'The Mist' Recap: 'Pilot'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

As the television landscape continues to grow and evolve, a new trend has emerged...the T.V. series based off of a major motion picture. Granted this is nothing new to the business, but as of late they seem to be popping up left and right. Fox introduced Lethal Weapon to the small screen in the last year and their cable spinoff FX has seen plenty of success with Fargo, so it only makes sense for Spike to jump into the foray, and expand upon a modern horror classic by providing us with their own unique adaptation of The Mist. 

Now this is an adaptation that immediately caught my eye simply due to the fact that I'm a huge fan of the source material; the Stephen King novella, and of the 2007 Frank Darabont film adaptation, and considering how perfect and distinctly different those two variations of the story turned out to be, I sat down to watch the 'Pilot' episode of this series, with a myriad of mixed emotions. On the plus side, I certainly had no problem embracing a wild redesign of the story since the film changed up plenty from the written form of the story, but at the same time, my chief concern when I settled in to watch this, was whether or not this new iteration would follow in the footsteps of its predecessors and deliver a visceral and terrifying experience.  

Which means it is time to get down to the million dollar question when it comes to this show, is it a tour de force of terror that holds a flame to the source material? Well...unfortunately, the only appropriate answer to that question, is that only time will tell. Because it's clear now that this version of The Mist wants to accomplish some wildly different things storytelling wise. It truly wants to be a solid character drama, as evidenced by the vast amount of time we spend meeting the main characters and dealing with their respective and at times, disturbing plights before the titular Mist descends upon the small town of Bridgeville, Maine and what is incredibly fascinating about going in this character driven direction, is the fact that the show has only introduced us to a handful of good natured characters, making one wonder if the series is going to focus on redemption as well down the line.

In addition to starting off in a slower and more methodical fashion storytelling wise, I also noticed as the hour played out...that social commentary, a staple of science fiction and horror is going to be prevalent here as well, since the show put a heavy focus on the generational divide that America seems to be currently going through when it comes to morals and values courtesy of Eve's storyline and while that may seem tame when compared to other works in the genre, that was just the beginning. Because in addition to that overreaching theme, the show also explored police brutality and cruelty, teen sex and sexual assault and treating members of the LGBTQ community with the respect they deserve and throwing that many themes into the mix undoubtedly means these storylines are going to rear their head once more as the season progresses along. 

When all is said and done however, I'm legitimately intrigued by this new series. There is some serious potential here to take to us some incredibly dark places with just the character's storylines alone, and once fear settles in things could take a turn for the morbidly fascinating. Plus, it does look like it can deliver when it comes to the gross out factor because the effects are simply notch. Regardless, I'm definitely pressing on. I have to see how this new approach pans out for the series, and that's what makes this pilot a rousing success...it's done just enough to draw us in and make us wonder what possibilities await us and if the powers that be behind the scenes are reeling us in like a proverbial spider into their web, we are going to be in for some horrifying and magnificent treats down the road. Until next time. 

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