff don't even bother to try with "Essence".
And how did Kora poison the girls, anyway? I... guess the poison was in the makeup she used on Mina, and gave to her. But then how did Mina get the dark bags, that gave Kora the excuse to give Mina the poisoned makeup? Mina was sick before the makeup. And if Kora could poison Mina without the makeup, why did she need to give her the makeup? Does the makeup have any significance?
Heck if I know. And if writer Rosati knows, she ain't telling. Instead we get scenes of actress Laura Minnell eating organs. Nummy.
It also doesn't help that the narrative changes, from Mina to Kora to Tram. We have some sympathy for Mina, because she's a poor foster child. It ain't much, but I don't expect much in a 20-minute anthology. But for some reason, Rosati kills Mina off (off-screen) and makes Tram the Final Girl. But we know even less about Tram than we do Mina, so we don't care that Tram somehow "wins" against Kora.
Overall, I don't expect a lot. But I wish the production staff would just give us a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. They did in "Quota", they could have in "Essence". But they didn't. And as I may have noted before, the "Two Sentence" writers act like they're inventing the horror anthology concept. They're not. Viewers grew up on Twilight Zone, Black Mirror, and other horror/fantasy anthologies. I wish the writers would a) quit acting like they're inventing the concept, and b) watch and learn, from some of those earlier anthologies. I don't expect the writers to be Serling and Brooker, but what's the point of ignoring them entirely?
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
In the case of "Quota" versus "Essence", both are dealing with fairly standard horror tropes: zombies versus attacking the young to find a cure for eternal life and/or beauty. "Quota" presents a couple of interesting characters; not as well drawn as most characters in the original "Twilight Zone", because none of these writers are anywhere close to Rod Serling, and none of the actors are close to Klugman, Meredith, John Anderson, Ross Martin, or even William Shatner.
And part of it is that the "Two Sentence" writers and/or production staff seem to feel the need to add flourishes. And flourishes, and flourishes. But not do the basics. Put 'the protagaonists in trouble, give them an unseen family, and that's all you can do in 20 minutes.
But could writer Megan Rosati do that in "Essence"? Hell, no. Does anybody watching know anything about the characters of Mina and Tram? Why Kora is such an obsessed beauty-wanter that she's willing to kill someone painfully to do it? Who or what Jessica is? How Kora could overpower an ailing Mina, but then an ailing Tram could overcome Kora? Where the surgical team came from that extracts organs for the beauty process, and why they decided to start working for Tram and the other VIP girls?
Instead we get Mina and Tram becoming buddies in the space of literally seconds. All we learn about Mina is that she's homeless because she was a foster child who was dumped on the streets when she hit 18. We learn nothing about Tram, we learn nothing about Kora. Okay, "Quota" wasn't great shakes when it came to character development, but at least it threw the audience a bone or two. Rosati and the production staff don't even bother to try with "Essence".
And how did Kora poison the girls, anyway? I... guess the poison was in the makeup she used on Mina, and gave to her. But then how did Mina get the dark bags, that gave Kora the excuse to give Mina the poisoned makeup? Mina was sick before the makeup. And if Kora could poison Mina without the makeup, why did she need to give her the makeup? Does the makeup have any significance?
Heck if I know. And if writer Rosati knows, she ain't telling. Instead we get scenes of actress Laura Minnell eating organs. Nummy.
It also doesn't help that the narrative changes, from Mina to Kora to Tram. We have some sympathy for Mina, because she's a poor foster child. It ain't much, but I don't expect much in a 20-minute anthology. But for some reason, Rosati kills Mina off (off-screen) and makes Tram the Final Girl. But we know even less about Tram than we do Mina, so we don't care that Tram somehow "wins" against Kora.
Overall, I don't expect a lot. But I wish the production staff would just give us a complete story with a beginning, middle, and end. They did in "Quota", they could have in "Essence". But they didn't. And as I may have noted before, the "Two Sentence" writers act like they're inventing the horror anthology concept. They're not. Viewers grew up on Twilight Zone, Black Mirror, and other horror/fantasy anthologies. I wish the writers would a) quit acting like they're inventing the concept, and b) watch and learn, from some of those earlier anthologies. I don't expect the writers to be Serling and Brooker, but what's the point of ignoring them entirely?
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
