I wasn't expecting an episode six time jump. It Killed the whole story for me because things just got really convoluted from there. I mean episodes one through six were a little bit loopy anyway with the red phone etc. But what I loved about the series was the endearing child actor who played Eli in his younger years and as soon as he was out of it, I got lost. Then episode seven we find Lyle's head in some sort of container? The climax seemed to mimic that of Harrison Ford in the fugitive, when he confronted his old medical pal, at a symposium.
The movie just went off the rails. First off, I couldn't understand why the mother was in prison in the first place. Why did they need her to be in prison for four years? I didn't quite understand that. Why not just abduct Lyle and leave the rest of the family alone or kill them all?
Plus every single adult in this show was trash. The way they treated children. I know it was the 80s but come on. The female journalist told Eli (when he was older) that she "likes to get to the bottom of things" then why didn't she do so when Eli was 13? And then Eli fell in love with her even though there would've at least been a 10 year age gap? He didn't seem interested in any other female in the whole movie but for some reason he kind of had eyes for the milf. Although none of the characters except for him physically aged in the story, so by episode seven, they looked all the same age anyway.
I just felt like everything didn't add up. I was Lost when I suddenly found Eli as a 17 or 18 year old.. And then we had the terminator druglord. Shot in the face, mowed down by a car and still kept going on his cycle. For a moment, I thought he might survive his skyscraper fall. Then we had the older brother who in a couple of episodes just couldn't talk and then suddenly he started talking and you had to wonder why the show portrayed him as a mute to begin with. You had Lyle as a major character, and then he was abducted, and there was some hope that you might see him again someday as part of the mystery of the series, but then he was just dead. Then there was Teddy who nurtured the relationship with the mother for four years while she was imprisoned and then in one odd explosive scene he beat the hell out of her and then that was over. And what about the girl with the muscle disorder who was supposed to die?
I don't know. It did not all add up.
I gave it a six because the character of Eli, when he was 13 was captivating. His journey and coming of age story was the hook. Once the story took that away, it was just all just about let's see how it ends attitude.
All in all started off as one movie, ended as another and I like the first episode the best they should've figured out a way to resolve the story while the kid was 13.
The movie just went off the rails. First off, I couldn't understand why the mother was in prison in the first place. Why did they need her to be in prison for four years? I didn't quite understand that. Why not just abduct Lyle and leave the rest of the family alone or kill them all?
Plus every single adult in this show was trash. The way they treated children. I know it was the 80s but come on. The female journalist told Eli (when he was older) that she "likes to get to the bottom of things" then why didn't she do so when Eli was 13? And then Eli fell in love with her even though there would've at least been a 10 year age gap? He didn't seem interested in any other female in the whole movie but for some reason he kind of had eyes for the milf. Although none of the characters except for him physically aged in the story, so by episode seven, they looked all the same age anyway.
I just felt like everything didn't add up. I was Lost when I suddenly found Eli as a 17 or 18 year old.. And then we had the terminator druglord. Shot in the face, mowed down by a car and still kept going on his cycle. For a moment, I thought he might survive his skyscraper fall. Then we had the older brother who in a couple of episodes just couldn't talk and then suddenly he started talking and you had to wonder why the show portrayed him as a mute to begin with. You had Lyle as a major character, and then he was abducted, and there was some hope that you might see him again someday as part of the mystery of the series, but then he was just dead. Then there was Teddy who nurtured the relationship with the mother for four years while she was imprisoned and then in one odd explosive scene he beat the hell out of her and then that was over. And what about the girl with the muscle disorder who was supposed to die?
I don't know. It did not all add up.
I gave it a six because the character of Eli, when he was 13 was captivating. His journey and coming of age story was the hook. Once the story took that away, it was just all just about let's see how it ends attitude.
All in all started off as one movie, ended as another and I like the first episode the best they should've figured out a way to resolve the story while the kid was 13.