The Terror - Season 2 Television Review

Since the early 2000s, I've become thoroughly sick and tired of ghost stories when it comes to horror. This may be slightly hypocritical as I'm currently in the process of writing my own, however I hold this contention more-so out of creativity concerns than an actual lack of interest in spirits. Since the concept of ghosts is so ambiguous, it grants the writer a lot of freedom to work with, however this freedom can be unwieldy at times as it requires the writer to establish rules to make things work. Without these rules, ghosts can quickly become all-knowing, omnipotent beings that operate at the needs of the plot like in Unfriended or The Dark and the Wicked. When these established rules are used well, we get fantastic stories like The Exorcist (although that particular story featured a demon, but the concept remains). Unfortunately, this season is more like the former than the latter.

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Where to Find It: This is available for streaming on Hulu, however it is also available for rent/purchase each for season/episode on Amazon Video.

General Information 
Season two of The Terror (also known as "The Terror: Infamy") was originally released on AMC on 12 August 2019. It was co-written by Max Borenstein, Alexander Woo, Steven Hanna, and Naomi Iizuki with many of the same producers as last season's. An interesting element of the crew behind this season is that multiple members of this season acted as technical advisors on the Japanese internment camp elements of the show based on first-hand and second-hand experience (with actor, George Takei, being the most famous advisor). This season has a 78 Metascore on Metacritic and an 81% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I find it interesting that this season somehow has a higher (albeit by only 2 points) rating than season one, although I will note that season one has more reviews than this one does. As of 16 January 2020, executives at AMC have discussed a third season to the series with one of the series' production companies, Scott Free.

The Story

Chester Nakayama (played by Derek Mio) is a second generation Japanese immigrant that has returned home after college to his immigrant parents in the small fishing village on Terminal Island, California. Tensions flare when Chester discovers his girlfriend, Luz (Cristina Rodlo), is pregnant and a woman dies under mysterious circumstances. Something evil is lurking among the immigrants, but before anyone can figure out what it is, Pearl Harbor is bombed and everyone is swept up into internment camps. Chester will not only have to survive World War Two, but he'll also have to contend with this malignant force that's hiding in the camp with the other prisoners.

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Imagine being trapped in an internment camp with this

One of the major issues that the story of this season runs into is that it doesn't know what kind of story it wants to tell. Much of the focus is on the mysterious spirit haunting Chester and the other Japanese people, however a sizable portion is dedicated to the Japanese experience both during and after the war. It's during the scenes of the latter that this show shines brightest as we see American citizens become subjected to increasingly inhumane treatment out of fears of espionage and sabotage. This aspect of the plot doesn't just capture ideas behind civil rights, but also concepts like patriotism and nationalism. It's almost a shame that this incredible story is frequently interrupted with a fairly generic ghost tale that becomes increasingly convoluted.

The story surrounding Chester, Luz, and the spirit encapsulates nearly everything wrong with modern-day ghost stories. By the end of the season, the viewer has been inundated with information about the ghost that robs it of any of its original mystery and danger. Critical plot points are seemingly ignored or glossed over in favor of flashy scares that became eye-rollingly obnoxious over time. In one scene, we see an important character dodge rifle bullets and leap into a river (while their hands are bound) only for them to appear in another state in the next scene with a simple line of exposition to wave away the ramifications of such an act. Another scene provides us with a crawling, rotting corpse that is never addressed and seems to only exist to look cool.

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The segments in North Dakota and Guadalcanal are when the season is at its best

Special Effects/Atmosphere
Like its first season, the set-design and special effects continue to impress as we see a range of locales that include an Army camp in Guadalcanal, Japanese internment camps, and even underground bunkers complete with winding corridors. While season one's Tuunbaq looked a bit limited, this season doesn't have to contend with the previous season's CGI demands as much since the "monster" can be portrayed with much more practical effects. There's a scene or two of pretty horrifying body-horror that really freaked me out and I can't recall any scenes that felt unrealistic or over-the-top.

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The cinematography continues to shine in this series

 

Although there's a lot of stylistic issues in this, I'm happy to say that the cinematography remains fairly good. The opening shot of a Japanese woman committing suicide on a dock is excellently shot and a particular dream-like sequence with George Takei's character that was really cool to see. The final episode is particularly good in regards to camerawork and I almost recommend just watching that and ignoring the rest of the season.

The Acting

I haven't seen Derek Mio or Cristinia Rodlo in anything previous to this show, so I found it strange that so much of the show's weight falls on their shoulders in regards to acting. I never found Mio all that compelling, although I would stop short of saying he gave a poor performance. Rodlo does slightly better, but there's a good chunk of clunky dialogue that weighs the two down that I imagine puts them in a similar situation as Star Wars' Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman. There aren't any "I don't like sand" moments in this, however we do get a particularly awkward scene where Mio's character describes his relationship with Luz to his mother that made me cringe.

I may not have been particularly fond of the supernatural story told, however I will give the nod to Kiki Sukezane who turns in a pretty awesome performance as the evil spirit, Yuko. I can't completely speak to her line delivery as I don't understand Japanese, however I felt she was able to convey the malevolent nature of Yuko perfectly. Everything from her subtle tone to her twitchy body language creeped me out, and I rarely focused on anyone else when she shared the screen with another character. It's unfortunate that her character wasn't written all that well, as I think viewers would be in for a real treat if she'd been able to work with a solid script.

Despite most of the show's focus being on Mio, Rodlo, and Sukezane, the older actors and actresses are where the heart of this show is. Part of this potentially comes from the fact that some of them actually recall the experiences of the Japanese internment camps. I've personally never found George Takei to be all that interesting of an actor as his only major claim to fame was Star Trek, however he really hits a home run in this as his scenes are easily the best of the entire season (especially the final few scenes he appears in). Shingo Usami, who plays Chester's father, was probably my favorite performer in this season and I can't help but wish that the show had focused on him instead of Mio. Not many shows typically feature older protagonists, but viewers get a full range with Usami and he does a great job making the clunky script believable.

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Shingo Usami defies the script's terrible writing and turns in an excellent performance as the true hero of this story

The Best of the Best: When old man, Yamato, meets his long-lost friend from Hiroshima.

The Worst of the Worst: The poorly executed main story.

Calhooey Score: 4/10 - Below Average

Would I Recommend?

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Patch yourself up and get back to me with season three

There's a great deal of potential scattered throughout season two, but it sadly squanders nearly all of the goodwill that the first one earned. The muddled plot, unlikable main characters, and awkward dialogue makes the show just tolerable enough to power through to the end, which is a shame as it's clear there was a lot of heart and effort put into this. Those that liked the first season will likely be disappointed with this one, however I'm hopeful that AMC gives this series another shot as I think they could have something special with a bit more work. As it stands right now, I would probably only recommend the final episode to viewers.

Spoiler Comments

• Some say Nick Okada is still standing out there on the ice in North Dakota...
  
• With the exception of my time playing Phasmophobia, I have never heard of Yurei being seen in the mainstream. I wouldn't mind seeing more stories about lesser-popular supernatural creatures.
  
• I guess the U.S. Army had nothing to say about Chester being held at gunpoint by another soldier while in Guadalcanal.
• Nor did they seem to have anything to discuss about the rotting corpse that crawled out of a duffel bag to get at him after the crash.
• What did Luz's father do to Yuko to deserve such a horrible death? I thought she only harmed people that angered her.
• If Yuko possessed Chester's unborn child, why was the priest still acting like he was possessed when they confronted him in the farmhouse?
  
• Major Bowen must be really hated by his men. He somehow runs the entire camp, but nobody even bothers to look for him when he goes missing...
• Also, it's pretty impressive how Amy was able to not only slip out of her bindings but also hit an active duty Army major to the ground with a single strike from a wooden chair. It's even more impressive that she had the strength to pin him down and drown him. I legitimately thought Amy had been possessed by Yuko during that scene because of how absurd it was.
  
• I guess Jirou's soul is just forever trapped in that weird limbo-world.
• Seeing the physical response of Yamato when the Americans celebrated nuking Japan was really sad. It made me think a lot.
  

References

(1) Musnicky, S. (2020, June 29). The Terror season two cover image. Nightmarish Conjurings. Retrieved from: https://www.nightmarishconjurings.com/2020/06/29/news-the-terror-infamy-the-complete-second-season-arrives-on-blu-ray-dvd-august-18/.

(2) Kuwentista. (n.d.). Yurei gif. Tumblr. Retrieved from: https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/the+terror+infamy+gifs?sort=top.

(3) Shields, M. (2019, August 21). North Dakota scene image. Film School Rejects. Retrieved from: https://filmschoolrejects.com/terror-infamy-interview/.

(4) Evangelista, C. (2019, October 15). Afterlife opening image. /Film. Retrieved from: https://www.slashfilm.com/569762/the-terror-infamy-into-the-afterlife/.

(5) Into the Afterlife. (2019). Shingo Usami image. IMDB. Retrieved from: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt8596574/mediaviewer/rm347377153/.

(6) Theterroramc. (n.d.). Yurei sewing gif. Tumblr. Retrieved from: https://theterroramc.tumblr.com/post/186963197949.