Warning: This article contains mentions of murder and death, and spoilers for Channel Zero.

One of Channel Zero’s greatest strengths is its visual attention to detail in both set-building and costume design. This has been true pretty much throughout, but it comes to a particular head in this fifth episode of the first season. Set designs are carefully crafted, building a strong sense of personality even from characters we don’t know very well.

Similarly, the use of costuming is very effectively nerve-racking, though some of the apparitions we’ve seen still don’t have a satisfactory explanation or identity. It is hard to imagine that all will be explained in the final 45 minutes of the season.

I’ve mentioned before that there seems to be a trade-off in some self-indulgent filming, with shots lingering or dragging out far longer than they need to. “Guest of Honor” brings with it lingering too long on the ripped shirt and visible bra strap of a face-down corpse in ways that feel exploitative rather than appropriately horrifying. Elsewhere, it lingers on a silent, stock-still character several beats too long, producing something that feels more like dead air rather than inspiring the kind of dread we’re clearly supposed to feel.

In short, being too in love with one’s own visuals at times turns the show’s sensibility sour. It turns the pace to something sludgy, rather than maintaining the kind of chilly tension that works very well for Channel Zero when it remembers how to use it.

One can assume, probably, that these are all first-season bumps and wrinkles that (I hope) will be ironed out with subsequent seasons and fresh material. Despite that, it’s a shame that such a promising idea at times feels weighed down by its own trappings. Dread and tension are what make the creepypasta that gives this season its name work, and a lot of that inevitably comes from a mastery of pacing that this TV adaptation hasn’t yet shown.

On the narrative side, it’s odd that it took until the fifth episode for local parents to actively start expressing worry about their kids not being where they’re supposed to be. This oddity stands in particularly sharp relief when we’ve already seen several sequences of reputedly “good kids” hanging out after school at their teacher’s house. In fact, that is something that’s passed pretty much entirely unremarked upon until now.

I’m happy to suspend disbelief pretty much as much is needed for these formats to work. However, it does make me question whether some scenes were cut that would help ground this aspect of the narrative.

Nonetheless, “Guest of Honor” largely makes for a very effective penultimate episode for the season. When it’s performing at its best, it’s tense, unsettling, and builds up the right landscapes for a promisingly chilly finale. The visual designs, sound effects, and soundtrack continue to impress, as does increasingly competent acting from our central cast. With some trimming back of unnecessarily lingering shots or unnecessarily slow panning across of the camera, Channel Zero could bring itself from good to truly great.

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Channel Zero

0.00

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Fascinating costume and creature design
• Builds the tension up effectively for the finale

Cons

• Pace of filming is still too slow at times
• Requires more suspension of disbelief than usual