Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania. The mutilated body of a young girl is found near the abandoned Godfrey steel mill. A manhunt is open. Is it the work of a man or an animal? The arrival of a young gypsy upsets the inhabitants. What if he was guilty? Those who know the answer prefer to keep it a secret.
Hemlock Grove, a science fiction and thriller series, focuses on a world of vampires and werewolves. The mix of Riverdale and Twilight offers a dark, gory and (too) mystical teen-drama.
A punctive scenario
In the first scenes, Hemlock Grove promises a story worthy of a horror film. The attack scene puts the viewer in expectation of a sequence of events in the same genre. Blood, chills, mystery… But as the episodes progress, the questions pile up without giving answers. What is an Upir? Why does Shelly have shiny skin? What is the connection between the two boys? What is the "Dragon"? The answers are sloppy with no real explanation. The viewer finds himself in dead ends, frustrated and perplexed.
The originality of the story, meanwhile, leaves something to be desired. Vampires and teenage werewolves looking for each other but already believing themselves to be adults is a theme seen and reviewed. The scenario may try to add a new touch with the secrets of the "White Tower". Again, the lack of clues can give us a conclusion.
Abstruse characters
The characters presented have for the most part a strong character that animates them. But some of them get lost in their complexity and make their actions inconsistent.
Roman Godfrey is presented to us as a weird and lonely boy. Everyone seems to know what he is, except him. He is a bipolar character. But his bipolarity is not explained during the season. A drastic change in behavior was observed after his coma. From a selfish and angry being, he became attentive and concerned. Why? We can make the same point about Olivia. What does she want from her son? What are his motivations? The mystery remains whole.
The secondary characters are equally incoherent. There is no explanation of the Order of the Dragon, their origins or simply their purpose. "Killing the enemies of God," their motto, doesn't make sense if they collaborate with Olivia. Why target Peter Rumancek when they know there is another danger? As for Clémentine Chasseur we still wonder why she arrived in this sect. Who is his brother? Is she aware of what is happening in the "White Tower"? Confusion reigns and answers are lacking.
Initially Hemlock Grove may have had some good ideas and themes to exploit. Special effects are rare but well done. Unfortunately the dialogues and the script do not follow. Wanting to be poetic and pictorial, the lines lead the viewer astray. The common thread is neglected. We no longer see the main plot of the story. We sometimes wonder if we missed an episode in the meantime. The lack of action makes the episodes very slow and almost boring. Far too many questions pile up and we no longer see the end of them. Maybe season 2 will reveal a little more the plot and answer our questions.
