Archive 81: It started strong. Can they keep up the momentum?

One of the biggest problems with Netflix series and really any series anywhere that isn't a silly comedy is that many if not most of them start out strong and then really start to lull about half-way through. So far I have only seen 2.5 episodes of this new thriller on Netflix and I find it intriguing. I guess you could say that while I am hopeful that they keep up the pace, I am pessimistic about this actually happening.

I have intentionally be very vague in this writeup so that there are NO SPOILERS ahead

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The show starts out simply enough, with a young videotape restoration specialist named Dan who has a troubled past that is no immediately evident - and I am not going to spoil it here - but it is revealed over time as the episodes roll on. This part of it is really interesting to me because they drop hints about the fact that he has some level of mental trauma in his life, but they don't come right out and say it. Instead, as the show progresses we are given more and more hints as to what actually happened to him.

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On an unrelated-to-the-story note I really enjoy watching the process of how tapes are restored. This is probably because I come from the time when VHS and to a much lessor degree Betamax were the standard in everyone's homes and we have all had a tape that somehow got mangled and ruined inside of a machine. Watching the careful process of how these things are brought back to form is pretty interesting to see or, at least it was for me.

Without giving up too much of the story let's just say that Dan is hired to restore some tapes for a very large amount of money. Basically it's an offer that he cannot refuse but the deal is shrouded in mystery and as he restores more and more of the tapes, the lives of the people involved in the tape become more and more creepy.

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The story is also told from 2 different perspectives. There is the stuff that is going on with Dan while he is restoring the tapes and also the story being told of the people that are on the tapes. Some of this doesn't make a great deal of sense as far as story continuity is concerned because a lot of what is shown isn't actually contained on the tapes but it's fine with me because it adds to the overall ambiance.

Melody is the person who made the tapes and she has her camera with her in many of the scenes but not all of them, indicating that Dan wouldn't really have access to this information because he is in the present decades later and can only see what she recorded. Oh well, I'll just have to let this aspect of it slide because at least so far, it is really entertaining.

For the most part, I feel as though this story is headed in a really good direction and I am impressed. I think perhaps I may feel this way because for the most part, USA series on Netflix or elsewhere haven't really been that great in the past few years.

This trailer tells you just enough to get you interested but contains no meaningful spoilers

Should I watch it?

So far, I would say yes you should. However, it is important to note that I am not yet finished with this series so I can't comment about the overall quality. If they can keep the pace the way that it is going I think that this will end up being a masterpiece of sorts but I have said this about so many series in the past that ended up shooting themselves in the foot at around the halfway point so honestly, it is too early for me to say. I'm only a 3rd of the way through so a lot can change in the following 6 episodes. Will they screw it up? Will it get even better? Based on what I know about Netflix this could go either way. For now though, I think this one is worth a look