Lower Decks

I’ve been excited about Harper’s Island since the moment I first heard about it. A murder mystery set on an island with a disturbing past? Sounds brilliant. After watching the latest episodes at CBS.com I’m now up to date and can say with some authority that Harper’s Island isn’t brilliant. I can’t stress that enough. The plot has holes large enough for a ditzy blonde to fall into and be lit on fire.

Still, the show is surprisingly entertaining if watching ditzy blondes fall into holes and be lit on fire is your kind of thing. Here’s a trailer courtesy of CBS.com:

The reason there wasn’t an open discussion for the latest episode, “Thwack,” is because I didn’t think CBS aired an episode this past weekend. It turns out I was off by a week. This coming Saturday, May 16th, Harper’s Island is being pre-empted in favor of a repeat of The Mentalist. But the following week, on May 23rd, it will be back with its sixth episode. If the ending of “Thwack” was any indication the show is going to be getting good and gory.

One of the complaints I’ve raised about the show thus far is that there are too many characters and many of them look the same. Especially the blonde bridesmaids, one of whom fell into a hole and was lit on fire. And nobody noticed. Other characters have been cut in half, decapitated, shot in the face, sliced apart by the propellers of a boat. Oh, and that one guy shot himself in the leg and bled to death. And presumably, Thomas Wellington (the bride’s father) had some sort of sharp metal thing fall on his head during the rehearsal ceremony. Ouch.

I’ll admit that many of the subplots aren’t very interesting. And it’s really a pity that Elaine Cassidy, who plays Abby Mills (and is not related to Katie Cassidy who plays Trish Wellington), can’t use her native Irish accent. What a shame. On a totally unrelated note, co-executive producer Karim Zreik has a wonderful blog at Television Without Pity where he discusses the production of each episode.

Finally, I defy anyone to watch the following scene and tell me you’re not the least bit intrigued to see more:

If you are interested in catching up on Harper’s Island you can watch full episodes here.