Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Shining Vale’ Season 2 on Starz, More Horror-Comedy Hijinks With Courteney Cox Front and Center

SHINING VALE – SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: Well, stark, plinking keys on the piano and a quavering shot of crows circling in the stormy skies above the Phelps’ monolithic Connecticut home won’t be the least ominous image you’ll see all day.

The Gist: Last season on Shining Vale, an extramarital affair was the impetus for the Phelps – Pat (Cox), her husband Terry (Kinnear), daughter Gaynor (Gus Birney), son Jake (Dylan Gage), and their frazzled pup Roxy – to up and move to the seemingly charming environs of small town Connecticut. Pat’s indiscretion with the handyman wasn’t the only thing on this family’s list of issues, and besides, the rambling old mansion they purchased was a total steal. Just don’t ask about any of the previous tenants, especially when they might still be hanging around as ghosts. Pat, struggling with writer’s block after her popular breakthrough with a novel that championed a devil-may-care brand of feminism, took note of the creepy vibes in the Phelps’ new home. And she developed a relationship of sorts with Rosemary (Sorvino), the specter stalking its halls ever since her life as a housewife ended in the 1950s. Rosemary’s true nature was iffy. Was she in fact a demon looking for a new host? Or was she an expression of Pat’s fractured mental state? From its title to its narrative and visual references, Shining Vale consistently looked to Stephen King and other paragons of the horror genre for influence. 

The blow Pat eventually inflicted to the side of Terry’s skull sent him sprawling down the steps and straight into his own period of extended recovery. Re-learning to walk and recovering the names of everyday items, plus those of his wife and children. And repeated electro-shocks have burned out Pat’s short term memory, though the image of Rosemary still haunts her hippocampus. When she’s jettisoned from her facility after four months, she finds Gaynor, now 17, managing things at home. Sure, it’s a mess, and it’s frequently pizza night. But she’s getting Jake off to school, where he’s found a social life as team mascot (Number: -1), and she’s frequenting the town coffee shop. (The crowd there isn’t moved by Gaynor’s folk song, inspired by Pat, that rhymes “upheaval” with “she went medieval.”) Pat’s determined to get her family back, but is not prepared for Gaynor’s pushback, or Terry’s faltering state. And there’s her writing career, which essentially continued in absentia – her editor/pal Kam (Merrin Dungey) published her second book as a quickie slasher novel instead of Pat’s concept, which would’ve been about a woman overcoming adversity to seize control of her mental health.

With reflection on her treatment, 600 milligrams of lithium, her mom Joan (Judith Light) as a help and/or hindrance, and some solid work to repair the Phelps family bond, Pat might really be so back. Then again, Rosemary might also be back, because maybe she never left.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Homes with whispers tucked into corners, snappy dialogue, and side characters with secrets of their own are also part of SurrealEstate, the enjoyable paranormal dramedy featuring Sarah Levy from Schitt’s Creek. And there’s always the first season of American Horror Story, subtitled Murder House, which also featured a family in trauma but majorly amplified the creepiness and jolty scares. (Murder House is currently notched at number three on Decider’s updated AHS season rankings.)  

Our Take: “How’d they let you out after only four months? I was locked away for four years and I just tried to kill myself.” While this line is terrific because of how the incomparable Judith Light delivers it, it’s also prescient – here in season two, Shining Vale is already emphasizing the generational link between Pat, Pat’s mom, and Pat’s daughter Gaynor as carriers of psychosis. Pat had her mom committed, Pat was committed by her kids, and now Gaynor is experiencing resentment and abandonment all at once. It’s an interesting throughline, and one that stresses the existence of a woman’s inner life alongside her life’s responsibilities as well as society’s expectations. “I. Am. In. Control.” goes Pat’s therapeutic mantra, but as days go by post-treatment, she can’t settle into a mode or role where she feels accepted. Vale derives laughs from this, especially with Courteney Cox leading the way – she plays Pat with echoes of a character like Jules from Cougar Town, only with the edges of her mind more seriously frayed. (And no giant glasses of merlot on backup.) But Where Shining Vale gives ground is in its synthesis of perspective, comedy, and the scary. We’re sometimes not sure whether we should laugh, and can also lose track of the horror-tinged tone. Pat’s psychiatric facility, with its generically inky green light, screaming patients strapped to gurneys, and generally depressing air is pretty over the top, and a house creaking in its joints and beckoning people through suddenly open doors doesn’t really grab us. It’s almost like Shining Vale needs to go for the horror jugular first, before it integrates its solid jokes and noteworthy themes.

Sex and Skin: None. 

Parting Shot: “WE! ARE! PHELPS!” The family’s familiar rallying cry has returned, and it’s heartening, even if it arrives moments after Gaynor’s declaration that Pat totally broke them as a unit. Just then there’s a knock on the door, and it’s their new neighbor with a cross-hatched blueberry pie. Homey! Except for the fact that she bears a striking resemblance to a memory Pat’s still having trouble trying to forget.

Sleeper Star: “I’ve been doing this a long time,” says Dr. Siferr (Harriet Sansom Harris), Pat’s doctor at the Shining Vale women’s psychiatric hospital. “I’ve seen what happens to women who are released too soon. They become dangerous, immoral, whiney…” Harris and Cox are both terrific in this caustic, claustrophobic early scene in the season two premiere. What experienced medical professional wouldn’t absentmindedly offer her patient a cigarette out of her vinyl case with the coin purse clasp? 

Most Pilot-y Line: Gaynor isn’t in a forgiving mood upon her mom’s return from the institution where her family had her committed. After all, she’s been taking care of Pat’s mess for four months. “Jake and I don’t need you, and Dad doesn’t remember you.” 

Our Call: STREAM IT. Given that it’s spooktacular October, you could even stream it alongside some of these freaks. Shining Vale has a great cast, a strong lead performance from Courteney Cox, and scares gathering in its corners – scares that we’re curious about how it will execute here in season two.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.