While sci-fi and horror can be mistaken as quintessentially interchangeable genres, actually merging the two is quite a task in and of itself. Teacup, a TV show based on Robert R. McCammon’s book Stinger, attempts to do just that, but the result is simply unsatisfactory. There are prominent aspects of both, but the series does not manage to combine them into one single unit.
It can be noted that Teacup Season 1 begins well enough on a horrific tone as the Chenoweth family, who lives in rural Georgia, notices that something is indeed amiss. That ‘something’ in this case would be some signs of unnatural violent and disturbed behaviour from the animals on the farm, an injured and bloodied woman screaming incoherent words like “murder maker” while running in the woods, a homicidal black dog, and shaky lights.
A strange turn of events becomes even stranger when a gas mask-wearing man paints a blue line across the slate town. It is better to develop these details further in the spoilers, but let me say, it increases the horror well and truly. Body horror fans will appreciate what comes next and such a strike in the show can be described as quite visually impressive.
Soon, circumstances bring about three families who seek to find out what is going on. And here’s the thing before the veil is lifted on what is truly the case, some intrigue and eeriness stay behind the scenes. From the moment the twist is revealed, however, the show abandons its horror roots for the most part. The narrative shifts instead towards the greater sci-fi universe where a tree that shines, and liquid in all colors of the rainbow become crucial elements in the plot.
The two genres appear to be distinct elements in the overall piecing of the show, and the writing is not any better. There is a lack of consistency within the pacing, going from being overly crowning with too much progress into slow and drawn-out disengaging moments. Episode 5 has almost chronologically gone back in the story to become a telling episode. But it exceeds the time limit by an enormous margin and all it does is break the flow of the story.
Confining some people within some boundaries should be adequate material for a well-envisaged plot intertwined with complex relationships where some tension keeps building up. Teacup Season 1 would have been worth watching too if the characters put all their trust in someone who was just a polite neighbor not long ago. However, despite several disturbing dramatic builds, the characters are too poorly developed to let such a situation ever happen.
A few misunderstandings and somewhat deceitful relationships are perhaps the only instances that deviate from the established characters, however, generally speaking, every one of them continues to play the parts they were assigned back in the first episode.
When honing in on the storyline, the actual events, and the colourful liquid logistics, character progression seems to take a back seat. We do see Maggie and James Chenoweth, the protagonists, grow rather slowly and in rocky and complicated ways, but we don’t have emotional arcs in this universe to look forward to, much less any expectations for the audience to get to know the characters or cheer for them in their journey.
Whereas the series relies on the fact that you would be interested in the truth, the how and the mechanics behind the show. It presumes that the main question which has the characters imprison themselves, is the only reason why the audience would stay seated. But why care about the mystery when you don’t want to know about the characters in the first place?
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