Crystal Lake Review

Review: Crystal Lake works in large part thanks to Linda Cardellini's turn as Pamela Voorhees, while showrunner Brad Caleb Kane gives the series a thorough background on the original Friday the 13th films.

All eight episodes of Crystal Lake will air on Peacock on October 15. This is a mostly spoiler-free review, but if you want to know anything about the series, it's best to click here.

It's a complicated thing, telling a prequel story. Not only do fans of what is becoming a prequel know where the story will end, but they already have ideas about how the events leading up to their favorite main story will play out. Essentially, the creators of a prequel have the deck in front of them before they even put pen to paper. Or, in the case of Crystal Lake - the new Friday the 13th prequel series - put a knife to your throat.

Crystal Lake: 5 Things We Learned From Episode 1

But then again, a prequel can work well when it figures out how to paint (in this case in blood) within the larger focal lines while also developing its own world, one full of interesting characters, a new story worth investing in, and enough twists and turns to keep you looking at the page (before a few inevitably pop out or get punctured). Having a cast led by the always excellent (and recent Emmy winner) Linda Cardellini doesn't hurt either.

Cardellini stars as Pamela Voorhees, a character that your horror fan friend is always proud to remind you of—just in case you've forgotten—was actually the killer in the first Friday the 13th movie, before her more famous son Jason starred in Part 2. Pamela, originally played by Betsy Palmer, went crazy after a boy drowned at Camp Crystal Lake summer camp due to the negligence of a pair of camp counselors, who ended up murdering the bereaved mother in the first film... before meeting her own untimely death.

The long and short of it has been Pamela's since her 1980 film debut, but now showrunner Brad Caleb Kane (who also wrote and produced It: Welcome to Derry) and Cardellini are giving us a very different take on Pam. Unlike Palmer's campy work, Pam Cardellini is a thoroughly grounded character who you really root for, even as the hows and whys of her landing in Crystal Lake with her young son—yes, Jason is here—slowly unfold over the course of eight episodes.

It's a little difficult to dig into the points of this show without giving away various fun surprises for those who stick with it, but I will say that I really should have let episode 1 sink in before I was ready to move on. Much of this has to do with the inclusion of 11-year-old Jason (played by Calum Vinson), who is portrayed as a typical little kid who is physically, well, different from the other kids at camp. Caleb Cain and his production team manage to find a balance between the different looks of Jason that the series of Friday the 13th films has given us continuously over the decades. But at first it's a little annoying to see this little kid just being a normal little brat saying things like, "Yeah, I'm going to read this whole thing tonight!" By the time he raises his new machete in the air, which is part of the camping kit Pam ordered from him, well…

But then Cardellini and Vinson have some really tender moments together, and you find yourself wishing Jason was just the dumb, mutant monster from the movies. This is a prequel, and you know we'll get to it eventually! And indeed, Caleb Cain reminds us of this when Jason soon exits the scene, as cinematic fate has decreed.

Crystal Lake doesn't hold back when it comes to gore, with a fairly insane fight scene in the pilot that goes from scary to funny and back again.

What's really about Crystal Lake is how Pam goes from being a normal, loving mother to a mute, mutant, but determined monster who one day puts an arrow through Kevin Bacon's throat, among other shameful acts. The character's slow descent is methodically followed throughout the season as she must deal not only with the loss of her son but also with her own mysterious past. Jason must have gotten his skills with a blade from somewhere!

The show fills a group of towns and campsites with varying degrees of effectiveness. Cameron Scoggins as the not-so-intelligent Dwarf Officer - a legacy character from the movies! — is a lot of fun, with Gwendoline Sundstrom playing Jason's troubled young friend, Grace. The latter is a character that adds a new layer to what we thought we knew about Jason's origin story. After her son is gone, for better or for worse, she acts as Jason's sort of surrogate for Pamela. However, some other townspeople are less interesting and patronize the TV cast a little too much for their own good.

The standout of the ensemble beyond Cardellini, however, is William Catlett as Sheriff Levon Brooks, who, like Pam, has a dark past that he prefers not to dwell on, even if he can't quite shake it. His empathy with Pam leads to a strong relationship between the two, and both actors find different shades to play with. How much does Pam really care about Levon, versus how much is she using him to protect her against any suspicions about the increasing number of violent incidents happening in town? Cardellini never fully lets on.

And speaking of those incidents... Crystal Lake starts off with a rather insane fight scene in the pilot episode when it comes to gore, going from scary to funny and back again. I didn't keep count, but almost every episode has some kind of crazy rant scene that, depending on how you feel about such things, will either gasp or cringe...or both.

Caleb Kane and his writers certainly know the source material, and they cleverly write about the events that eventually happen in the movies. As Crystal Lake draws to a close in eight episodes, some of those same fans may be disappointed with the developments or changes or additions to Jason's universe as a whole, while others will be happy with how it all came together. But you know what they say: You can't make a Friday the 13th prequel without killing a few horned teenagers — or annoying a few fans.

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The prequel to Crystal Lake works in large part thanks to Linda Cardellini's turn as Pamela Voorhees, as the actress brings different shades to the previously one-note character — Pam is a tragic figure, a fierce fighter, and a kind and caring mother. Meanwhile, showrunner Brad Caleb Kane brings a thorough knowledge of the original source material to the eight-episode series, while also keeping an eye on what a show like this needs to do beyond just giving us compelling characters. That is, he knows that we need to see some really fun and scary murders. Crystal Lake may take issue with some fans as to how it ties together the various elements of Friday the 13th, but I found that it all came together well in the end. As for you, why don't you dive into the lake and find out for yourself?