INTO THE DARK “Flesh & Blood” is Frail & Boring

A young girl suffering from agoraphobia comes to the realization that the only thing she may have to truly fear, is living with her. The second episode in the Into the Dark series, focuses on Thanksgiving and families struggling with a loss. Starring Diana Silvers and Dermot Mulroney, “Flesh & Blood” has a fantastic, mysterious premise to work off of, but it fails to do much more with it.

Kimberly (Silvers) is a sweet teen living with her father whilst suffering from a debilitating phobia of the outside. A year prior saw tragedy for the family, as Kimberly’s mother was murdered – the case going unsolved. She regularly gets visits from her therapist to discuss of lack of progress and to continue processing the painful loss of her mom. She takes comfort in a group of friends online who all suffer from the same anxiety as she does, which is her only real connection with the outside world.

Her father (Mulroney) , meanwhile, spends his time renovating their home, perhaps as a distraction. For her birthday, he gifts Kimberly a lovely charm necklace. The sweet gift turns cause for concern as Kimberly recognizes it on the news, worn by a missing girl. As she researches similar missing persons, she sees a pattern resembling her mothers death. She comes to the terrifying realization that the killer could be closer to her than imaginable.

I really wanted to like this episode, as it had a really solid opportunity for a great story. The mystery around the mothers murder, the confinement of the home and the terror within – it had all the makings for a somewhat Hitchcockian Rear Window take. However, the script takes the viewer for an idiot, painfully spelling out everything and being over-the-top in revealing every single piece. There’s no room for interpretation, no room for that mystery to grow – you are spoon-fed the story.

It fails to shock you as a viewer due to the lack of ambiguity in the first and even second act. To make matters worse, the acting is pretty bad. I don’t want to completely fault the cast, as both Silvers and Mulroney have proven their acting capabilities in other projects. I can only blame a poorly written script and lack of creativity, that makes a perfect formula for uninspired performances.

Though I wasn’t a fan of this episode, and even when others in the series are flawed, I still enjoy watching each and every one. Like I’ve said before, these types of anthology series can really offer such a wide variety of work and speak to everyone differently. So I still recommend giving the series a watch.

The Into the Dark series is currently streaming on Hulu