This vague tale of revenge, and paying for one's sin, is muddied by the fact that it doesn't make much sense. For starters, why is Annie the target of the Trumpeter? Granted, she looked the other way or so we're to believe. But her crime seems less than Joe. So the woman gets punished for looking the other way, but Joe himself doesn't get punished that we see, for the act itself. You've come a long way, baby!
We don't even see Joe get punished for his crime. Which is more psychological than willful. Maybe that's the point: he's driven by mental sickness, while Annie deliberately blinded herself to the truth. I wish that writer Mary Laws had made it a bit clearer if that's where she was going. I don't mind the story not being wrapped up in a bow, and it being left for me the viewer to piece together the story. But there's a point where a story is left unexplained to let the viewer come to their conclusions, or the writer just can't come up with a decent ending themselves. So far in this and the preceding two episodes, 'Monsterland' seems more like the latter than the former.
I don't get the appearance of Toni from "Fort Portchon". Yes, she's a continuing character. But her presence doesn't make any sense, and the fact that Nancy overhears Toni's real name at the restaurant where Toni works doesn't make any sense given what we were told in the first episode. How does the manager know Toni's real name, when Toni has taken on the identity of Jennifer?
Overall, I don't mind 'Monsterland' presenting metaphors. But there's a difference between metaphors, and coherent storytelling. So far, it seems like the production staff is falling back on "metaphors" for why they can't write decent endings to stories. Like the Trumpeter. He almost makes sense as a metaphor for Annie's guilt. But why does he take the form of the Trumpeter? There was nothing specific about him on the day of the festival. And one of the trumpet players in the parade is wearing a hat at the end saying "The Devils Horns". Okay, that's a metaphor, but it doesn't line up with the rest of the story. Is the parade damned souls like Annie, although what she did doesn't seem that damnable. But then is the Trumpeter a demon, or Annie's guilty conscience taking the form of the monster George described, or what?
That's what I mean. If the Trumpeter and the parade band are metaphors, they don't line up. The former is apparently Annie's guilty conscience, and the latter are from Hell. Guilty conscience, or demonic band? The latter makes more sense given the New Orleans setting. The supernatural, and a Hell band, make a little more sense in context. But then why the Trumpeter?
Supposedly this episode and the preceding ones are an examination of poverty and how society is the monster. But the punishments keep getting worse. Toni gets to abandon her daughter and have a new life. Nick kills his mother. the black woman, Annie... deafens herself and still joins the Hell Band for her "sin" of not molesting her son, but ignoring what happened because she wanted to give him a life. Okay, not something that will win her "Mother of the Year". But it doesn't deserve going to Hell, as it is implied happens to her at the end, with the "Devils Horns" and all.
Joe has an expensive lawyer, Kate, and may get off scott free. Annie turned a blind eye (and a deaf ear: okay, that's a metaphor) to George so he could have a decent life. So the literally poor black woman lives to Hell, and the rich privileged white dude gets away with it. Way to go, production staff!
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
We don't even see Joe get punished for his crime. Which is more psychological than willful. Maybe that's the point: he's driven by mental sickness, while Annie deliberately blinded herself to the truth. I wish that writer Mary Laws had made it a bit clearer if that's where she was going. I don't mind the story not being wrapped up in a bow, and it being left for me the viewer to piece together the story. But there's a point where a story is left unexplained to let the viewer come to their conclusions, or the writer just can't come up with a decent ending themselves. So far in this and the preceding two episodes, 'Monsterland' seems more like the latter than the former.
I don't get the appearance of Toni from "Fort Portchon". Yes, she's a continuing character. But her presence doesn't make any sense, and the fact that Nancy overhears Toni's real name at the restaurant where Toni works doesn't make any sense given what we were told in the first episode. How does the manager know Toni's real name, when Toni has taken on the identity of Jennifer?
Overall, I don't mind 'Monsterland' presenting metaphors. But there's a difference between metaphors, and coherent storytelling. So far, it seems like the production staff is falling back on "metaphors" for why they can't write decent endings to stories. Like the Trumpeter. He almost makes sense as a metaphor for Annie's guilt. But why does he take the form of the Trumpeter? There was nothing specific about him on the day of the festival. And one of the trumpet players in the parade is wearing a hat at the end saying "The Devils Horns". Okay, that's a metaphor, but it doesn't line up with the rest of the story. Is the parade damned souls like Annie, although what she did doesn't seem that damnable. But then is the Trumpeter a demon, or Annie's guilty conscience taking the form of the monster George described, or what?
That's what I mean. If the Trumpeter and the parade band are metaphors, they don't line up. The former is apparently Annie's guilty conscience, and the latter are from Hell. Guilty conscience, or demonic band? The latter makes more sense given the New Orleans setting. The supernatural, and a Hell band, make a little more sense in context. But then why the Trumpeter?
Supposedly this episode and the preceding ones are an examination of poverty and how society is the monster. But the punishments keep getting worse. Toni gets to abandon her daughter and have a new life. Nick kills his mother. the black woman, Annie... deafens herself and still joins the Hell Band for her "sin" of not molesting her son, but ignoring what happened because she wanted to give him a life. Okay, not something that will win her "Mother of the Year". But it doesn't deserve going to Hell, as it is implied happens to her at the end, with the "Devils Horns" and all.
Joe has an expensive lawyer, Kate, and may get off scott free. Annie turned a blind eye (and a deaf ear: okay, that's a metaphor) to George so he could have a decent life. So the literally poor black woman lives to Hell, and the rich privileged white dude gets away with it. Way to go, production staff!
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?