LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Season One
Strange Little Girl
★★★
UK/US Paramount+, streaming now Creator Andrew Hinderaker
Cast Demián Bichir, Anika Noni Rose,
Madison Taylor Baez, Grace Gummer
Does a TV show protagonist have to be likeable? Not necessarily. But it can be an obstacle if nearly all the main characters are morally repugnant.
“Inspired by” John Ajvide Lindqvist’s 2004 novel, this series deviates significantly from the source. The core is the same: a 12-year-old girl (Ellie), actually an older vampire, is befriended by a bullied boy (Isaiah); her guardian (father Mark) supplies the blood she needs. The kids’ relationship remains touching; young actors
Madison Taylor Baez and Ian Foreman are excellent. But the show builds new structures on top, like a second vamp (“15-year-old” Peter) and his support network.
The guardian (Demián Bichir) is much more the focus here than in the film versions – and he’s killed over 100 people. Peter’s sister Claire (Grace Gummer) becomes complicit in not only murders but dealing a drug which causes users to claw people’s faces off, and kidnapping people to use as test subjects. The rationale is that people will do anything for love, but we’re pretty sure all the above would be on Meat Loaf’s “… but I won’t do that” list.
Most appalling of all, somehow: after slitting a guy’s throat, Mark discovers he was the ex-husband of Isaiah’s mother… and still ends up wooing her. The capper on the pile of coincidences: she’s a homicide cop working the case. The show has more than its fair share of such inedible concepts, from a laughable work-around on the “vampires must be invited in” rule, to Claire’s handy expertise in everything from DNA sequencing to brain surgery.
In the stand-out episode, a protracted flashback to the time when Ellie was first infected with the vampire virus, you do feel some sympathy for Mark. Positioned earlier, it might have made a world of difference. Placed seventh in the run, it comes rather too late. Ian Berriman
In the original novel (spoilers ahead!), Eli’s guardian is a paedophile… and “she” is actually a castrated boy.