Shining Vale might, at first, make you question Tolstoy’s famous claim that “each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” In the new Starz horror comedy, which premieres on March 6, an emasculated dad moves his unfaithful wife and their two teen children out of Brooklyn and into a huge, old, dimly lit house in quaint Shining Vale, Conn. You have surely seen versions of these characters and this setup before. Terry (Greg Kinnear), believes that the change of scene will help Pat (Courteney) to get back to him. Pat, who is the author a steamy bestseller that sounds almost like a novella, hopes this new setting will be a welcome change. Fear of flyingFor the Fifty ShadesHopes it will motivate her to finally finish the long-delayed sequel. It is possible that the location may be home to a ghost.
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Haunted-house shows have been popping up everywhere in the past decade, from the debut season of FX’s American Horror StoryTo the British sitcom Ghosts and the CBS remake in its stateside version. More often than not—and particularly in Mike Flanagan’s popular Netflix Haunting duology—the spectral infestation symbolizes the psychological woes of the house’s current human occupants. For isolated children, ghost children can be playmates. Ghost servants remind us of class politics in spooky mansions.
In that mad attic full of images, Shining Vale throws the archetypal blocked writer (is the show’s title supposed to echo Shining?) and hints of small-town housewife horror à la The Stepford Wives. The town’s anachronistically domestic women—one of whom introduces herself as “Mrs. Stephen Edwards”—seem scandalized by Pat and her book. Terry is a corporate drone, who brags about the Ivy League heritage of his father. He also attempts on various macho archetypes, such as the determined patriarch, rugged woodsman and breadwinner, who returns home each night to his wife. A nerdy son, Jake (Dylan Gage), who’s addicted to his AR headset and a rebellious, scantily clad daughter, Gaynor (Gus Birney), add more tropes to the pile.
The show doesn’t have as much to add to contemporary conversations around family, creativity, gender, or mental illness as it seems to think. Even if you read the scene as tongue-in-cheek, it’s hard not to cringe when Pat’s mercenary editor Kam (Merrin Dungey) opines that “Artists work best when they’re fighting their demons” and invokes Sylvia Plath. Jeff Astrof is the CreatorTrial & ErrorSharon Horgan (Catastrophe) front-load Shining Vale‘s least original elements, at the expense of the witty raunch that is Horgan’s trademark. (“You look like you’re auditioning for Pornhub,” Pat tells Gaynor in one of the only truly funny moments from the premiere. “You don’t audition for Pornhub, your ex-boyfriend puts you on it,” Gaynor retorts.) Spoiler embargoes prevent me from saying much about the plot twists that go a long way towards correcting the show’s course, although fun supporting turns from Mira Sorvino and Judith Light certainly help. Suffice to say that if you can hang on until episode 3, you’ll find a stranger, more amusing haunted-house story lurking behind all the peeling wallpaper.
