Netflix’s new series The Innocents is weird, but not in the way you might expect.
It’s a gloomy YA sci-fi thriller about young love and shapeshifters. June and Harry run away from their controlling families to find freedom — except, oops! June discovers she can shapeshift into other people, and she’s being hunted by a big Norwegian dude. Soon enough the families are on their trail as well. The stunning Norwegian scenery contrasted with dark alleyways and dusty roads make this a beautiful series for your eyeballs to enjoy.
So June and Harry run about, trying to figure out what the deal is with this shapeshifting thing. It’s quite easy for the audience to grasp — the weirdness isn’t in the core concept, but in how the show is executed. The Innocents is a riveting slow-burn, with a plot that goes in circles, uncovering buried secrets and character-driven conflicts. Typical genre tropes are left in the dust.
There is an intense focus on the choices characters make, choices that propel the story forward, with enough grey-area surrounding them that you’re never quite sure what they will decide. Some of the best moments of the show are when the consequences of those choices are realized.
The romance has heavy focus, and gets tiresome, but the two leads have charm and chemistry aplenty to keep you rooting for them. Unfortunately, the show leans heavily into the teen angst. The melodrama almost lost me a few times, but the intrigue pulled me back.
The Innocents has a compelling mystery, but not one that builds up to an explosive finale. Rather, it unravels gently, with the past as integral as the present. The plot threads twine together organically. Some of these threads are real thin, but they are all nice and tidy by the end. Every piece of the puzzle fitted into place. It’s one of those binge-watch shows where you can fall asleep for a bit somewhere around the middle, and wake up an episode later to find you didn’t miss much.
The whole shapeshifting thing is a clear metaphor for struggling to find your identity. The Innocents handles it well, without being to on the nose, and delves into an interesting look at mother-daughter relationships.
It’s certainly worth a watch, and the harrowing moments of the final scene left me hungry for a season two. My rating for The Innocents is a well done steak out of 10.
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