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Netflix
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ Vol. 4 on Netflix, Where The Legacy Docuseries Tackles More Intrigue From The Annals Of True Crime
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Modern Masters: S.S. Rajamouli’ on Netflix, A Documentary About The World Renowned 'RRR' Filmmaker
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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Mission: Cross’ on Netflix, A Marriage and Mission You Should Choose Not to Accept
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Here's Why the Tom Cruise 'Jack Reacher' Movies Are Better Than the TV Show Everyone Loves
As great as this era of peak TV is, sometimes you don’t want to watch the latest critically beloved but overly complicated show. Sometimes you just want to watch something simple, a story with a fairly predictable premise, solid acting, and enough drama to keep you entertained without being so dense you need to take notes. Netflix’s The Forest hears your exhausted TV woes, and it’s here to help.
Set in the Belgian Ardennes, the French miniseries is fairly typical crime drama. A teenager girl goes missing (this time it’s 16-year-old Jennifer, played by Isis Guillaume), the cops suspect murder, and it’s up to a jaded detective (Captain Gaspard Deker, played by Samuel Labarthe) to figure out what actually happened. There’s even a mysterious stranger thrown into the mix, Eve (Samuel Labarthe) an aloof woman who knows more than she should. Can the cops find Jennifer before it’s too late? And what’s going on in that sinister forest?
There’s nothing groundbreaking about The Forest. The crime at its center isn’t as emotionally exhausting as Broadchurch; there aren’t as many twists as Ozark; and it’s not filled with warped supernatural motifs like Bordertown or Dark. It’s a by-the-books murder mystery that’s told in a relatively tight six hours with decent acting and a very creepy villain. But that more than anything else, you can binge the entire mystery in one day-long streaming session, and you don’t even have to give it your full attention to keep up. Since English-speaking audiences need subtitles to watch, you’re going to have to pay attention a little. But the show isn’t so dense that you can’t answer a text or make food while streaming it.
That last part may sound like an insult, but it’s not. During a time when it feels like you need a conspiracy murder board just to remember what happened on Westworld or who you can trust on The Handmaid’s Tale, a show that gets the job done in six episodes without requiring your full attention feels like a little blessing.
If understanding the best shows of 2018 is starting to feel like a second job, give The Forest a shot. It’s an excellent palate cleanser. Mind you, because the language options are only in French, Portuguese, German, Italian, and Spanish, English-speaking viewers are going to have to do some reading. But if you’re looking for a solid crime drama to keep you entertained as you recover from your hangover, The Forest is for you.
