Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
There’s no denying that 2017 is the year of Stephen King. Between the mega-successful It, Netflix’s adaptation of Gerald’s Game, and the streaming platform’s recent release of 1922, it’s been pretty difficult to get away from the author in the last few months.
If all this Stephen King content hasn’t gotten to your head yet, there’s another title you may be interested in: The Mist, a Spike series (now streaming on Netflix) based on the author’s 1980 novella of the same name. The series follows the citizens of Bridgeville, Maine as they struggle to survive when an eerie, life-threatening mist rolls into the town. The mist looks innocent, but the residents soon learn that vicious monsters hide inside, eager to tear apart Bridgeville’s citizens in the most gruesome of ways.
The Mist is exactly what it sounds like: a gory horror/thriller that leans on special effects and crazy plot details to keep it interesting. And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. There is *a lot* that happens in this series, and it’s definitely something that will hold your attention if you’re into sci-fi or horror. In the first episode alone, a high school girl is raped, a man appears in town with no recollection of how he got there, a teacher is fired from her job for teaching too-detailed sex ed, and a misunderstood teenager attempts to educate others on what it means to be pansexual. And that’s all in the first 20 minutes!
However, the show doesn’t give us enough time to really care about these characters or their trauma because once the mist rolls in, all hell breaks loose. People start dying left and right, and despite seeing firsthand that those who go into the mist come back with their jaws bitten off or skinned alive, the citizens of Bridgeville keep venturing into that damn fog. It makes sense that they want to be reunited with their loved ones, but if everyone just stayed inside until the fog dissipated (assuming that there aren’t any windows open), everyone would pretty much be okay.
All this is to say that The Mist is by no means the most amazing show you’ll ever watch, but it’s not pretending to be. Instead of trying to be the next Twin Peaks, the Spike series focuses entirely on advancing its totally bananas plot at all costs, and as a result, The Mist ends up being one of the best escapist binge watches out there. If you’re looking to forget about the craziness of everyday life (or more importantly, the craziness of the news cycle), what better way to do it than by immersing yourself in the mindless world of serialized horror?
At the end of the day, the best part about the series is its potential to distract rather than its characters or their relationships (after watching half the season, I can’t remember a single character’s name). The Mist may not be considered can’t miss television, but you should definitely consider it can’t-handle-the-world-anymore television.
