Review of American Gothic

Introduction

I spent ages trying to think of the perfect way to introduce this series, but the synopsis above is as good as anything I could come up with. So if you want to know what this is about, look up. Be aware though that while it looks a bit like Twin Peaks stylistically, it`s nowhere near as weird as that series and a tad more evil.

As with Eerie, Indiana (reviewed else-where by the gallant Sue) this series never had the chance to venture past a single series. From all the accounts that I`ve seen, this is entirely the blame of the TV Networks who not only eventually made a major change in casting that changed the balance but also moved timeslots and showed episodes out of sequence. This is fine for a series that is clearly comprised of stand-alone episodes like Trek, TJ Hooker or The A-Team, but the death knell for a series like this where there is a steady arc for all characters across the episodes. I really despair how TV Executives earn their salary by treating any series like this, although it might be really amusing if something like this happened to Big Brother (imagine the uproar and confusion).

It`s bad enough that the original broadcasting run was so butchered but you would at least hope that things would be rectified by the time that a long overdue DVD release came about. Er…think again. In a bizarre move that belies belief, the series follows the original broadcast order so that an event happens in one episode that has you scratching your head and then you see the events that lead up to it a couple of episodes later. What is worse is that four episodes not originally broadcast (god knows why…) have been included but have been tacked onto the last disc in what just seems an afterthought. This is sloppy sloppy sloppy work (if I could get away with using that word more, I would).

If you want to see the original broadcast order, look here: http://www.scifi.com/americangothic/episodes.html

Video

Same problem plagues this release as just about every US TV series release. One minute the picture can almost be pinpoint sharp, the following very grainy. I still don`t know why that is, anyone have any ideas?

Audio

Dolby Stereo soundtrack that`s good enough for this, but a lack of subtitles anywhere is disgraceful.

Features

Commentary by Shaun Cassidy and David Eick - It`s an enthusiastic and quite fun commentary but not really helped by neither having seen the pilot on which they`re commentating (or the series for that matter) for about 10 years so not much insight provided by either.

Deleted scenes - a selection on each disc for most of the episodes. Most haven`t seen post-production so they`re quite raw but fill in some of the gaps, sometimes a little too much.

Also every disc features an add for Playback DVD`s. It`s the same ad each time. Why?

Conclusion

The 90`s really was a time for good paranormal TV series, well at least four that I like anyway; Eerie, Indiana (with it`s early evening air time), The X-Files, Dark Skies and American Gothic. The former was just weird and continually broke the fourth wall despite being allegedly for kids and the second and third more about conspiracy, aliens and monsters. American Gothic was about Evil. Yep, not just evil, but Evil with a capital E. This Evil manifested itself in the malevolent but charming presence of Sheriff Lucas Buck (played by Gary Cole in possibly his best role ever).

Lucas Buck is a cross between the devil and the shopkeeper in Stephen King`s Needful Things. He controls his town by making deals with people in return for a favour that may have to paid at some point in the future, although sometimes he not only turns people down if they are of no use but also double crosses them rather badly. Whilst the impression of Buck as some sort of Warlock/demon is implied throughout, you don`t actually get to see him doing anything too out of the ordinary until he summons Albert De Salvo (the Boston Strangler) in the very last episode (which is actually the third from last really). It also help that one natural feature of Gary Cole is that a V-type shape appears on his forehead when he looks angry. This really helps in believing that there is something otherwordly about Lucas Buck.

The main focus of this series though is not Lucas Buck, who is merely the protagonist, but Caleb Temple (played superbly by a young Lucas Black) who is actually Buck`s son after the former raped his mother prior to killing her. The series focuses on the struggle for Caleb`s soul and the direction of his future. In the red corner you have Buck and his lover, the seemingly prim schoolteacher Selena Coombs (Brenda Bakke) and in the blue corner Caleb`s cousin Gail (Paige Turco) and local doctor Matt (Jake Weber). Caught in the middle is Sheriff`s Deputy Ben Healy (Nick Searcy), who tries to do the right thing and has a conscience but stumbles more often than not in the face of his unstoppable boss. Also present to attempt to guide Caleb is his dead sister Merlyn (Sarah Paulson) who appears in the form of an angel.

Amazingly this series was written by Shaun Cassidy, the young fresh faced one in The Hardy Boys (remember that? I have to admit I preferred Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew…), who is currently behind the latest Channel 4 success Invasion. With Sam Raimi along as Executive Producer and a guest appearance by cult actor Bruce Campbell and you have a near recipe for success. It`s not enough without a good cast though, and luckily the core cast are all superb. This is spoiled a bit by the replacement of Jake Weber with the rather wooden John Mese, but then Mese kind of disappears into the background whilst the slightly prolonged exit of Weber allows him to stretch his acting muscles considerably.

This is a very dark series with the fight over a young boy at the centre of it, kind of Omen-ish but with hope as well. As the show was cancelled well before the end, Cassidy and Eick were able to plan where the series ended and so produce a fitting but open end to the saga. What is also interesting is the journey that the characters all go through during the course of 24 episodes. All change in some way, although the only one to be unaffected really is Deputy Ben who just seems to grow in stature, even eliciting a grudging admiration from Buck rather than just looking down on him. It would spoil it too much to divulge exactly where the other characters end up, but it`s interesting watching the events that ultimately influence where they finish.

Now as I was completely unaware of the wrong episode order on this release, I was probably about a third of the way through before I was aware that something was wrong. I decided to continue watching in the order on the discs as this is how the average viewer will watch it initially, unaware as I was that it`s not in the right order. If it wasn`t for the quality and sheer brilliance of this series I would mark it down for this appalling oversight, but Universal really need a slap for this regardless.

Now I`m going to watch it again, but the way it should be watched.

And remember: someone`s at the door…