Warning: This article contains mentions of transphobia, racism, and slight spoilers for Channel Zero.

Last week, I wrote about my cautious, intrigued optimism for the second half of “No End House.” Because of that, it is disappointing and frustrating to say that I might have spoken a little too soon. On the whole, “The Exit” makes excellent use of the bold and novel visual stylings and great capacity to wield both noise and silence effectively, however, these strengths are variously undercut over the course of this fourth episode, to puzzling detriment.

Equally, there are some more violent sequences that might appeal to gorehounds. Despite that appeal to some, their narrative impact feels undercut by the inclusion of clunky expository tools, particularly through Seth and Dylan’s slightly heavy-handed dialogue. The show is still trying to tell us the rules by which it’s playing this late into the season. At the same time, it continues to leave some perhaps more pressing questions unanswered.

All told, these writing choices leave some of “The Exit”‘s tone feeling dry, bleak, and aimless, rather than effectively scary. What is worse, is that this tone is at a juncture that should have been able to set the vibe for the latter half of the season.

It’s unfortunate because the questions this episode tries to pose (yet misses the mark on) are interesting ones. Continuing to grapple with memory, identity, and how one defines the self are prime territory for this kind of philosophically-inflected horror. Because of that, I find myself variously bemused and disappointed that this episode didn’t seem able to capitalize on its own most promising elements outside of set dressing.

On the note of set dressing, there was one moment that clanged particularly hard this episode. A moment that may have soured me more than I was expecting on the remainder of the season. It’s clear that real attention, craft, and love has gone into a lot of the set pieces. That same love went into creature designs, lighting, and so on, in a very successful way. It threw me hard out of an already troubled experience this episode, to be abruptly confronted with what ultimately felt like a tacky afterthought in the form of a cheap-looking, rather unavoidably insulting “crazy man in a dress” scare. What is worse, is that it then goes unexplained and unremarked for the rest of the episode.

The core thread of this episode’s narrative goal, to bind together the friendship between Jules and Margot and make it clear that this is the platform off which their survival must vault, emerges a mite too late in the episode to achieve its full impact. Equally, while it’s not new information that Margot is the fulcrum around which the story pivots; it’s frustrating that Jules’ own motivations and interests seem undercooked. Many questions about her remain puzzlingly unanswered.

It makes the pivotal scenes about their friendship and their support of each other this episode, instead seem more like Jules is the underdeveloped Black sidekick to the white lead. These are scenes that are meant to be uplifting. To have that tonal shift is never really a good look even with the best of intentions.

With each of these issues added together, “The Exit” felt like a disappointing example of style-over-substance, to the detriment of its own ominous closing note. Where I should be anxious about what comes next I just feel a little drained and confused. While I’m far enough in now to finish the season, I’m struggling to find the intrigue or the motivation I think the text has tried to provoke.

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Channel Zero

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Great use of sound and silence
• Cool visuals

Cons

• Stumbles into a transphobic trope
• Clunky expository tools
• Tone more bleak than scary