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- HBO
- Jul 28, 2017
- HBO
- Jul 28, 2017
Summary The Duplass brothers' anthology series about the various people who pass through one room in an average motel.
Created By: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass
- HBO
- Jul 28, 2017
- HBO
- Jul 28, 2017
Summary The Duplass brothers' anthology series about the various people who pass through one room in an average motel.
Created By: Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass
Where to Watch
Season Episodes
View All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
65
50% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
50% Mixed
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 22 Critic Reviews
65
50% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
50% Mixed
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Room 104 excels in maximizing an array of voices. Not all of the episodes are outright successes, but they do showcase the new talent brought in to build them.
As with any anthology series, the results are incredibly hit and miss but I appreciate the effort from the front of the room to the back. ... So even though I didn’t like at least half of this sextet, I’m eager to see the other six.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 37 User Ratings
5.0
38% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
27% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
35% Negative
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 37 User Ratings
5.0
38% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
27% Mixed
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
35% Negative
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
With each episode being a different story that takes place in a motel room, it shouldn't be a surprise that Room 104 is wildly inconsistent. There are some great episodes in the first season, and there are some pretty terrible episodes as well. I'm not even really sure who this show is for, since it's so all over the place. It's quite an experience, though.
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SEASON 1
My rating is based only on the first two enjoyably dark and twisty episodes.
It does however seem similar in premise and tone to the UK series 'Inside No.9', and the remaining episodes will have to go some way to match the consistently inventive plots that No.9 continues to come up with.
Fingers crossed though.
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SEASON 1
Not every Room 104 story worked for me, but I’m glad I kept going long enough to make it to the dance episode, and the best ones were so powerful that I’ll happily gamble a half-hour at a time on the others. This one simple hotel room can become anything, and when it turns into just the right thing, look out.
The worst thing about Room 104 is that it’s completely inconsistent. The most satisfying episodes function like one-act plays, with well-structured narrative arcs and twists and reveals. The most irritating ones feel overly self-indulgent—transparent opportunities for the writers (Mark Duplass wrote seven out of 12) and directors (a notably diverse group) to play around with form. Still, there’s something thrilling about a show that’s so eager to experiment.
While some of the episodes--I have not seen all 12--show flashes of creativity, there is something synthetic about the series, like a hotel room’s pretend hominess.
There's something remote and stiflingly preordained about the series, which suggests Playhouse 90 cocooned in a derivative formal polish that stripes it of grit and uncertainty.
The series brandishes a consistent lack of imagination when it comes to exploring the troubled woman who falls in with a religious cult or the lonely, lost Mormon boys who feel at a distance from their strict faith. By putting focus on the circumstances they find themselves in over the people they are, the series produces little more than cheap thrills.
Considering what's available to watch right now, this show is pretty darn good. I've always been a fan of anthologies and short stories, whether written or in film, but most are a bit one-note (American Horror Story has sadly decayed to that point). I feel the point of the anthology format is to experience as much diversity as possible from one story to the next, and they've achieved that here.
The fact that the stories are rooted in reality and not ghost/vampire/time travel/etc makes it unique, and it's apparently a conscious choice to help differentiate itself. It works well most of the time, by far.
At its best, it takes you on a surprisingly diverse emotional ride within the confines of a hotel room. It's almost enough of a reason to keep HBO after Game of Thrones is finished.
...Almost.
Edit: I came back after the dancing housekeeping maid episode to lower the score. If we wanted to watch mediocre dancing, we'd do just that.
Edit again: I came back (again) to lower the score even more. I'm really confused by the high quality of some episodes and the abysmally low quality of others.
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SEASON 1
I wanted to hate this show because of the lingering bad taste in my mouth from the Duplass Bros. awful, lazy, rip-roaringly illogical movie "Good Time."
I admit that it's better than I anticipated but still misses the mark. I've watched the first 3 and the only one that was fully formed was The Pizza Guy ... even though the twist at the end was telegraphed.
The others had huge gaps in logic and instead of explaining what was going on we're just supposed to think, "that doesn't make any sense, but it's weird, so it must be cool." But it's not and we don't.
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SEASON 1
My expectations have completely failed. Screenwriters promised various interesting stories that each series will be unique also in the genre. But after 3 series I don't understand, whether I in general looked. If the first series about spirit of boys of twins still was more or less normal, then the 2 and 3 series a frank trash. I don't advise to spend the time for these series.
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SEASON 1
It gets worse every week. I was really interested in the concept and it had so much potential. Not once did I ever say I want to watch someone talk to their mom on the phone for 20 minutes on how to work a computer. And now that I have seen that, I never want to do it again. The first two episodes had interesting arcs that had me kept watching, but each week it continues to get worse.
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SEASON 1
This show just made me want to watch "Four Rooms" again to remember what the "weird **** happening in a hotel room" idea looks like when well executed. None of the episodes so far impressed, but the last one ("The Internet"), was horrible. Just 20 minutes of a kid trying to explain to his mom how to use a computer. It's a bummer because there was a lot of potential in the idea and I really wanted to like it. I suggest they fire the entire staff and reboot. Maybe hire the people who did "Stranger Things" or "Black Mirror".
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SEASON 1
