Harper's Island

I love the concept of this show, and I hope it lives up to it. The idea of one cast member getting killed off every week is pretty ingenious, and the fact that Jeffrey Bell of Angel fame is behind it gives me hope.

The fact that it's just one season is the main hook for me...too many shows nowadays just spiral off into a million directions, this one wont have time for all that...the writers will have to stick to the main storyline. And i'm all for shows with lots of built in tension, and the death every week thing pretty much guarantees that.

Jeffrey Bell gives me hope for this, looks like fun

I just hope that in the trailer they don't have some supposedly creepy kid singing some supposedly creepy song that contains lyrics that somehow reflect the premise of the show. And she's absentmindedly playing with dolls or something while she sings it. Like in a darkened room or whatever. Otherwise, sign me up.

Hot damn, like the concept. I'm all for killing off main cast members, so I'm definitely intrigued by this one.

For Supernatural fans, two of the stars are Katie Cassidy (the original Ruby) and Jim Beaver (Bobby).

And on the off chance anyone watches or watched ugly betty (i have a girlfriend so i've been privy to an episode or two while trying to jump inside of laptop)...the main guy on the show was on there..

There's some buzz around work about it, maybe i'll give it a chance, esp since it is on CBS.

Just didn't work for me. At all.

Too loosely plotted to be a true Agatha Christie type story. No real suspense for a true slasher movie, they shot their wads on jump scares early. I'm surprised a cat hasn't jumped out of nowhere yet. It looks like they're shooting for Twin Peaks atmosphere, without David Lynch's chops. Just too derivative.

And, the acting is across the board subpar. Heck, I'd like to root for the killer because almost all these characters annoy me. Too bad I can't because of this whole mystery thing.

A whole bunch of actresses need to eat a sandwich or two in this as well.

I preferred the propeller kill myself.

I am betting that they'll make Abby-The Good Girl Narrator the mastermind in the end. That kind of twist is kinda typical these days.

Assuming the show doesn't cheat with retarded contrivances, I think we can exonerate Henry, Trish, and Abby. All three we're accounted for in locations away from the crime scene either immediately before or after Uncle Marty's murder (Henry and Trish were in their hotel room, in bed and the shower respectively, immediately before the murder, and Abby arrives in her hotel room immediately after the murder far too gore-free for someone who possibly just cut a man in half suspended above her.)

Wikipedia has the cast of characters, and a Death Chart, that list the official suspects and potential victims.

Out of those remaining besides Henry, Trish, and Abby, I think we can also exonerate Madison. Again, assuming no ridiculous contrivances, I don't see how a little girl could strap a grown man to the underside of a boat, or cut another gorwn man in half.

Caught this via On Demand. Like every other Craig R Baxley project since Action Jackson, it's shitty but I quite enjoyed it. I hope Burgi sticks around for at least a couple of episodes.

I really hope they just go the Scream route and have more than one killer.

I liked it, but its way too early to make guesses. We dont even know half the characters stories.

I hope neaux is right, and that the overly expository nature of the episode was just because of the big and complicated list of characters, and only a one time thing.... but I fear jstraw is right, cause i dont feel like I know most of those peoples tories... And that episode was pretty boring... A whole bunch more with so many characters and plot threads will be too much for me.

I think the real problem is its too long a format for horror mystery-- one kill per episode means the other 40 minutes are filler-- poorly written characters being moved around like chess pieces solely to exonerate and implicate ... i.e. with a cast this big (and assuming its not rife with plot holes), everything has to run like clockwork in order to implicate and exonerate the right people, and the writers probably aren't asking "how would the character react in this situation?", but rather, "how do we get them from a to b?"

I watched this today. It's an interesting experiment, and I'm curious to see what they're able to do with it. The filling of time is a potential problem, as the cast dwindles, but presumably that was one of the first conversations the writers had.

Something that would make this really work is if they start killing off supposed main characters early. If the groom or the presumed hero girl bites it in the next couple of episodes, I'll be very impressed. But more likely, it'll be superfluous side characters, created to be murdered early. Seeya, bitchy bridesmaids, fat best friend, and Burgi wife.

Speaking of Burgi, I imagine he's gonna stick around to be an obvious red herring for a while. And then get a particularly horrific offing. They did a pretty decent job with those, by the way.

Dude, they killed off Harry Hamlin, one of the senior actors and main cast members in the first episode. From that moment on I was sold on this being some goofy fun.

I thought it was a lot of dumb fun. THEY CUT A GUY IN HALF ON PRIMETIME NETWORK TELEVISION. I am going to be quite interested in seeing how they essentially stretch "I know what you did last summer" into 13 hours. Looking forward to tonight's ep.

Main girl disarmingly hot. Hamlin dislegingly not. Brit guy from Epic Movie is in it. Impossible to not watch - even with horrible script - because the surrounding woods are booby-trapped! They beheaded a priest and made it look G-rated. It's like if they made I Still Know What You Did Last Summer into a TV show. Who did it??? No matter who, it'll be the worst choice.

Ugh, and the last goddamn thing I need is a new completely stupid show to watch. Now, I'm in for at least the rest of the month.

How was last night's episode? (I get it here in Asia 2 days after you)

Just saw the promo for next week and I think I am definitely going to enjoy this series. It's got all those I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER cliches in it. Only expanded to 13 episodes.

The killings are pretty graphic as well (In relation to Network TV).

It's not great, but if you enjoyed the first enough to watch again, you'll like this one as well. My favorite character is the complete asshole guy who starts bar fight, kills deer, and makes fun of people for having dead Moms. I think every single line he said last night was written to show he's a prick.

Such a great looking island they found for the show's location. Awesome in HD.

Ok, what is it with the erie kid. This isn't a supernatural show.

Also I'm a little unclear on how the boat propeller cut that guys neck in half (from the way he was positioned it should of cut his head to ribbons).

I hoping at some point the cast get to figure out that there are murders going on. So far only one body been discovered and it could be generally seen as a suicide if we the audience didn't know better.

Otherwise, yep I'm hooked on the show, even though I am expecting it to be one of those murder with a lot of plot holes deal now.

I also don't know who it could be because anyone I suspect actually has motive (general rule of murder misteries, the person with the known motive didn't do it). Honestly some smart ass should write a murder mistery that ends with "of course it Bob, we know he hated Sam, said he would kill him the night before. We found him with the weapon and he was alone with the victim for 2 hours. Hell, its just sad that it took a whole 6 hours to prove it was him".

The coming soon trailers indicate most of the series will involve the cast aware of the murders. What is it? Thirteen episodes? Gotta pace themselves with the mayhem.

As for the scary girl, I fully expect a lot of ghost story mumbo jumbo red herring stuff for the next couple weeks or so. Ultimately, it seems pretty clear they're going for Agatha Christie with more slashing, which undermines the supernatural aspect handily. It's kind of like in What Lies Beneath, which wasted about an hour on trying to make you think the neighbours were important when the damn trailer told us the ghost was a girl Harrison Ford used to fuck. But that's the genre, I suppose.

You know, I liked it. Sure it's incredibly hokey, but it's fun.

I thought the characters worked better in episode 2 than they did is the exposition heavy first episode. I also like that they're getting inventive with the kills.

I hate the creepy girl though. Everyone knows it's a cop-out and they've gone over the top in trying to make her 'creepy'. Here's hoping she's one of the victims (And if the show pulls that off then I won't say a bad word about it ever again).

Just watched last week's episode. Again, assuming no ridiculous contrivances, characters exonerated in this episode are:

Cal, Chloe, Sully, and Malcolm, all of whom, along with Abby (thus solidifying her exoneration from the previous episode), were preoccupied with upside-down Cal while Lucy was being set on fire. (Although I'm willing to leave the door open for Sully and Malcolm, as I'm not sure if one of them couldn't have slipped away.)

Nikki and Sheriff Mills (and he was actually my early front-runner!), both of whom were at Kelly's house while Lucy was being set on fire.

I'm just really hoping it doesn't turn out to be more than one killer. Not only would it be stupid, but it would render this exercise that much more pointless.

Hunter Jennings was a hero.

R.I.P.

Kind of a slow episode, esp with 3 people biting the dust last week.

It's pretty obvious that the killer will either be the groom, bride or brides father.

No-one has noticed that all the other people are dead? There's bodies out there right?

I dont know how the Sheriff can be the killer or anyone else that lives on the Island, since the first guy died off island.

Although, the chicken feather thing was pretty funny.

I'm not ruling anybody out as the killer, even if they're obviously in a different place than the murders. Physical impossiblity is just the sort of thing this show would try to fool you with.

Shittiest kill yet, by far, but the show was still just as fun. This is turning out to be a solid guilty pleasure!

I think we were meant to assume the money and the gun were payment for something else, but I'm just making an ass out of u and me there. That's what I got from it anyway.

I think it was to make him look like a drug dealer, according to the preview for next week.

I think the groom is behind it. But who knows? Maybe not. Maybe is the MAID OF HONOR!

One booby-trap death, so no one was exonerated in the third episode. Here's a recap of characters exonerated so far:
Henry
Trish
Abby
Madison
Cal
Chloe
Sully (not definite)
Malcolm (not definite)
Nikki
Sheriff Mills

The bride and groom were exonerated in the first episode. They were in their hotel room together when Uncle Marty was killed. The father of the bride (Thomas Wellington) is certainly still a viable suspect, but seems a little obvious to be the killer. The bridesmaid (Shea) is also still a viable suspect.

It has to be assumed that the killer is disposing of and/or hiding the bodies. The show has done a fairly good job of providing explanations for missing characters so far (although no one seems to give a shit that Cousin Ben never showed up), but they really dropped the ball with Lucy. She was a bridesmaid and has been missing for a full day, and no one seemed to notice.

Well, they do have boats. If anything, the killer's knowledge of the island seems to suggest he/she is an islander.

Fuck this show and everyone involved with it if they pull some kind of bullshit like this. I'm hoping they stay true to the spirit of the Agatha Christie mysteries they're trying to emulate, and don't resort to cheap Hollywood gimmicks.

I'm fairly certain that was the satchel of cash Uncle Marty had with him in the first episode. Why it was on the boat isn't exactly clear.


Edit: It occurs to me that Hunter's death may not have been part of the "official" murders. At least three people on that island wanted to get rid of him, and a booby-trap doesn't quite fit the murderer's MO.

Ok, first off I'm pretty certain the satchel was the one Uncle Marty did have.

As far as the murder's MO, I think a booby trap death is defently part of it.

I mean one was killed when he stepped in a rope trap, another died after falling into a covered pit.

Now this is the first instant booby trap death, but its not like the killer really went far from left field.

Also considering in the one scene the father in law apparently moved at the speed of light to go from the party to the dock, no one is exnorated (ok it was probably just a weird transistion, but damm he got out of that party to the dock quickly).

Granted. All I'm saying is that it was the first time the murder wasn't "hands on". I'm fairly certain it was an "official" murder. I'm just keeping my antenna up for red herrings.

It's all in the editing. Most of the other scenes establishing certain people were not near the crime scene involved cross-cutting between locations communicating to the audience that the action was taking place simultaneously. With the set up for Hunter's death, it took us from the party to the dock with no definite passage of time indicated. It could have been five, ten, or twenty minutes later.

I don't think it's Richard. It all seems too "Hands On" for him. He's the type who would get someone else to do it.

And, Lord help me, I'm quite liking a few of the characters. Well done to Henry for actually investigating Hunter rather than moping around. I wonder just how far they're going to go with killing off the characters. Are we going to see the Bride dead? Or Henry and JD? Hopefully that little girl.

If there's more than maybe two people standing at the end, I'll be disappointed.

Now moved to Saturday nights. Well done CBS.

Wow, what a craptastic episode. How do you have an episode of a limited-run murder mystery without a fucking murder? I don't know what the killer's motive or endgame is, but I'm sure s/he is aware the victim pool is leaving the island shortly. Seems odd to take a day off. And the death and near-murder we do get are amazingly retarded. (I'm not sure if Trish was completely hammered or is just too fucking stupid to not drown when someone puts a thin sheet of plastic on top of her when she's in a swimming pool, but I really wanted her to die as a function of basic Darwinism.)

And as retarded as dying by accidently shooting yourself in the leg is, I'm not entirely convinced Booth is dead. It's possible he faked his death, and is therefore the murderer. Of course, if the only person who actually knows/thinks he's dead is Malcolm, there's not really much point to it.

Along those same lines, I think Uncle Marty might still be in play (which would be complete bullshit, considering that if his murder was a fake it was for no one's benefit but the audience's), because his back story seems like it's going to be relevant.

And all these new twists and developments are kind of pointless as they have nothing to do with the murders. No one started killing people over money they wouldn't find until days later, and Richard would have no reason to kill any of the victims because Trish was about to discover his infidelity. I suppose it ratchets up the drama and tension in the short term (and might possibly lead to some "red herring" murders), but I feel like once they figure out a psychopath is stalking and killing them one by one, they're not going to be too worried about who's sleeping with who, or where that money is hidden.

This is an issue the show needs to start addressing in a big fucking hurry. Still no one has mentioned the fact that one of the bridesmaids is missing. Lucy's name was even on that bachelorette party guest list that Shea gave the psychic at the beginning of the episode, but no one seemed to care that she never showed up.

On top of that, you'd think several weeks had passed as opposed to a single day since the last episode (when Kelly's death was established as a suspected murder and Shane got arrested for trying to kill J.D.) the way everyone seems completely unfazed by these very bizarre events. Now that another member of the bridal party has gone missing, they need to have the characters acknowledge all of this crazy shit that's been happening.

Actually, those swimming pool covers are EXTREMELY dangerous. We had an indoor pool once and the safety manual was like War and Peace. Once you get trapped under one you're totally fucked.

Though if you're saying she was retarded for not just swimming to the other end of the pool that wasn't covered yet, I'd agree. Unless it was completely covered and we didn't see the cover coming back after she'd gone unconscious and that dude saved her.

Anywho, agreed on the other points. The wedding party needs to wise the fuck up, pronto,

TCD, let's not pretend this is a good show. For me, it's impossible to be disappointed by it. That said, this episode was pretty much a bore. The characters all seem like they are on different shows. Pretty much the only thing that is interesting about any of them is when and how they will be offed.

Uncle Marty isn't in play because A) He was in half and B) Hamlin was the (highlight for olden spoilers) killer in the first season of Veronica Mars.

Anyway, glad chubs found the seed money for his microbrew company. How exciting.

Brit kid is still my favorite. Abby still hotttt.

Agreed about Abby. But her actions last episode just didn't make any kind of sense.

Abby already has a more than suspicion that theres a killer on the island. Why is she laughing and joking as if nothing happened? Also what about Shane and JD? Shane is pretty well known around the Island. Why wasn't his arrest even mentioned? Not to mention JD being run over and being trussed up like a turkey for stuffing.

Weird.

i'm watching this show but i can't keep track of the character's names. There's to many to keep track of. I'll also agree about the fact that no one is concerned about the people that have thus far gone missing. The bridesmaid with the pooch that got roasted is by far the biggest WTF. Why is no even asking where where is, ditto for Uncle HArry who appeared to be pretty close to the groom but who hasn't mentioned him since ep.1.

Well, the killer (presumably) texted the groom from Hamlin's cell, explaining that he met a girl and would be back for the wedding.

Yeah, I really don't know anyone's name on this show. A combination of too many and don't care. I know British guy, blonde girl, fat guy, blonde guy, bride, nice townie, asshole townie, goth guy, sheriff, and Burgi. I don't care why no one's asking where the victims are either. I have enjoyed the "ghost" stuff quite a bit, though. The spirits told that girl she wasn't going to be a bridesmaid. What's that mean!?

On the plus side about this last episode, they're setting Fatty up for a unusually grisly end, which I would like.