Zoe Fortier
Zoe FortierWarning: This article contains mention of self-harm, and slight spoilers for Channel Zero.
Through the trajectory of watching and getting acquainted with “No-End House,” I nearly feel as though I’ve vacillated back and forth from week to week. Last week, my concerns about the apparent imbalance in the relationship between Jules and Margot took center stage.
While they haven’t entirely been allayed, I’m more convinced by them as of this week’s episode. As though the things I was meant to feel last week have caught up in time for more believable and engaging confrontation, then camaraderie, and the lingering shadow of guilt and things unsaid.
Indeed, “The Damage” lives up to its name, setting a darker tone that is tense, but more in the vein of drama than straightforward horror. It marries well with its interest in and focus on the aftermath of loss and trauma, and specifically its impact on the survivors left behind. For some, this might prove disappointing, as it ventures away from the punchy, urban legend stylings of the creepypasta of the same name that inspired this season.
From where I’m standing, though, it’s largely a worthwhile choice. It keeps the story grounded in the aspects that matter, the things that are real about it. This shift gives the horror, when it arises, the weight it ought to carry for its narrative purpose. The Father’s trail of terror starting to bleed into the real world is the vehicle for those real questions and concerns, more than it is the central crux of the season. It is a decision that, for the most part, pans out.
However, the show overall, at least between the first season and this second, still seems to have an issue when it comes to depicting some aspects of mental illness. Although “No-End House” takes less of a “shock horror” approach to self-harm than “Candle Cove” had done, it still felt more wielded for dramatic impact than to sensitively handle a complex issue. As much as it did tell us about Margot’s state of mind this episode, it still came over more jarring than effective. As usual, it should at least have led to a content warning at the beginning of the episode.
Elsewhere, though, the season continues to be well-shot and unsettlingly beautiful to look at. There is a strong and consistent relationship between the visual and film choices being made and the tonality of a given scene or episode. In a season that particularly depends so much on the creation of a cohesive, unnerving atmosphere to make its horror work, it’s pleasing to see that the crew responsible for these aspects have such a competent grasp on their subject matter.
For all that this episode strikes (for the most part) the right notes and does so confidently, though, there are still some fairly significant unaddressed concerns that I worry won’t have enough room to be resolved meaningfully. Chief among these is the creature-slash-vision that is still following Jules around. Given her current situation in the broader narrative, it nearly feels as though some Jules-centric scenes were cut with nothing much patched in to take their place.
“Candle Cove,” to be fair, seemed to have the same issue toward its climax, and did manage to resolve most of the important questions. This doesn’t immediately inspire confidence that the show can pull it off again, if they’ve run into the same problem two seasons in a row.
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Channel Zero
Pros
- Consistent narrative tone
- Well-lit and filmed
- More convincing character dynamics
Cons
- Unexpected fairly graphic self-harm
- May have opened too many storylines to satisfyingly resolve them all in the time that's left
