#StokerScore: Gogglebox - The Mist (Season 1)

#StokerScoreTV: Definitely not worth your time or trouble

I have to admit to having had an initial lack of interest in this show. When I heard it was being made, I thought that it wasn't the best of ideas, but then I thought about how good the movie version of Stephen King's book was I changed my mind and thought "no, this isn't a bad idea...it's a really, really, really bad idea".

Having another job that takes up most of my time and having to cherry pick my tv consumption, I have been watching it due to a lack of current shows that I find interesting. I was waiting for Marvel's Defenders and The Punisher, I've been watching season two of Preacher, and obviously there was Game of Thrones, so, as well as finding season one of Sense8, which I haven't binge-watched, I've been watching this on a weekly basis and, having finally come to the end of episode ten, I can promise you that I hate myself for having put up with it for this long (please tell me there's not more to come?)

What makes it so bad? Well, the first episode isn't really that much od a disappointment. The set up, that an amnesiac wakes and finds himself near to the Arrowhead Military base and who immediately loses his (pet?)dog to a strange mist, isn't a bad start. Tie that to the camera panning to a nearby town and the premise is set up. We are introduced to a range of main characters and supporting cast who all appear to have their own range of problems that will be difficult to contend with along with the menacing mist.

The main problem with this show is the sloppy writing, which frustrates to the point that you want to slap the tv to get it to see sense. Characters are continually adding in dialogue that could have/should have been brought up at a similar time, so much so that it feels the script is being written on the fly. Sure, we can throw in the occasional curve ball as far as plot points go but this is so over-the-top it's laughable. Generally the actors are of a good calibre, they just wouldn't behave as the writers would have you believe. 

And the cop out is the writers can use The Mist as their excuse for stupidity/callousness/deviousness because the mist this time isn't home to Cthulhu and his minions as evidenced in the movie version, no this mist is more of a sentient toxic gas which gives hallucinations to some of the people in it. I say some of the people because not everyone seems to be immediately affected. A woman who believes herself to be a Wiccan priestess and who is demonstrably unaffected by the mist, is later seen to be its latest victim. Then there are times where no cars work, preventing people from completing whatever task the writers have set, only for the time a main character needs to go from A to B quickly, they find a working car.

I am trying to remain calm while writing this but it is truly a disgrace and a thinly veiled attempt to cash in on the current truckload of remakes, reboots and re-whatever-else. Instead of this, go back and watch the Thomas Jane movie version.