This episode 8 from "Hulu's", "Monsterland" called "Newark, New Jersey" is one that's strange far out and crazy plus it even drops an Easter egg of character connection that's related to the first episode. It involves an African American couple who are still grieving after their daughter's apparent abduction. Also the couple are struggling in their marriage and each start to have flashbacks of their little girl as it's like demons of the past control the mind. Only a strange out of this world being appears and the talk of angels is heard as all of this is the parents connection to their lost little girl. Overall different episode that was dominated with themes of supernatural, demons, religion, and the afterlife.
3 Reviews
Supernatural and ghost like story that brings out past demons!
blanbrn27 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The best episode, IMO
smmans20 January 2023
I liked this anthology overall, but it is ridiculously cryptic. I sometimes like that, but most of these episodes are so cryptic that it almost seems like they just end. I prefer stories that have a metaphorical theme, but aren't overly difficult to surmise. I think about "No Country for Old Men" as an example. The final scene with Shagur (spelling ?), where he is severely injured but can still manage to just evade the police by walking away ties in perfectly with an earlier quote by Edtom's brother, "You can't stop what's coming". A perfect metaphor relating to the war on drugs, and how nothing can stop it.
The Newark episode was, IMO, the best of them all. It had an ending that tied up the story clearly. It was emotionally stirring and a welcome finale vs. The cryptic endings of all of the previous episodes.
I'm not really surprised at the overall low ratings of all of the episodes, but I think that is really more because people don't like to feel like they missed something, or couldn't "figure it out". It can be frustrating. I'm going to have to rewatch all of them to get a second take, as I still haven't quite made a determination on them yet.
The Newark episode was, IMO, the best of them all. It had an ending that tied up the story clearly. It was emotionally stirring and a welcome finale vs. The cryptic endings of all of the previous episodes.
I'm not really surprised at the overall low ratings of all of the episodes, but I think that is really more because people don't like to feel like they missed something, or couldn't "figure it out". It can be frustrating. I'm going to have to rewatch all of them to get a second take, as I still haven't quite made a determination on them yet.
And That's How You Do a Metaphor!
Gislef24 November 2020
Warning: Spoilers
'Monsterland" finally does it right. "Newark" has most of the issues that the previous episodes did. It doesn't so much end as tapers off, but that's more appropriate here since the story is about parents who can't get closure after the abduction of their daughter. The father, Brian (Mike Colter), is obsessed with his daughter Tabitha's possible return. The mother, Amy (Adepero Oduye), is trying to deal with her grief and move on, while supporting Brian.
Mix in with this the fall of Angels over Newark. People are using their blood to make a hallucinatory drug. Brian finds one of the fallen Angels, injured, and brings it abandoned in a dumpster after being drained for its blood, and takes it home.
The episode is still flabby. The middle bit with Toni (Kaitlyn Dever), the character from episode one, ties in thematically but reeks of coincidence. And other then establish that the Angel blood has hallucinatory effects, doesn't serve any purpose other than the production staff to say, "Ooh, look! It's Toni! We got continuity!" It also mildly contradicts the previous episodes, since in episode 3 Toni was going by the name "Jennifer" but here she's back to using "Toni"
But the idea of parents coping with the loss of a child, in their separate ways, overcomes the flabby writing elsewhere. Part of it is Mike Colter, who is probably the best actor on the first season of the show. If you haven't seen him in 'Luke Cage', check it out. Colter has been in other stuff, but 'Monsterland' and 'Luke Cage' are his best performances.
Adepero Oduye as Amy isn't bad either. She just doesn't have much to do, and is overshadowed by Colter both acting-wise and story-wise. "Newark" is about his grief, and how he does (not) cope with it.
Kudos also to V Nixie, who gives a bizarre yet "angelic" mime-like performance as the Angel.
We don't really find out anything, although the presence of a Roman numeral tattoo on the Angel's chest suggests that it's not as divine as its name suggests. But "Newark" isn't really about the Angels, and maybe that's why the episode is a bit padded. There' more focus on Mike and the centerpiece of the episode is the grief and separation, not the supernatural. It's there, and doesn't seem thrown in (like it was in preceding episode, "Iron River". Nor is it the characters talking about the supernatural, like in "Port Fourchon".
The supernatural... just is. The production staff use the supernatural to explore the issues of grief and loss, but the supernatural isn't vital to the plot. The Angel's blood causes hallucinations, but the hallucinations could have been caused by a drug hallucination that Brian and Amy suffered from for... some reason.
Overall, "Newark" is a good episode and the best of the series. It's a pity it took the production staff so long to get it right. But get it right they did.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
Mix in with this the fall of Angels over Newark. People are using their blood to make a hallucinatory drug. Brian finds one of the fallen Angels, injured, and brings it abandoned in a dumpster after being drained for its blood, and takes it home.
The episode is still flabby. The middle bit with Toni (Kaitlyn Dever), the character from episode one, ties in thematically but reeks of coincidence. And other then establish that the Angel blood has hallucinatory effects, doesn't serve any purpose other than the production staff to say, "Ooh, look! It's Toni! We got continuity!" It also mildly contradicts the previous episodes, since in episode 3 Toni was going by the name "Jennifer" but here she's back to using "Toni"
But the idea of parents coping with the loss of a child, in their separate ways, overcomes the flabby writing elsewhere. Part of it is Mike Colter, who is probably the best actor on the first season of the show. If you haven't seen him in 'Luke Cage', check it out. Colter has been in other stuff, but 'Monsterland' and 'Luke Cage' are his best performances.
Adepero Oduye as Amy isn't bad either. She just doesn't have much to do, and is overshadowed by Colter both acting-wise and story-wise. "Newark" is about his grief, and how he does (not) cope with it.
Kudos also to V Nixie, who gives a bizarre yet "angelic" mime-like performance as the Angel.
We don't really find out anything, although the presence of a Roman numeral tattoo on the Angel's chest suggests that it's not as divine as its name suggests. But "Newark" isn't really about the Angels, and maybe that's why the episode is a bit padded. There' more focus on Mike and the centerpiece of the episode is the grief and separation, not the supernatural. It's there, and doesn't seem thrown in (like it was in preceding episode, "Iron River". Nor is it the characters talking about the supernatural, like in "Port Fourchon".
The supernatural... just is. The production staff use the supernatural to explore the issues of grief and loss, but the supernatural isn't vital to the plot. The Angel's blood causes hallucinations, but the hallucinations could have been caused by a drug hallucination that Brian and Amy suffered from for... some reason.
Overall, "Newark" is a good episode and the best of the series. It's a pity it took the production staff so long to get it right. But get it right they did.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
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