Main cast: Peter Weller (Lionel Lassiter), Steve Agee (Guy Landon), Eric André (Randall Roth), Sofia Boutella (Dr Zahra), and Charlyne Yi (Charlotte Xie)
Director: Panos Cosmatos

It’s 1979. Wealthy but reclusive and eccentric Lionel Lassiter invites four people for a very special viewing of a mysterious artifact that he keeps in his home, the Sandpiper House. These people are Guy London (grumpy author of woo-woo stuff), Randall Roth (zen musician), Charlotte Xie (cringe-causing caricature of a nerdy astrophysicist), and Targ Reinhhard (pretentious twat astrologist that can bend spoons and other stuff). What is it that he wants them to see, and will it lead to interesting paranormal shenanigans?

The Viewing is visually arresting, with a touch of drug-addled hallucination aesthetics that seem to be Panos Cosmatos’s trademark. Peter Weller chews scenery with style, while Sofia Boutella does what she can with her limited role as some kind of sexy doctor that acts like she’s high all the time.

Also, the bulk of the episode is made up of beautiful, stylish scenes like it’s a behind the scenes montage for an edgy photo shoot.

As the episode progresses, things become even more freaky, visually, culminating in a denouement that would be right at home in one of Brian Yuzna’s more freaky works; Screaming Mad George will likely to be proud of the campy yet absurdly effective special effects in that moment.

However, this episode really has no good story to tell. It’s all style but zero substance.

In fact, I won’t be surprised if this episode had been just an excuse for the people involved in it to get together and do whatever Hollywood people do—partake cocaine, have orgies, sacrifice a baby or two to the Devil, et cetera—at the expense of the folks that genuinely believe that they are making a proper show!

So yes, watch this for the campy CGI and the visuals, as well as for Peter Weller doing his thing with style. Just don’t expect much of anything else.