I've been watching 'Two Sentence Horror Stories' since it first premiered on the CW, and now it's on its third season. And my opinion of it hasn't changed. It always seems to be... lacking, for lack of a better word. And 'Patel Motel Cartel' is no exception. Part of is it that the episodes are sometimes incomprehensible. Part of it is that it seems to be struggling for wokeness, which just obscures the narrative. Sometimes it feel like it's trapped in its 30-minute time slot, when the stories need more room to breathe and explain a few things.
'Cartel' is a good example of all of these. Other than an "Oooh, look, we're woke!" there seems to be no reason to make the Patels non-Caucasian. Yes, it's nice that they're POC, but... so what? Is the production staff trying to make some kind of point with aliens who are actual aliens? Or are they just trying to flaunt the fact that they've thrown in "woke" characters? I wouldn't wonder so much, except that they do it every week with at least one of the episodes, with the same outcome.
Part of it is that the whole idea of an alien waystation is mildly interesting. But we're not explained anything. Are the Patels also aliens? If not, why is Krish an alien hybrid of sorts? JD is an alien that needs the family's blood to survive on Earth? He seems to be surviving quite fine before he gets the blood. Are the Patels Earthlings that have stumbled across aliens needing their help, or are they aliens themselves?
Why is JD so friendly to Krish at first? I get the impression the staff was going for a Stephen King-ish "coming of age" vibe. But there's not enough time to do that, and cram in an actual story as well, in the 30 minute time slot.
Overall, the thing is a bit of a muddle. And it even ends on an open note, with JD coming back and Krish becoming a man and supposedly able to rise to the challenge. But he's newly come into his alien powers, and JD is presumably older and tougher. How is the younger Krish going to deal with him? Does the rest of Krish's family have similar alien powers? Who knows? Who cares?
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
'Cartel' is a good example of all of these. Other than an "Oooh, look, we're woke!" there seems to be no reason to make the Patels non-Caucasian. Yes, it's nice that they're POC, but... so what? Is the production staff trying to make some kind of point with aliens who are actual aliens? Or are they just trying to flaunt the fact that they've thrown in "woke" characters? I wouldn't wonder so much, except that they do it every week with at least one of the episodes, with the same outcome.
Part of it is that the whole idea of an alien waystation is mildly interesting. But we're not explained anything. Are the Patels also aliens? If not, why is Krish an alien hybrid of sorts? JD is an alien that needs the family's blood to survive on Earth? He seems to be surviving quite fine before he gets the blood. Are the Patels Earthlings that have stumbled across aliens needing their help, or are they aliens themselves?
Why is JD so friendly to Krish at first? I get the impression the staff was going for a Stephen King-ish "coming of age" vibe. But there's not enough time to do that, and cram in an actual story as well, in the 30 minute time slot.
Overall, the thing is a bit of a muddle. And it even ends on an open note, with JD coming back and Krish becoming a man and supposedly able to rise to the challenge. But he's newly come into his alien powers, and JD is presumably older and tougher. How is the younger Krish going to deal with him? Does the rest of Krish's family have similar alien powers? Who knows? Who cares?
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
