Lore Season 2, Episode 6 review: Interesting, bright, but just not Lore

Lore Season 2, Episode 6 focuses on the love story of Jack Parsons and Marjorie Cameron. While it was a bright, interesting, and weird episode, it just didn’t quite feel like Lore.

Lore Season 2, Episode 6 is the story all about Jack Parsons. Well, more like his infatuation and need for the Scarlet Woman, otherwise known as Marjorie Cameron. It was a bright and intriguing episode, but it didn’t quite feel like Lore. That’s not necessarily a bad thing from a storytelling point of view but did lose some of what makes this horror podcast anthology as unique as it is.

There are many tales that could have been told of Jack Parsons, including his obsession of sending rockets into space and his life in the Philomena Church. Instead, the episode focused on Jack’s obsession with the Scarlet Woman. Marjorie Cameron becomes his muse in a dangerous and twisted way.

A bright, entertaining episode

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I’ll start with all the positives because there certainly are many. This episode of Lore was bright and entertaining. The way it was filmed pulled you into Jack’s lifestyle and his mind.

Narrated by Josh Bowman as Jack Parsons, we were immediately pulled into who this guy was. There was the demon raising, the sex magic, the obsession of rockets, and so much more. Bowman described Jack as being all about “sex, drugs, and rocket fuel,” and that’s exactly the feeling you get from the first second of this episode.

It’s so completely different to the other episodes that you kind of forget what you’re watching. And you can’t take your eyes off the screen because it’s so graphically detailed.

We get a chance to see what Jack is seeing, whether it’s the demon in the wall when he was eight or the scarlet woman in his very first rocket. This is just a look at his mindset and it certainly pushes the knowledge that this episode would never work as a Lore podcast episode.

Excellent acting, directing, and set design

There’s no doubt that everyone involved in this episode was on-point throughout. If you’ve seen Revenge or Time After Time, you’ll know that Josh Bowman is a chameleon actor. He oozes charisma and charm when he needs to. This is a guy who gets deep into his character and that was needed to play Jack Parsons.

Then there’s Alicia Witt who is the epitome of Marjorie Cameron. It’s hard to even imagine the real Marjorie in this role because Alicia is full of confidence, sensuality, and creativity throughout the episode. You can feel her emotions, whether she’s loved up, suffering from the bad trip, or trying to make Jack realize that she wants to be more than just a tool.

Despite being filmed in Prague, the set was just perfect for Pasadena. It felt like Jack and his friends were in the desert of California for their rockets. There was never a moment that you were pulled out of the location or the time period.

At every moment, you feel like you’re in this episode with them. Your own world disappears, bringing out this story and drawing you into the craziness of this somewhat romantic episode.

It’s just not Lore

My only complaint is that it just didn’t feel like an episode of Lore. While every episode is a different tale and has a different set of actors, “Jack Parsons: The Devil and the Divine” just wasn’t a horror story. It was a love story with a somewhat dark and crazy twist.

If Aaron Mahnke was narrating this season, his voice and storytelling wouldn’t have worked for the actual storytelling. The way this was set up needed Josh Bowman to tell the story as Jack. The only way Mahnke’s narration would have worked is if there was more of a focus on Jack’s mind and his love of magic and belief in demons and angels. The episode would have needed to focus on the horrors of the Church of Philomena and Jack’s obsession with science and sex magic instead of the romance story.

Don’t get me wrong, I adored the episode. I just forgot I was watching an episode of a horror anthology series.

What did you think of “Jack Parsons: The Devil and the Divine?” What would you have liked to see in Lore Season 2, Episode 6? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Lore Seasons 1 and 2 are available on Amazon Prime Video now.