Labyrinth Review: “Part One” And “Part Two”

In part two, the transition between present and past, which was fairly easy to tolerate the previous night, became a bit more jarring. The closer Alice gets to uncovering the truth, which I’m not sure we ever really got, the more lengthy Alais’s scenes became. Truth starts to be revealed, but only in bits and pieces, and there’s an overwhelming lack of cohesion between how we got from here to there. That’s not to say that viewers can’t keep up, it’s just that they might not want to.

In the end, it’s a toss up between whether Alice or Alais was the more interesting character. Although they both have their fair share of quirks, somewhere between the exhausting flashbacks and the half-answers, interest starts to flail, the story becomes disorienting and rushed, and it stops mattering either way.

Alais was definitely the stronger character in the first part. Even living in blissful ignorance, she remained a woman who stood by her principles. That fades somewhat in part two. She finds herself being protected on several different fronts. She also ends up in the arms of her cheating husband, who she refused to withdraw her loyalty from even after finding out about his betrayal. There’s something inherently strong about forgiveness, but it also seems like a step backwards.

Although Alice’s story ends on a much happier note, her character is often motivated by others, several of whom she barely knows. Her journey is propelled forward by the influence of romantic entanglements – first, her break up which brought her to France on holiday, and then, Will’s propensity to connect the dots and generally project his curiosity onto Alice. Overall, she becomes washed out and fills less of a protagonist role. Instead, she acts more so as the catalyst for the story than anything else.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing outstanding about either part of Labyrinth. The acting is subpar and the story becomes hard to follow at several key junctures. Even worse is that the ending leaves a lot to be desired. Although it arguably wraps up the mystery, it answers a lot of the underlying questions in a vague and thus, unsatisfactory manner.

Honestly, you’re best off skipping this one completely.