It's hard to remember what it was like to watch the first season of stranger things it was like. Years later, with a final season pending (and pending, and pending—), the show has become a cultural juggernaut; the way he brought D&D terms to the forefront of culture seems like just a glint in the eye of a fully commercialized monster. But there was a time when stranger things It was just the new Netflix show people were talking about, something that got people excited for its combination of various horror, sci-fi, and '80s influences. It intertwined a triumvirate of stories that collided in one grand battle against evil.
Is that energy that feels best captured in Hysteria!the new Peacock show that launched in one fell swoop this week and is the perfect Halloween marathon of the year.
The scene is from the late 1980s; the setting is the sleepy fictional town of Happy Hollow. After the disappearance of a soccer player, the city is on alert (or, at least, most of it). Dylan (Emjay Anthony) and his bandmates, Spud (Kezii Curtis) and Jordy (Chiara Aurelia), are mainly concerned with how to get their metal band a little more attention. A pentagram is painted on the footballer's house; Dylan learns that an attractive girl at school thinks Satanism is cool; One thing leads to another and suddenly they find themselves in a Satanic rock band, just in time for Satanic Panic to arrive in Happy Hollow.
In the broadest sense, Hysteria! It's about the craziness that people will engage in to finally feel seen. Dylan's desire to please (and appreciated liked it) isn't that far from Tracy (Anna Camp), the Bible-thumping mother, raising fears that a cabal performs ritual sacrifices in a small Michigan town to ease anxieties and feel important, or even her mother, Linda (Julie Bowen). , trying to make sure his son is a good person. Hysteria!Fortunately, he never allows these general ideas to overwhelm the story. Instead, it stays focused on the kind of comedy of errors that Dylan sets up, as the Satanism frenzy sets in and the band has to decide how much they're doubling down on the whole thing.
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It helps that showrunner Matthew Scott Kane takes advantage of the advantage that an ensemble offers the show. With Tracy working hard to generate fervor, Hysteria! You can let Police Chief Dandridge (Bruce Campbell) be the voice of reason. Not all adults are soldiers of God, and the mystery of the narrative flourishes with the freedom of that choice.
Which is great, since Hysteria! has more mystery to give. Because while the town knows the quarterback is missing, Faith (Nikki Hahn) was kidnapped at the same time. And for some reason no one knows she's gone yet. All that and There are actually some strange paranormal shenanigans; people float and get dragged around their house and get strange skin rashes.
Allowing ourselves into that little enigma is exactly how Hysteria! ends up feeling like genuinely great genre programming. The story can range from Dylan and his misguided quest to get laid, or Faith's heartbreaking kidnapping by people in creepy masks, or Linda's worry that she's let her son and the community down, or even the police chief's relationships. with the residents of the city, and all that. creates a more grounded sense of time, city, and terror. Mysteries abound and something A nefarious person stalks the night and no one has the full story. Within the city limits of Happy Hollow, anything seems possible. Everyone has their own version of the story and that affects their perspective on the bigger picture. Hysteria! of everything, in the same way that the three factions of stranger things Season 1 needed to team up to rescue a kidnapped child.
Unlike stranger thingsKane enjoys the story as much as he balances it. Hysteria! It is a kind of tonal tightrope, with touches of suspense and drama that become fuel for the fire of horror influences. Throughout, the characters feel like characters, not just half-remembered Amblin archetypes. The decisions they make inform what happens next, both for Happy Hollow and for Hysteria!and the show is better for it, even if Dylan's musical aspirations suffer.
Hysteria! is now streaming in its entirety on Peacock.