Off the top of my head, here's a personal list of pros and cons so far:
CONS
-The "Red Room" and whatever other rooms affiliated with the red curtains are way off from the feeling they had in the original series and in the movie. It no more feels like a semi-claustrophobic but mysteriously wonderful place to visit. It feels like a place to watch from the audience. It feels like an open stage. I take it the way it is though. It's better than nothing and the lodge stuff is always interesting no matter how it looks like.
-The "Lodge talk" has not been on par with the movie and the original series. For me, only the American Girl has sounded amazing.
-While I don't mind having the music numbers, most of the songs have not been good. I've only liked the Chromatics song and the Rebekah del Rio song. NIN was perhaps the least good of all of them.
-Especially in the first couple of episodes the tone of the series was nearly unbearably bad with the lack of music and all. However, if that really ends up being part of the plan to slowly drop in the mood we all know, then this ends up being a pro.
-The scenes with Bill Hastings have been awkward to watch because of his acting. And I really usually like Lillard.
-The scene where Ike kills the woman was tonally completely broken. That song was absolutely horrible. I don't care if it was about some contrast or whatever. It just was awful to watch while it constanty felt it could've been a great scene.
-I don't mind slow scenes in general but while I could watch Dougie watch the statue with that music on forever some of the scenes just feel way longer than it's good for them.
PROS
-Dougie is great. I think I wouldn't mind if Cooper would never come back.
-Wally was great. One of the funniest scenes in the series.
-Tammy is great. She's like an intelligent lizard/swan/deer person. Her movements remind me of slow moving smoke. I find it fascinating that she is at that position on her job. People seem to be unable to fit the Tamara in The Secret History to Bell's Tamara, but I find it really interesting that she is what she is.
-Jim Belushi and Robert Knepper are fantastic in their roles. I'm always interested in what they are up to.
-The Richard Horne scenes are always something that keeps me at the edge of my seat. The energy always ramps up when he appears.
-The scene with Tammy, Cole and Diane with the cigarette is one of the best scenes in the show. I think that whatever doubts people have had about Tammy should now be corrected. This scene wouldn't be what it is now without her way of being.
-I absolutely loved the namedrops of Annie and Harold. I'm so glad the theories about an alternate dimension where Annie has been erased (or the theories about a complete retcon) were shattered with that.
-The atom bomb scene was great.
-The Eyeless Woman scene was fantastic. In fact it was the first time I felt the season might be good after all.
-I'm definitely seeing a shift in mood and tone towards OG Twin Peaks type of stuff. And the editing and rhythm of the show seems to be getting better too.
For people who are disappointed with the series and worry that time is running out, just remember that there were eight episodes in the first season. We are still going to get that many episodes. Plenty of things can happen during those episodes.
Is it objectively
art though
