First off let me open by stating I am a huge fan of Aaron Mahnke and his work, so when I heard the “Lore” television series was canceled, I was saddened. I listen to “Lore,” “Aaron Mahnke’s Cabinet of Curiosities,” and thoroughly enjoyed the first season of his “Unobscured” podcast, which explored the history of the Salem Witch Trials. I was even a huge fan of the first season of the “Lore” television series, which premiered on Amazon in 2017. But when season two of the series premiered on October 19, 2018, there was something significantly lacking from the series, which I pointed out at the time.
Finally started watching season 2 of @Lore_TV Such a huge disappointment. They stripped everything that makes Lore what it is out of the show. I watched 2 episodes hoping it would get better, but it doesn't. There is no narration or deeper insight. Just reenactments. 👎
— Mike Wilton (@mwilton13) November 5, 2018
I’ve since learned that Mahnke takes offense to such tweets, which he made adamantly clear following a tweet from another user about the cancellation earlier today, and while the tweet was a bit harsher than my tweet last year, I personally feel there was some merit to the particular twitter user’s criticism.
Saved for the educational value, because creators pour out their heart and soul to make something, and your personal dislike of it doesn’t earn you the right to aim hatred at them.
— Aaron Mahnke (@amahnke) July 27, 2019
Don’t do this. 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/BPzybKyGUV
Aaron Mahnke has made a name for himself as a storyteller. So when season two of the Amazon series premiered without Mahnke’s narration the show lost the essence of what “Lore” is. “Lore” is just as much about Mahnke’s storytelling as it is about the stories themselves. Mahnke’s narration is what transports us to those worlds, those points in time. When you remove Mahnke from the equation it simply loses some of its charm and what we as fans of Mahnke and of “Lore” have come to love. I can only assume this is what Zeus Legion meant when he said, “they just didn’t seem to get it” in his tweet about the show’s cancellation.
The first season of “Lore” was a docu-drama and it worked because it found that perfect balance between Mahnke’s narration and the use of actors to dramatize the story. Like in the podcast, Mahnke took us on a journey and added anecdotes to what we saw on the screen, something that was completely removed from season two. In season two we relied solely on what was being acted out on screen to tell the story, nothing added, and its there where the series lost its essence.
I don’t doubt that people “worked their asses off” to make season two the best they felt it could be and without the “Lore” name or previous season tied to it, it may have worked based on the performances and stories alone. However, Mahnke has built a very specific experience around “Lore,” one he should be proud of and while it’s unfortunate the series was canceled, I do feel that a big part of why the second season failed is because it lacked the experience fans have come to expect from the world of “Lore.” I think in losing that experience, the show lost viewership. I know I never returned to season two after realizing Mahnke had been removed from the equation.
As a fan of Mahnke, I feel for him and the loss of his series, but I also hope he realizes that the world he has created is special and it has a specific feel to it that the second season of the “Lore” television series just didn’t capture. If you for some reason ever read this Aaron, know this isn’t me hating on you as a creator, this is me applauding you for what you’ve created and I hope you can see how losing your storytelling in season two lost some of what makes “Lore” so special.
