Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is a new Netflix original series shrouded in mystery, even if the title suggests the inevitable will happen. The focus here, though, is the journey to that “Very Bad” thing that is going to happen, and what exactly it could be. It’s a series that demands your attention, with small details being dropped throughout that could easily be missed, which feels like a win in an age where Netflix are rumoured to be making more content designed to be on in the background, while the viewer is on their phone.
Rachel (Camila Morrone) is getting married in five days. Together with her fiancé, Nicky (Adam DiMarco), she embarks on a road trip to his family’s vacation home, secluded in a snowy forest, for the intimate wedding ceremony of their dreams. Which really would be so lovely, except … prone to superstition and paranoia, Rachel can’t shake the relentless feeling that something bad is going to happen. Her foreboding doubts, coupled with a series of eerie coincidences and dreadful surprises, force her to ask the question: What makes two people soulmates? And worse – what could be scarier than a lifelong commitment to the wrong person?
Right from the off, the series does a great job of throwing the audience into a narrative that has a feeling of unease. Rachel and Nicky are a young couple destined to tie the knot at the end of the week; they appear to be desperately in love, yet there’s always a sense of whether it’s real or not simmering in the background. Things soon escalate as the couple arrive at the secluded cabins in the icy woods, with Nicky’s eccentric family on hand to give Rachel a welcome to the family she may never forget.
Haley Z. Boston has created such a mysterious concept that has fun picking away at the layers, the first five episodes possessing strong writing, the characters in particular only raising the levels of paranoia throughout. There’s an unnerving sense twisted into the narrative as a killer is mentioned and supernatural elements brought to the fore as it all progresses, the writing seamlessly fitting them in, and nothing feels shoe-horned in. If the week leading up to a wedding was this stressful, maybe it’s definitely a sign to postpone the ceremony, no?
The interesting array of characters is brought to life through some fine performances led by Morrone’s steely turn as Rachel. With no family to attend their wedding and feeling like a stranger amidst an already strange family, Morrone brings a strength to the role where she more than holds her own. In a cast that includes the likes of Ted Levine and Jennifer Jason Leigh as the parental figureheads of the Cunningham family, that is no mean feat. Both Ted Levine and Jennifer Jason Leigh are great in these roles, too, both welcoming in their nature but odd enough to throw up a few red flags here and there.
Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen opens strongly and, if the final three episodes can stick the landing, we could be looking at one of the best TV mysteries in recent memory. It seems that Netflix excels when it comes to delivering haunting mysteries, and more like this would be most welcome.
★★★★
Streaming on Netflix March 26 (Episodes viewed: 1-5) / Camila Morrone, Adam DiMarco, Jeff Wilbusch, Karla Crome, Gus Birney, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ted Levine, Sawyer Fraser / Netflix / 15
Related
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
