This was original and thoughtful. I did actually hesitate before starting it as I felt that the basic scenario and setting (a hospice for teens) would be a bit too dark and intense for me but while not underplaying the intrinsic sadness of this scenario, it proved to be grippingly watchable. The long-term future was never forgotten but it did not wholly dominate, as I feared it might.
For the series as a whole there were a couple of very strong elements; one was the use of the music which was marvelously controlled and balanced and not over-insistent while the other was the very effective and original use of one of he biggest (and usually worst-used) visual clichés of the horror-thriller genre viz the jump scares. There were a LOT of these and yet, every time, they worked (against the odds, certainly statistically) and for this the creators deserve much praise for the skill they showed. As ever, it is not a cinematic technique that is itself the problem but rather the wisdom as to how it is used. Here it was used marvelously effectively.
The connection between the stories told, the teller, with connections to their character or situation or past life, was, largely, very effectively done, and only occasionally did it come across as forced.
Thinking now about some major strengths of certain episodes, I enjoyed Ep. 4, a (slightly) tongue-in-cheek parody of the 30’s hard-boiled investigator story. It seemed appropriate that a teen would try (too hard) to tell a story in a very distinct style – and it was well done. Episode 7 was also amusing with some brief jokes at the expense of Law and Order and the like series (here Order and Reprimand) And Episode 8 was very fine; effectively dark and quite a moving exploration of depression. The plot development in Episode 9 was particularly well done too.
And so we come to the final climactic episode. It was good and, I felt, both dramatically and emotionally mature, for both the characters’ acceptance of what would happen to them as well as being for us a powerfully cathartic ending. The mystical element, I think, just about worked (but one would be wanting it to be working anyway, so…) and did provide the right sort of conclusion.
But, all in all, petty sound. And now awaiting The Fall of the House of Usher – his farewell to Netflix.