It’s been nearly 20 years since we last saw Jason Voorhees in 2009’s iconic reimagining, titled Friday the 13th. Now, A24 and Peacock team up for an instant classic prequel approach to the material. In case you forgot that memorable trivia question from 1996’s Scream, the killer in the first Friday the 13th was not actually Jason Voorhees at all. Rather, it was his twisted mother, Pamela, who was taking out those she deemed responsible for her son‘s drowning. Taking the framework of the juicy setup, creator and showrunner Brad Caleb Kane recalibrates Linda Cardellini (Scooby Doo) into the lead role as Pamela Voorhees. Exploding with nostalgia, period aesthetics, and a passion for the beloved horror franchise as a whole, Crystal Lake will make you want to immediately book a lakeside cabin for a front-row seat.
As the series begins, Pamela works at Crystal Lake as the cook, under the Christy family, who own Camp Crystal Lake. She lives alone as a single mother with her deformed son, Jason (Callum Vinson). Even though he is constantly bullied, Jason seems to be an incredibly sweet boy who unfortunately has a face only a mother could love. The kids relentlessly bully Jason, tormenting and belittling him. He appears to have a kind soul, given further depth by the nuanced portrayal from Vinson. This Jason feels fully realized, with a distinct love for the outdoors and a desire to be a survivalist. Jason also suffers from seizures, which add to the difficult nature of his upbringing.
But there’s also more going on under the surface. Pamela and Jason seem to be on the run from something, even if their fears do not immediately clear up why they are in hiding. Once Jason‘s signature drowning event occurs, Pamela is driven into an instant bout of depression. We follow this ferocious mother as she hunts for someone to blame for Jason‘s disappearance. Local sheriff Lee (William Catlett) makes for a compelling potential love interest for Pamela, someone always by her side who may have a few skeletons of his own in the closet. Lee’s sister, Brianna (Devin Kessler), a journalist who deals with superfluous stories rather than anything of substance, also comes into play in a major way. The series does a great job of fleshing out its characters without making any moments seem like filler.
Early on, the show establishes counselors mean girl Claudette (Danielle Kotch) and her horny boyfriend Barry (Phoenix Parnevik) as the culprits partially responsible for Jason drowning. The duo were supposed to be watching Jason before his untimely death. These two characters become essential at least in forming a complete picture of Pamela and the larger relations to the original Friday the 13th. The additions to franchise mythos are by far the biggest swing the series takes. Without spoiling anything, the creatives donate plenty of time to slash new life into the world and its players. Brianna works hard at unearthing the mysteries behind the conspiracy at hand. Lee quietly emerges as a potential love interest for Pamela that could take her to different places than her entrapment in this quiet small town would suggest. Even lesser characters, such as a goofy and incompetent deputy (Cameron Scoggins) obsessed with Japanese weaponry, and his horny housewife (Joy Suprano) fling, play into the larger whole. Other side characters that compel are a group of annoying hippies staying at Camp Crystal Lake, along with the sole girl who befriended Jason named Grace (Gwendolyn Sundstrom). While her mothering has been robbed by Jason‘s seemingly untimely death, Pamela leaps at the chance to mother Grace when she discovers that Grace’s family life may be particularly tumultuous. The bond between Grace and Pamela is instantly intoxicating.
Their connection leads to one of the greatest sequences in the entire series, one which directly adapts a sequence from 1980’s Friday the 13th. This segment remains one of my favorite things I’ve seen all year, and the rest of the series has been elevated by its mere inclusion. Nearly every major plot thread has a payoff, and that is a total delight given how easy it would’ve been to just throw something together. By the time the show lays out Jason’s full backstory in a signature flashback episode, all the pieces fall into place. The mythology has been tweaked and twisted so that nearly every Jason installment can fit together seamlessly.
Kane, one of the writers on HBO Max’s excellent It: Welcome to Derry, shows he has no issue in the prequel sphere. His Pamela has far more going on under the surface than a cartoonish loon. Her trademark eccentricities are carried over from the original film, where Betsy Palmer made the most of her fifteen minutes of screentime. Given eight hours, Cardellini is able to expand and add depth to her Mrs. Voorhees beyond anything we have seen before. This marvel of filmmaking astonishes as it neatly ties together the lore. Of course, horror fans will probably want to know if we’ll actually see Jason in full form. Though he didn’t come in as we know him until Friday the 13th: Part 2, in sack head iteration, anyway, the signature icon of the Friday the 13th franchise is uncontested. Though I will not spoil Jason’s ultimate involvement in the plot, discovering the ways they honor his character are truly delightful. Despite a change of showrunner from Bryan Fuller, Crystal Lake feels altogether poignant and immaculately written.
As for the kills, the practical effects are put to full use. Nearly every episode is loaded with at least one truly brutal, shocking kill. Many of these sequences rival the practical effects found in the original run of Paramount movies. If this was a weekly series, highlighting each kill would be more fun; the choice to drop it all at once seems a little bizarre. By favoring the kills so heavily, fans will get exactly what they want, coupled with the mythology they didn’t realize needed expanding. It’s a perfect mixture, one which fully recontextualizes Jason and Pamela Voorhees.
Ultimately though, Pamela and her motherly relationship with Jason ties everything together. The series never flat out says if her connection to Jason is an imagined one or some kind of deeper psychic bond. But this feels like the same woman we saw in 1980. She has mental and emotional scars, she talks to people that aren’t really there, and she takes out her rage and frustrations on those around her. Pamela’s genuine love for her son runs deeper than any bonds she shares with others. Her son was perhaps the only person on earth that really mattered to her, and I think this series will particularly speak to that subset of parents. For a parent, losing your child is the worst pain you could possibly imagine, an almost unfathomable idea. Pamela has to face this horror head-on. The show sets up, in a classic style homage to the title sequence from the original, Pamela’s screams of agony as she races to save her drowning son, this time feeling practically feral. This type of realism clashes spectacularly with the campy nature of Friday the 13th.
Even someone as simplistic as Crazy Ralph from the original, seemingly content to run around telling everyone that they’re doomed, gets considerably more depth as a traumatized war vet (Nick Cordeileone) hellbent on finding whatever lurks within the woods. Between the bevy of homages and a compelling narrative layered with genuine, motherly grief, Crystal Lake more than justifies its existence. Despite being a prequel, Crystal Lake emerges as fresh, exciting, and moreover, the exact Friday the 13th content that fans have been ravenous for over these past many years. Maybe it’s time to reopen Camp Blood!
Kill her mommy… sex, drugs, and bloody carnage come to Crystal Lake, with all episodes streaming on Thursday, October 15th.
