Supernatural series starring teenagers and tweens are more popular than ever, because of the popularity of shows like Wednesday, Stranger Things, Teen Wolf, and whatever the hell was going on in the last couple of seasons of Riverdale.
Superpowers and super-drama are in high demand, yet excellent quality may be difficult to find. There is a monster mash of supernatural thrillers available right now, many of which star young adults. We look at The Last of Us, Wolf Pack, and Lockwood & Co. – shows where the kids aren’t doing so well, despite the fact that the shows are so much more, with spore-infected monsters, ghosts, and werewolves.
The Last of Us (HBO)
In recent years, or at least since The Sopranos became the show of choice, there has been controversy concerning the value of theatrical releases over television. Reviewers, Cinema Twitter users, and Redditors can engage in a heated dispute about this matter, and both sides have compelling arguments to back up their claims. The Last of Us, on the other hand, is a prime example of outstanding, elevated television that outperforms most film offerings. HBO has produced high-quality television once again, thanks to creator Neil Druckmann and Chernobyl author Craig Mazin, but this time it comes from an unlikely source: a zombie computer game.
The Last of Us follows Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) as he attempts to escort Ellie, 14, across the post-apocalyptic wasteland that was once America. In Game of Thrones, Bella Ramsey plays Ellie. Civilization was destroyed when spores evolved to infect humans and transform them into fungal symbiotes with homicidal instincts. While traveling the open road, despite the dangers offered by people and monsters, Joel tries to convey his ward to the Fireflies, a rebel group that believes Ellie’s immunity to the spores is the key to human survival.
Now, HBO cannot be fully blamed for the excellent storyline. The Last of Us was a fun game before the Home Box Office became interested in it. The story, on the other hand, thrived due to the talents of its cast and writers, elevating the gripping tale from a fascinating interpretation to an incredible one. Pascal and Ramsey’s friendship develops from episode to episode, which adds to the success of their character relationship. In fact, it looks that The Last of Us is out every week to shatter viewers’ hearts by depicting stories that may soften even the hardest hearts.
The love story between Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) is part of a brief narrative in the game that is laced with tragedy, and no better example of this is the love story in episode three, “Long, Long Time,” but the two’s life and love together on the show are without a doubt one of the most romantic episodes of television ever made.
HBO takes a well-written plot and turns it into an exciting and fascinating narrative that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats with devastating sequences and genuinely horrifying twists in The Last of Us. This show is raising the bar for all television, not just adaptations and horror shows. Let’s hope it can keep the momentum going and live up to the genuine terror and anguish it has so far brought to the screen. There’s still time to become a fan of Fungus because Episode 7 (seen above) airs this week on February 26 and the season finale (Episode 9) airs on March 12. Don’t be the last one standing.
Wolf Pack (Paramount Plus)
Following a fire that sent a swarm of filthy rodents fleeing the Angeles National Forest, the ravenous mice shifted their attention to a bus full of high school students, eating and biting their way through the crowd. Few students survive the beastie love bites, and as they transform into monsters, they form psychic bonds with new fanged friends.
Blake (Bella Shepard), a strong girl with family problems, and Everett (Armani Jackson), an “inside kid” with terrible, terrible parents and a severe case of anxiety, are among the ragged group of high school kids. Luna and Harlan Briggs, two foundlings with full moon fever, join Chloe Rose Robertson and Tyler Lawrence Gray. While they look for solutions, the gang becomes a reluctant pack.
Wolf Pack was established by Jeff Davis of Teen Wolf for Paramount+ in an attempt to attract the interest of a younger audience that might not be interested in Yellowstone. Former vampire hunter Sarah Michelle Geller swapped in her stakes for a badge as LAFD Investigator Kristin Ramsey to help their cause as one of the few pleasant adults on the show. Most people over thirty are idiots, or jerks, but in addition to Geller, there’s Rodrigo Santoro as Garrett Briggs, Luna and Harlan’s father, who discovered them when they were puppies.
Despite the fact that many of the characters are chosen from the YA textbook on how to form a diverse high school friend group, Wolf Pack contains a lot more blood, guts, and profanity than one would expect from an adolescent frolic (a tomboy, a nerd, a popular jock, etc.). Despite the abundance of overdone clichés, the drama has some bite due to the devastation.
Locksmith and Co. (Netflix)
Teens with extraordinary abilities are chosen to fight ghosts without the assistance of a talking dog or any other caring adult. Although viewers are accustomed to monsters and wayward youngsters, Netflix’s Lockwood & Co. provides an engaging blend of both, especially for those looking forward to a return to Wednesday’s Nevermore Academy or Stranger Things’ Hawkins.
Based on Jonathan Stroud’s novels, Lockwood lives in a world where ghosts are acknowledged as a result of an episode known as “The Trouble,” in which spirits began to materialize and cause issues for ordinary people. Since phantoms are now ubiquitous, telekinetic teens who must battle the boogeymen are also a part of modern life. There are currently a number of ghost-hunting investigation companies made up of indentured families, unruly children, runaways, and bullies that confront ghosts, spirits, and anything else that moves at odd hours of the night.
The series revolves around the tiny firm Lockwood & Co., which is led by Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman) and includes Lucy (Ruby Stokes), a young woman with listening abilities, and George (Ali Hadji-Heshmati), a young curmudgeon who serves as the agency’s brains.
Stokes performs admirably as the show’s star, stepping up from her underused role as Francesca Bridgerton and eliciting sympathy for Lucy, a young woman who had a rough childhood as a result of her remarkable abilities and an avaricious mother. Although everyone on the show does their fair share of work, what makes the show so compelling is the universe it imagines, in which young ghost hunters are taught and have important positions in society.
Lockwood & Co. has superb world-building as well as a fantastic tone. The show’s moments of dread are wonderfully complemented by the teenage cast’s acting abilities, and it was a brilliant choice to include music from Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie & The Banshees, and other creepy alt rock bands to create an appropriate mood. These elements distinguish Lockwood & Co. from other young adult thrillers, allowing them to avoid tired stereotypes about mystery-solving youngsters.
