As we creep stealthily into the third episode like a shadowy intruder crunching through the snow, there’s a few questions I have to ask about Netflix’s latest scary show, Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen. While the slow burn aspect has been used pretty well up until now, I have to wonder that, despite the talent involved on both sides of the camera, the premise of the show is enough to sustain eight whole episodes. I’ve had issues with the episode counts of Netflix shows before, often finding them a handful of installments too long which causes the story to stretch a bit too far beyond its means. With the previous two episodes already pushing the envelope in terms of maintaining sustained tension, it’s no surprise that episode 3 has shifted down a gear or two and asks a serious question. What could be more triggering that a stranger lurking inside your home?
Try sitting down with your in-laws for some family therapy – now that’s horror.
While normal is hardly a word we’d use to describe the bottled up demeanor of the the Cunningham clan, a sense of what you’d call normality has resumed after Rachel’s escalating paranoia was finally quashed after she discovered that the family of her future husband weren’t trying to kill her. No, rather than a plot to sacrifice her to God knows what, all the suspicious antic and whispering was because family matriarch, Victoria, is dying from a brain tumor and Cunninghams wanted to turn the wedding into a simultaneous farewell celebration.
While Rachel eats humble pie and has a cake made up to say sorry for accusing her future in-laws of being a sacrifice-happy cult (I don’t think Hallmark has a card for that one), she notices that her beau to be isn’t taking the news of his beloved mother’s mortality all that well. Offering to help sister Portia with the arranging, Rachel starts to notice that even though they’re emphatically not murders, they still are a weird, stand-offish, emotionally constipated bunch. Portia is making herself the centre of attention by obsessing the planning, Nell and Jules are busy verbally tearing strips off each other and Dr. Cunningham has locked himself downstairs with his taxidermy rather than spending time with his dying wife.
While others would let the family fester until something else blows, Rachel (who is studying behavioral psycholoy) takes it upon herself to call a family meeting to get this difficult family to open up about their feelings. Remarkably, the family go along with it, even warming up enough to the idea to write out personal farewells to read to the group. But while Rachel seems to be chipping away at the Cunninghams, there’s something else that proving to be a cause of alarm. Unbeknownst to everyone, someone is stalking the halls of the Cunningham’s summer home – is it some random weirdo, or are Jules’ childhoid stories of the serial killer known as the Sorry Man actually true?
After switching from surrealist nightmare fuel to satanic panic, we find that Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is switching things up in its third episode. Temporarily gone from the director’s chair is Baby Reindeer’s Weronika Tofilska who is replaced instead by Axelle Carolyn who has previously cut her teeth on other horror shows such as The Haunting Of Bly Manor, Creepshow and American Horror Story. Also changing slightly is the tone as, after two full episodes of butt tightening tension, the show allows itself to relax a bit and allow us to join Rachel as she starts to try and crack open the hard emotional shells of the Cunninghams in order to get to the unguarded versions that hopefully lurk inside. However, as I’ve just mention lurking, I suppose I’d better address what horror content “I Will Light You On Fire” actually has, and while it could be considered minimal compared to the knuckle-gnawing hoops it’s had us previously jumping through, the switch to more slasher orientated creeps makes sense.
While there’s still no body count as of yet, the strange figure we saw standing in the snow in the sting of the previous episode has found his way inside the Cunninghams maze-like summer home and seems to be able to pass unnoticed throughout the halls despite breathing like I’ve just had to run up three flights of stairs. This means we get POV shots a plenty that not only invoke comparisons to John Carpenter’s opening sequence to Halloween, but it also feels eerily reminiscent of the prowling, omnipresent steadycam from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. However, by the end of the episode, we find that the POV has taken to a more Blair Witch Project style as little Jude plays with a camcorder as he visits the areas of the house he’s not supposed to be in and gives us a grade-A jump scare while he’s at it. However, while this manages to still maintain the pulsing threat of unease that the show has made it’s mainstay, the real source of discomfort here is once again caused from the social anxiety of Rachel trying to win over those in-laws.
After purchasing an adorably awkward cake emblazoned with the legend: “Sorry I thought you were going to kill me”, Rachel embarks on a quest to win each family member over one at a time, which not only gives us yet more time with them, but gives us a real look at how much our nervous lead is willing to make this work. Yes, aside from the occasion bouts of wheezing POV, I Will Light You On Fire mostly changes tact to dilute the horror with yet more social anxiety and while those hungry for scares may be disgruntled that the near-constant tension his lessened, it’s still fun to see each of the Cunninghams react in a mixture of irritation and genuine fascination. Victoria almost seems amused at Rachel’s efforts, while Nicky can only focus on how angry he is that no one is convincing his mother out of her suicide. However, we get a further window into the complex coupling of Jules and Nell as their passive aggressive banter takes some strange turns when he dares her to hold his under the water while he takes a bath. Boris continues to be elbow deep in guts as he obsessively continues his passion of taxidermy – Portia, on the other hand, is still very much Portia.
It all cumulatives in Rachel managing to break them down enough to endure a family meeting where they read out their feelings to the group and there’s a fair amount of comedy to be drawn from an austere, emotionally constipated family being forced to confront their bottled-up feelings in full view of the group.
Those hoping that Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen was going to keep the fear levels at a consistent level may be disappointed that the pressure has been turned down to give all the players more room to breathe. However, scare junkies will be sated by an admittedly great jump scare near the end of the episode as a bug-eyed face looms out of the dark, caught in the glare of a camcorder light – but if something bad is truly going to happen, I guess it going to be sooner rather than later….
🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 