Warning: This article contains mentions of murder and death.

Weaving into Channel Zero‘s fourth episode necessitated answering some questions that root back to protagonist Mike Painter’s childhood. As the other side of the coin to episode 3 it spends time fleshing out (with questionable effectiveness) his adult relationships.

Still, I’m not sure the flashback-heavy approach to this fourth episode worked for me. To be sure, it’s difficult to successfully frame a story that is so steeped in memory and so bound in both past and present. Nonetheless, it felt a little heavy-handed here. Most of the flashbacks didn’t communicate much that hadn’t already been relayed in dialogue. While there’s perhaps benefit to confirming or clarifying the spoken statements of an unreliable narrator-as-protagonist, I’m not sure the balance came out right.

Speaking of balance, I wrote last week about hoping the show would work out some of the kinks with its time management. To put things simply, it seemingly hasn’t, and it was particularly to the show’s detriment in episode 4. Staying too long with a single shot can (and has) threaten to become boring, even frustrating. Here, though (without detailed spoilers) it can take a character’s death sequence from effectively unnerving to more pointedly cruel, and I don’t think it worked in the episode’s favor.

On the narrative front, I liked spending more time with Amy this episode. Especially since she’d previously lingered in the background, seemingly part of a show that didn’t entirely know how to make use of her character. I have to confess though, the framing of her revelation that advanced her investigation made me roll my eyes.

The double whammy of the trope of “sleeps with a man she’s never dated so you know she’s ~liberated and cool” and “has a breakthrough about her case after sex with a mediocre socially awkward white man” always feels a little cheap. When you have an ensemble cast, it can be fun to give each member a different subgenre to play in. If it was done well I think it’d sit in Channel Zero‘s favor. Indeed, Amy is clearly taking on the role of the film noir detective in a compelling way. Nonetheless, some subgenre tropes work better than others, and IMO this one could have been left alone.

Still, bringing Amy’s rational-thinker running headlong into the paranormal elements of the story made for some intriguing exchanges. I enjoyed watching Luisa D’Oliveira bounce off the “creepy kid” actors in the cast. Horror is as horror does though, and I’m wary of getting too fond of her lest she meet some genre-typical fate. I guess we’ll have to check in with her next time around.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Channel Zero

0.00

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Getting to know Amy better
• Some new and compelling cast combinations

Cons

• Some camera shots still linger too long
• Flashback sequences feel a little heavy-handed