At this point, there is nothing The Shards can do to shock or surprise us, so the only place to go is down.

And boy, does this Homecoming two-parter sink deeper into ridiculousness.

To truly understand what a mess this story is, The Shards Season 1 Episodes 5 and 6 barely run one hour combined. Why split them when they have no thematic distinction?

(FX/Screenshot)

One of the things I’m mourning with this show is how everything is a missed opportunity.

An hour centered on homecoming would have been perfect creative fodder for the horror that is the American high school.

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I have never understood this need to vote for kings and queens as people compete for popularity in what seems to me like the least consequential place in the world.

High school is a fleeting moment that does not deserve the pomp and circumstance that it is given.

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To some extent, winning king and queen is a bad omen because it means that you might have peaked in high school.

If your highest moment is when people don’t have fully-formed features or brain capacity, then you need to evaluate your life.

The Shards could have been a critique of the ridiculousness of homecoming and the popularity contest attached to it.

I never expected it to go full Carrie, but it could have been more.

The first part picks up after Rhonda returns, and the police want to know where she’s been.

After watching FROM hide behind Victor for four seasons to avoid giving answers, The Shards’ attempt to hide behind Rhonda comes off as pathetic and a total misdirect.

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All she says is “girlie smell,” a phrase that later turns out to be the setup for the second part’s cliffhanger ending.

Despite this being the most uninteresting mystery I’ve ever come across, I can’t help but try to decode who the killer is.

The writers have been trying to confuse us by hinting that anyone could be the killer, and this episode is no different, as Giorgio body spray becomes the key to unlocking the mystery.

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The episodes make a point of mentioning it every few minutes; I have to wonder what happened to subtlety.

Meanwhile, the confusion continues as we circle back to Thom and his killer friend, and we are being led to believe that Thom is somehow involved.

I don’t even know what to do with this arc except ship Thom and the guy because Thom looks good with everyone.

(FX/Screenshot)

But the most ridiculous thing is that Bret still insists that Robert is the killer, and at this point it is just laughable.

So we are expected to trust the narration of a high school kid whose biggest justification for saying the new kid is a serial killer is that he lies?

Who doesn’t tell a lie here and there? Bret’s entire life is propped up by a lie.

He keeps insisting that Robert killed his mother, but there is no evidence of that.

I know the show has cast older actors as high school kids, but let’s be serious.

It is almost impossible for a teenager to fool cops by pretending to be a journalist while trying to sell them on a ridiculous story.

(FX/Screenshot)

This part of the story, which is supposed to be integral to the narrative, is one of the weakest points in this show.

We are simply supposed to trust what Bret says even when it doesn’t make sense.

The second part leans into the homecoming aspect as Debbie and Susan — who have no distinct qualities from each other — engage in a cold war while pretending to do something nice for Rhonda.

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Much of what happens in this second part, I don’t care about simply because I don’t care about any of these characters.

Ironically, the character I like the most is Robert. His casualness and fluidity make him so alluring.

He looks like he can fit in any situation or hang out with whichever group of people.

(FX/Screenshot)

Robert Mallory simply has it, and maybe Bret just wants some of it transferred to him through sexual fluids.

Everyone tries to elevate a script that doesn’t deserve their talent. We catch a glimpse of Evan Rachel Wood in her element, and it doesn’t feel like enough.

By the end of the underwhelming second part, I’m no more interested in who the serial killer is or what happened to Matt Kelner than I was before I started watching this show.

Gut Check

“Homecoming” is the same banal storyline, narrated in a monotonously uninteresting voiceover.

Intrusive Thoughts (FX/Screenshot)
  • Mike Flanagan’s take on Carrie must deliver high school horror.
  • Robert standing up to Bret? Really hot. Go ahead and destroy that self-obsessed twink and turn him on in the same breath,
  • Robert Mallory makes me happy whenever he’s on the screen, as I anticipate the ragebait.
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  • The principal didn’t think of getting someone to replace Debbie, so he just trusted Bret to count the votes with total impartiality?
(FX/Screenshot)

Over to you, The Shards Fanatics. Do you think there are multiple killers? How will the show tie these threads together when it lacks sophistication?

Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.

Say something in the comments, share if you’re moved to, and keep reading. Independent voices need readers like you.

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