The Terror (TV Series) Into the Afterlife (2019) User Reviews

Tenuious

[Rob-O-Cop · 7/10 · 18 October 2019]

This series really shouldn't have been linked to the season one show The Terror because the first season was a standalone story based on a book based on real life events. It was a fantastic example of believable world building based off fascinating real life events.

I think linking the 2 series together harmed this season's story because it really had nothing to do with what we watched last season. There is no link. Something to do with ghosts? Is that what the show runners thought last season was about? No this season was something else and it wasn't altogether unsuccessful as a stand alone piece.

I really liked how it shined a different angle on the aspect of war and enemies. I know Geroge Takai has wanted to tell his story of the interment camps on US and Canadian soil for a while and I liked those details a lot, and this episodes dealing of the Hiroshima bomb was really well handled too.

The Japanese culture aspect was great and could have yielded much more still if they'd bothered to go deep on it instead of dropping little morsels here and there and not explaining much about them. It felt slightly token at times and it shouldn't have. There's great depth and reason in Japanese culture, and there were the makings of a deep and involving story about the Japanese American experience if the hadn't wrapped it in a convoluted ghost story. The bit that didn't really work was this.

They had ten episodes to really sell that angle and didn't. The actors were pretty good over all. I liked the Japanese language, although others struggled with subtitles, I like that the creators committed to it.

The sets were good, the time period was good, the photography was good, they just didn't have it with the ghost story scary part, maybe it didn't really need it. There was a good enough story to be told without it.

Strayed too far from what makes this series unique

[richiehodev · 7/10 · 24 December 2022]

The Terror S1 shone when allowed its characters to live and breath within the unique historical confines of their environment. The series made its mark in exploring the depths of humanity as it tries to navigate through grief, anger, desperation, betrayal, loneliness; all the while yearning to survive at all costs.

The titular "terror" itself shouldn't be mistaken for something in physical form, but is represented through the unknown and the unseen. It is this unspoken terror that thematically defines this series.

By now, viewers have come to understand and expect all of these things. But it didn't seem like the writers for S2 fully understood the assignment. S2 leaned too heavily into the folklore and mythology of the yurei/bakemono. It seems absurd to think about, but after having finished 10 episodes, it felt like the central backdrop of the Japanese internment camp was used as a bait and switch in order to promote the Yuko storyline. Because truth be told, the Yuko storyline could have been told from any time period/era/backdrop. It didn't need the WW2 Japanese internment camp. But then it wouldn't be "The Terror".

In the end, we have a S2 that looks like and feels like a classic "The Terror" season, but doesn't have enough substance to be one. The story was compelling and engaging whenever we get to see the Nakayama family endure through the WW2 hardships; but instantly lost its charm whenever the Yuko storyline appeared on screen. It's a shame because these are characters that you end up rooting and caring for; but it just felt like their story and struggles took a backseat to a cheap and cheesy J-Horror story that you can find elsewhere.

Nevertheless, thank you to the cast, crew, and creators for putting a unique spin on a very important time period in American history.

Season Two Review

[southdavid · 7/10 · 1 July 2022]

I ended up skipping a few episodes of the first season of "The Terror" as I found it to be too slow for my taste, despite the quality of the performances. I watched every episode of "Infamy" though where the real life and supernatural elements meshed a bit better for me.

Already facing prejudice treatment, the Japanese-American residents of Los Angeles are rounded up and sent to an internment camp when the Pearl Harbour attack draws the US into World War 2. The Nakayama family are one such family sent to the camp, their party including Luz (Cristina Rodlo) the pregnant girlfriend of the son Chester (Derek Mio). There is, however, a vengeful spirit within the camp, one with a tie to the Nakayama's but who will kill indiscriminately to meet their ends.

The meshing of genuine stories of man's inhumanity, with a supernatural element is not an uncommon one at the moment, last year's Amazon series "Them" for example, did something similar. As I said above, it didn't really work for me with the first season of "The Terror" and the slow pace led to me skipping some. I didn't do that here, but overall I'd describe the series as good, but inessential.

Nothing wrong with the performances though, with Mio carrying the series along with his parents, played by Shingo Usami and Naoko Mori. George Takei has a consistent but small role, but the significance of him in the cast is deeper than that, given that he actually spent time as a child living in the conditions detailed in the show.

Despite me watching them all, I would say that the show could have cut the number of episodes without significant damage to the story. It hit similar story beats a little too often. The strong visual effects and the performances though mean I feel much more positively about this season, and am a little disappointed that there won't be a third.

No infamy here

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9/10 · 4 June 2020]

I think there was a misunderstanding about this season; many viewers thought it was a eerie topic, a ghost story, a terror tale. It is definitely not, but an adventure drama, very well done, with, I agree, some eeerie elements, a depiction of the American japanese people during WW2, just after December 12/7 1941. It's a very poignant, intelligent and beautiful story. Nothing else. The mistake was maybe to put some ghost stuff, which, I repeat, misunderstood many people who waiting for something else. Acting and directing is here over the top.

A Series with Potential Squandered

[chixie-64027 · 5/10 · 15 October 2019]

I watched season 2 patiently because I thought the premise of the story was interesting.

The first episode started off pretty well. When some of the actors spoke their lines with millennial inflections in their voices I overlooked that, because there were very strong actors that were aware this story took place in the 1940s. When there were dead end plotlines, I eagerly awaited for them to be picked up in later episodes to no avail. I still thought it was a pretty good show.

Then "Taizo" aired and it met all of my expectations. I thought the second half of the series would provide a terrifying portrait of a restless ghost with a relentless will to complete her "paradise". Instead the writers and directors took a bunch of missteps as opposed to using the momentum the show had gained.

This finale was simply a letdown. I've tried not to make comparisons between this season and the first. I will say the first season was unrelenting in its portrayal of the human condition. The Season 2 showrunners/writers did not focus on that aspect enough and alas the result is mediocre.

Th Terror Infamy

[purnendutudu · 2/10 · 18 October 2019]

The second season sucked. It had overtly convoluted plot that didn't tie up the way it should have been. The first season was far more superior.