Marble Hornets Season 2 review: Episodes 27 to 42

!!!!!!SEASON 1 AND 2 SPOILERS!!!!!!

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Picking up after the wonderful conclusion to season 1, Marble Hornets once again puts us in the shoes of Jay, our video uploading protagonist whose life is changed permanently after encountering a fearsome paranormal entity known as The Operator.

After his self imposed exile at season 1’s conclusion, the opening of season 2 brings Jay to a hotel room, his base of operations for the season. Whereas the previous 26 episodes were all about the study of tapes made by fellow antagonist Alex, the series breaks into new ground with real time footage. Here Jay encounters Jessica, his new neighbour who seems to be hiding more than she lets on. However events soon shift back to the usual style, as Jay has suffered from a 7 month blackout, only uncovering his actions during that time via a stash of tapes he uncovers. Marble Hornets use of framed narrative is still excellent with creator Troy Wagner and Co being happy to throw chronology out of the window as the episodes dart through time. It’s always confusing but never muddled, the unpredictability of the narrative adds to the foreboding atmosphere. Towards E40 the creators make more bold narrative choices-showing the same time zone from 3 perspectives to tell a more cohesive whole-for instance, further proof of the series willingness to toy with its audience.

Marble Hornets has always been an intense and often scary experience, but this horror has been developed excellently thanks to the combination of episodes set in the past and the present. A shocking occurrence in Episode 37 is made even more unsettling as the ‘flashback’ tapes are uncovered, developing characters and furthering the mystery of the series more intriguing aspects. The slithers of information about The Operator are exciting, with Alex divulging in some backstory for the emotionless stalker. The series has taken some bold strides into paranormal territory this season, a remarkable gamble considering the almost nonexistent budget the creators work with. What's even more surprising is how effective they are, but dabbling with such themes can be risky considering the expense of the payoff required when the entire story comes to an end.  

Thanks to some entertaining narrative payoff, wonderful new characters and more gripping scraps of story, it’s more than apparent that Marble Hornets season 2 doesn’t intend to be more of the same. The plot is as riveting as it’s ever been and the scares are in full force, despite being a tad jumpy and more than a little cheap. The meddling with newer, unexplained supernatural themes is a risky one, it demands payoff or the series might succumb to the weight of its own expectation.

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