Aless-than-civil neighbourhood
after one glimpse of the Emorys, this self-confessed ‘‘one woman welcome wagon’’ is instead circling them, gathering the local wives together to strategise the best way to drive them out.
Billed as the first
Story, Covenant
American Horror Them: episode which sets its antagonistic and angry tone early and builds towards a bravura breathtaking finale that will leave you gasping – and desperate to know more.
Although this first Them’s
period setting may draw comparisons to last year’s impressive Lovecraft Country,
in truth, this has more in common with the unsettling mood of Jordan Peele’s modern day Get Out, or, to a lesser extent, the surrealness of suburban nightmare Vivarium or the sitcom subversion of Disney+’s Wandavision.
This is the ugly Unpleasantville middle-class America didn’t want the rest of the world to see. A ‘‘black mirror’’ of The Help, if all the white characters were clones of Bryce Dallas Howard’s Hilly.
The excellence – and black humour – extends to the upbeat, Doris Day-esque soundtrack choices, the very visualmetaphors involving cracked wallpaper and dark basements and the Saul Basslike opening credits.
Featuring an exceptional breakout performance from British-born, former Luke Cage star Deborah Ayorinde as the tormented, but determined Livia, Them is a show that should please David Lynch and Spike Lee fans, and one of 2021’s first real examples of must seek-out TV.
Them is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.