Harper’s Island – Season 1

13 weeks. 25 suspects. One killer.
Welcome to Harper’s Island, just outside Seattle, when friends and family come for the wedding of Henry Dunn (Christopher Gorham) and Trish Wellington (Katie Cassidy). Harper’s Island is famous for a streak of murders seven years ago. The killer, John Wakefield, was shot by the Sheriff (Jim Beaver), who’s wife was killed by Wakefield. The series centers around Abby (Elaine Cassidy), the daughter of the Sheriff, who returns home to Harper’s Island after seven years to be at the wedding. Suspense ensues when the guests end up dead one by one and everybody has to ask themselves who the killer might be. One of them? Or a living John Wakefield?

Episode 01: Whap
A series about a serial killer killing people on an island with a dark past… this is really a good idea for a TV show. The first episode was good, but nothing special, no real thrill, surprisingly no real characters and just two kills.
Abby is too much of a main character and with her past on the island I believe that she knows the killer (or the killer is around her all the time), so it is either Henry or her father, the sheriff. Both have motives: Henry for not landing in Abby’s pants (that would make her the final victim and the person, who is the reason for the murders); the sheriff, because his wife was killed by Wakefield and maybe he is on some revenge or so. Or we have a big Twin Peaks copy and it is the dead yet undead John Wakefield, who kills around (I would love that). Let’s see if we have some more suspects in later episodes.
With the exception of Abby, the series lacks on strong characters; the story could be great, but with 13 episodes, it is likely that we will have a lot of filler stories; and the island doesn’t look really like an island. 7,5/10

Episode 02: Crackle
So, Abby really is the main character. This lets me believe that the killer is from her surroundings and she is the center around the killings, not the wedding. Highly likely that the killer wants to do it for her and saves her for the last kill, so the wedding isn’t the reason. It is just Abby, the answer lies in her past. And I still believe that Henry might be the killer or one of the killers (I think there are at least two), because every time when something happens (a murder or a scene with the killer in the picture or something like that) Henry was in a scene before or after that particular scene. I am looking for that in future episodes and definitely will ask myself, why would the authors do that?
So, Kelly (Anna Mae Routledge) is dead. Such a shame, she was interesting. The episode was good, but a bit weaker than the first one, because nothing really happened (already filler stories, but they don’t get on my nerves yet). And the wedding is in four days, if you can believe the “wedding planner”. So, are the next eleven episodes set in four days? I hope so… I don’t think so. 7/10

Episode 03: Ka-Blam
What a boring episode. Only the last few minutes were interesting, the rest was just simple and typical CBS procedural story with a lot of stereotype soap story in it. I completely dislike the episode. I really don’t care about the story involving Hunter (Victor Webster) and was happy that he was the next victim. And why is everybody talking about the death of Kelly, when there are four others who were killed (and probably nobody is missing them btw.).
The pillow prank was pretty funny, I will remember that; the rest of the episode, which really felt like a filler, was just forgettable. 2,5/10

Episode 04: Bang
Another boring episode, at least was it a bit better than the last one. But what the hell is wrong with the writers? For two episodes now the story stands still, nothing happens. Except the death of Booth (Sean Rogerson), which I commented so: “Ehm… what was that?” And eyesroll. Seriously… was it a murder or just an accident? If it was an accident, then nobody was killed (really killed like murdered) in this episode – in a series about a killer on the lose? How lame is that? And the whole death scene of Booth was just terribly written.
The spirit story was pretty nice and had some goosebumps moments; I am thrilled to know what Madison (Cassandra Sawtell) has to do with all of this, she kind of seems necessary, when spirits are talking to her. Abby had some creepy moments as well – the almost-crash with the car: man, that sound was scary.
Another thing: I saw Callum Keith Rennie in the newspaper. So he was cast as John Wakefield. Highly possible that we will see him in one of the next episode. Maybe Wakefield is still alive and killing around (for what reason soever) or we see him in a flashback. You don’t cast a type like Callum Keith Rennie, just to show him in a newspaper and eventually in photos. 4,5/10

Episode 05: Thwack
Well, at least it looks like the season is finally beginning. Another lame episode, with the exception of the really good ending. And finally Thomas Wellington (Richard Burgi) is dead, he was one of the terrible written characters in this show and his death is really cool. Looks like the wedding is postponed.
The rest of the episode was boring. I don’t understand why the writers build a relationship between Madison (this time she wasn’t creepy) and J.D. (creepy as usual: Dean Chekvala) and the four friends are just boring. At least Booth is already dead, I wish that Sully (Matt Barr) and Malcolm (Chris Gauthier) would die soon. Hopefully next episode, now that everybody knows, a killer MUST be on the loose. They can’t be that stupid and not see that. Now everybody probably is thinking tat J.D. is the killer, after he told Henry he has a surprise for him. And the probability that Wakefield is still alive puts me in a good mood. Maybe he really is still living and he will return in front of the camera soon.
Boring beginning, average mid part, good ending. 5,5/10

Episode 06: Sploosh
The series improves after its lame last episodes. But it still isn’t interesting enough. The lame characters are still living (especially Henry’s clique) and the never-seen-before characters are all killed. Who cares of Richard (David Lewis) being killed? I want to see the other guys dead.
That J.D. might be the killer… no way, the story already concentrates too much on the question, if Wakefield is living or not. I am waiting for J.D.’s death, because e is a boring character. And Madison is kind of getting on my nerves. Two episodes ago she spoke with the spirits (so she said) and now she is the little happy kid with nothing in her mind? Hello… Writers… I thought she was supposed to be necessary for the story, especially after this little spirit talk she gave.
But at least all the happy time is over now, after Wellington’s death. Maybe the series can start its original story, which kind of happened in this episode, but I didn’t see much. I hope the next one gives some more indications. 6,5/10

Episode 07: Thrack, Splack, Sizzle
Finally a good episode. Okay, it is still bad in some kind of ways, but finally the characters are now deep into the main plot, and it took half of the season to get there – a boring half season. The hunt for J.D. was pretty good and I liked that storyline, but the other one was just boring. The whole “hide the money” thing was full of stereotypes and boring characters, at least Malcolm is dead now. And I hope the other two are dead very soon.
I don’t know what to make of the flashbacks. To reveal Wakefield’s motives, why he started to kill seven years ago was so small, it was enough to not show it in the flashbacks. At the beginning I thought it would just be Abby seven years ago, showing her uninteresting (love) life, but the explosion was a nice little story twist.
So, we know that Wakefield was behind Abby’s mother, and because of all the talks about Wakefield in the last few episodes (and because of Callum Keith Rennie cast as Wakefield), I believe that Wakefield will be coming back. So he is still living – and murdering on the island. But for what reason? 7,5/10

Episode 08: Gurgle
The series is improving. Now the main story is running, the series has thrill and a bit of better acting. The episode itself was nice, even though the search for Madison took too much time. And it is obvious that Madison will survive this season, as obvious as Abby will live until the season finale.
So, everything is about Abby – what is the reason? And it is pretty clear now that Wakefield is still alive and on the island, killing around. Only the reason is still unknown, but I think this will be revealed in the next episode. I was surprised how fast Malcolm’s body burned to dust. He was killed like a few hours ago and they already find his skull? Only the ending I don’t understand. What was the scene with Henry at the very end? Did just somebody die and he tried to save him? Or did he just murder somebody? The story about Cole (Dean Wray) and the sheriff was alright; just in the screenplay to give some revelation and then Cole’s predictable death.
One little revelation after another, the group of people on the island gets smaller and smaller, some more blood and some more dead bodies. Finally I see what I wanted to see. 8/10

Episode 09: Seep
Okay, the series is not really improving. Though this episode had some thrill, the setup was just lame and boring. They are still looking for Madison, which is so boring, because I know that she will survive. And then the search for Beth (Amber Borycki): I didn’t even notice that she was gone, so I totally didn’t care about her death. But the scenes in the tunnels and under the building was something between good and stereotype. Two groups, one find a dead body, the other has other problems. And finally somebody finds Madison. But how Trish and Shea (Gina Holden) find Madison and Abby was just laughable. Madison sees lights, probably from a car which is like one minute away – wahahaha. And then Shea coincidentally sees Madison’s hand – wahahaha. Totally unreliable scene, I was laughing really bad.
The scenes in the tunnels could have more thrill and Shane’s (Ben Cotton) conflict with the group could have been better, because it came out of nowhere. And why is Shane such a bad-ass character, when he knows there’s a killer on the lose? I wouldn’t react so stupid and suspicious like him… Only Cal (Adam Campbell) and Chloe (Cameron Richardson) were cute together, I don’t want to see them dead.
Oh yeah, and Abby might be John Wakefield’s daughter? I don’t know if I should laugh or not. Interesting twist, but totally stereotype. And where the hell is the sheriff now? And what game is Madison talking about? 6/10

Episode 10: Snap
Whoa, what a… kind of confusing episode. The first half was totally boring and (again) stereotype, but the final minutes were really good. A face-off between Abby and her father and then Wakefield entering the stage. Very good cliffhanger, even it was obvious that he will come some time.
The “Cal has a sail boat on the other side of the island” story didn’t interest me at all, but I was sad to see Cal being shot. He is one of the few likable characters and I don’t want to see him die, even though he will be killed eventually.
The explosion at the marina was good, finally something happens to hold the people on the island. The last episodes delayed all of this. But Madison kind of sucks right now. Now she comes with the confession that she lied about the sheriff being her kidnapper? What the hell… That storyline sucks balls. And Jimmy (C.J. Thomason) survived the explosion? It looks like either he will survive the season or the writers spare him for an even more emotional death.
And Abby is not the child of Wakefield? Then who is? Probably one of the last survivors? 7/10

Episode 11: Splash
A kind of great episode with a question, which I asked myself from episode two: Is there another killer? I suspected that almost from the beginning and now it is a story for the last two episodes. And it’s Jimmy? Well, this would answer the question why he is still living. But I don’t think he is the killer. There are still two episodes left and this could not possibly be the final big twist. And I still believe that Henry is probably Wakefield’s accomplice.
By the way: Why are Sully and his friend still living? I wanted to see them dead long before and instead, Cal and Chloe are dying. And Chloe’s death was probably the best so far. It was emotional, she wasn’t killed by Wakefield and she followed Cal. Something between big love and not letting Wakefield win in his own ways – pretty poetic in my eyes. Only the fact that Wakefield let Chloe live is a big question mark for me. Why did he do that? Just to get Cal in her sight, so they can both be killed simultaneously of the show? Which actually happened… 8,5/10

Episode 12: Gasp
A good episode, with a really shitty (and predictable) outcome. Wakefield behind bars, breaking out, killing, and then the revelation about Henry at the end. Well, it wasn’t a surprise at all, what makes the cliffhanger really boring. The writers and directors made the same mistake in this episode like in the first two. When there was talk about an accomplice or Wakefield’s child, Henry was in the picture right afterward – why did they do that again? Didn’t they ever watch some old horror movies? Just so obvious, that Henry was Wakefield’s accomplice. And his son… Well, that twist was a bit boring, because it didn’t bring anything. Nothing new, no surprise, nothing. At least Wakefield had a bit of character, while he was in prison.
The questions about Jimmy being Wakefield’s accomplice was a bit thrilling, but just idiotic, how the writers dealt with the part of Trish falling down the cliff. Not even was C.J. Thomason really bad in these scenes, furthermore the scenes were really bad written.
And I already missed Cal and Chloe. But still a good episode after all these predictions and bad writings. 7/10

Episode 13: Sigh
I don’t know. For a horror series was it a boring finale. We knew the killer, we kind of knew the motives (except Henry), we knew that somebody still has to die. The question was just: Sully or Jimmy? Well, somebody should have killed both, because both of them were ball-sucking and boring characters these last episodes.
Shea and Madison rescued way too early, a boring way to end the storyline with them. After Madison seemed so necessary for the story at the beginning (with all the spirit story crap and how the writers handled her earlier this season), she gets such a boring goodbye? At least the little “twist” with Abby now living with Henry, like she is in prison, was really good and had some great motives for other stories. Abby being Henry’s prisoner for the whole life, that would be really psycho, but Abby had to be a fighter person. She escapes, finds Jimmy alive (WTF? Why didn’t the writers, a.k.a. Henry, kill him? Just a totally cheap and bad plot device to give Abby the earned kiss at the end. I am so pissed), a few talks about blaming Jimmy being Wakefield’s accomplice and then Henry gets killed by Abby. Yeah, “wonderful” finale. Not. Boring. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it at all. And Henry’s motives were stupid, too. He did everything, because he’d die for Abby? Then why did he killed half of the wedding guests? Why did he plan all that stuff to bring Abby to the island? Why all this misery for him? It doesn’t add up at all.
And the coast guard searched the whole island and didn’t find the house with Henry and Abby (and Jimmy as prisoner) in it? Seriously? Well… not good. Cheap plot devices, very cheap and very boring.
A word about the flashback at the beginning: Did Henry’s parents knew that Abby’s mother was Henry’s real mother? The eye contact between the two women was suspicious enough to ask questions, which will be unanswered.
Not a good finale for a show, which started kind of okay, was totally boring afterward, got better before the end and got shitty at the end. Fortunately the series is over forever. No second season. 4,5/10

Season average is 6,31. Well, the series was something between bad and good. Too many stereotypes, too predictable, not too much horror (which was a shame), nothing with mystery in it (which was a really bad shame). After all the 13 episodes I can say I didn’t like the series. With better writers it would have been better, or at least it had some more thrill in the second half and less soap in the first one. Hopefully the next creator of such a show does it better, because the plot is interesting enough for a series.