This second episode of Season 6 entitled "Loch Henry" actually got off to an entertaining start with the couple visiting the boyfriend's mother. The next day they visit the local pub. The bartender was by far the best character and the actor stole every scene he was in. Every one of his lines was on point. The best scene was the early one in the bar with the boyfriend and bartender telling the girlfriend (more on her later) the story of the missing couple and the serial killing village pariah from the late 90s. The flashback imagery while they were telling the story was well done. But it was pretty much downhill from there as the episode degenerated into a crime drama/horror story complete with the predictable fakeout killer twists and horror movie chase scene. First, the bartender's Dad was a really bad plot device, doing virtually nothing for the entire episode, then he pops up in the guy's hospital room to spill the beans. So he just sat on this incriminating information since the late 90s. Why did he just conveniently get a crisis of conscience after over 25 years? Why wouldn't he tell the cops his suspicions back when it happened? Second, so the psycho mother just stopped being a psycho for 25 years because her husband and their accomplice was dead? Also how old is the son? He looks early 20s, yet his father died 25 years prior. And despite the story being awesomely told by him and the bartender, it's hard to believe they'd know the details (of the version that was the supposed truth) to the letter like that. Finally, the last 30 minutes of this was just waiting for predictable ball drop. Therefore this episode felt like stuff that's been shown on TV many times before. It was basically just a mystery/whodunit/crime drama in the vein of Law&Order, Columbo, or Murder She Wrote, with a climactic killer chase scene reminiscent of the final scene from virtually every slasher movie ever made. The acting was really good with one notable exception. The acting of the girlfriend was terrible! All of her acting felt telegraphed and forced with the actress shouting all her lines and over-expressing through jerky body movements. The biggest problem was how utterly predictable and cliche the story felt. Much like most of Season 6, this didn't feel like a Black Mirror episode, but more one that relied too much on cheap twists and shock value to sell the story.
Review of Loch Henry
