Kathryn Newton: It's really rare to find characters that aren't stereotypes for teenagers, and I feel like [executive producer, writer, and creator] Chris Keyser had it all on the page. I thought that this character was going to be difficult for me to play. She's very dark, and what she goes through is so difficult for me to even understand that I had to do a lot of research. I researched queens and went back to medieval times. I reread Animal Farm to get into it, just to think more about politics and commonsense thinking. I thought it would be fun to do something different. I had just done some comedy and Blockers, and I wanted to try and create this character and see if I can do it. I do feel like The Society is timely and important right now. Did you feel that when you were shooting it? KN: As an actor, I always just try to follow the story and the character. It's timely because we're all so connected to our phones and dependent on things. This show kind of strips away everything you know and everything you need, and it makes you look at who you are—everything you thought matters, no longer matters. No one cares how much money you have. No one cares what your car looks like. Now it's just about who you are on the inside. And some of these people are really ugly, and some are really beautiful. I feel like people are both beautiful and ugly sometimes, and my character's kind of complicated in that way. She's a reluctant leader. She doesn't come into the story of wanting to be king, you know? She's not destined for greatness. She thinks that her life's been made up, and that's just not the way it goes for her. She has to rise to the occasion, and people do in life. This show asks the question: Who are you when nobody's watching? Maybe I'm just so scarred from 2016 that it felt like the show was reopening some kind of wound for me, but it does feel there was some very current political commentary in the characters and storylines. Was that intentional or just coincidence? KN: I feel like it might be a coincidence, but the show is very smart as well in the political aspect of the show. That’s what I like: It’s a very smart show, but it also has the love triangles and the relationships between the characters that make it for everyone. It's not just a show about power or about politics at all. It's also about these kids who are scared, who are trying to survive. I love the love triangle, the couples. And I stan a queen. What was your favorite part of playing Allie? KN: Honestly, I loved her words. I thought she was so eloquent. Chris Keyser wrote it, but I just thought...she puts everyone else before her. She selflessly puts the town first before her wants and her needs. I think at our age, it's really hard to be that way because we're always focused on growing and discovering who we are and who we're going to be in this life. Allie thought she already had that figured out; now everything's changed, and she puts everyone else before her even more. I found her [to be] quite a hero, and I really wanted to play a hero. I don't think a lot of girls get a chance to play a role like this. She's a boss, like The Godfather sometimes. That was really fun for me to be in a position of power like that. I'm nothing like Allie. I would no way be the leader of the new society.<doc-sep>The Society: Netflix tease mystery teen drama FREE now for the biggest moments from morning TV SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow for the biggest moments from morning TV When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. The Society is the brand new Netflix version of Lord of the Flies - or close enough. When the entire population of suburban America West Ham’s teenagers go on a school trip, they hit some horrendously bad weather, resulting in them being cut off of the route they were taking. With no other choice, the school busses return to their home town, where the collection of teens find all of their parents and other miscellaneous adults have disappeared from the town. And to make things even more spooky: All of the roads out of West Ham have been inexplicably cut off by dense forest which seems to never end. With nothing but their wit and emotions to guide them through this strange nightmare, the kids find themselves struggling to handle the consequences of their early actions. While one faction of the town may dedicate themselves to partying, another strives to inventory all of the food on the Lost-style Island. Herein lies one of the biggest issues with The Society: The plot has been seen before in a number of different medias. But while the selling point of the show is that the teenagers are reckless and foolhardy, it comes across as irritating and nonsensical through most of the show. Amidst the ongoing teen drama and intrigue, much of the story surrounds the mystery of how the kids got to this cursed land, and an ongoing investigation of a smell that plagued the town before the switch. But, again, these ideas and problems aren’t fully fleshed out, and are likely to leave viewers utterly disheartened as few answers are ever really offered. The Society Netflix Review: The show brings a new take on the classic premise Frustration aside, the cast of The Society offers an eclectic group of youngsters who - for the most part - do a good job with the show. In particular, protagonist Cassandra (played by Rachel Keller) puts on a really good example of a complex character with many layers to her psyche. And while she sometimes urges the show forward singlehandedly, she is not utilised enough throughout the span of the ten episodes. On top of the great cast, The Society is really well designed and shot. The Society boasts a sort of ‘90s inspired look on each of the characters with their almost retro costumes. The Society Netflix Review: The show has an incredible display of cinematography The Society Netflix Review: Unfortunately some of the plot falls short<doc-sep>Oh, new Netflix teen drama The Society, how I love thee! Let me count the ways. There’s: The highly derivative high concept Let’s face it: we’re quite late in human history and all the good ideas have gone. Who needs constant innovation, anyway? Sometimes a gal just wants to kick back and relax. We need, absolutely, this tale of a group of high-schoolers (played, as hath been traditional unto the days of Dawson’s Creek and Beverly Hills 90210, by actors in their mid-20s) who arrive back in their New England hometown after a school trip to find that their parents, and every other non-buff, non-16-year-old soul has disappeared. Dum-dum-DAH! It’s Stephen King’s Under the Dome meets the CW’s The 100 meets Michael Grant’s Gone series meets Lost meets The Breakfast Club (everything teenage meets The Breakfast Club, still, even if it appears to 2019’s adolescents as Casablanca did to us) meets a billion other things, with Lord of the Flies waiting in the wings. It’s a sci-fi Dawson’s Creek, a supernatural Pretty Little Liars. It doesn’t matter – take your pick! Watch the trailer for The Society The people Who aren’t people. They are algorithms. Blond or brunette ciphers with diverse skintones, each allocated one defining characteristic or secret sorrow. In a main character, the two may be skilfully entwined. Cassandra, for example, has a Secret Heart Defect. Fortunately, brunette Gordie’s defining characteristic is noticing when girls he secretly likes go blue under stress. He is always around to help. Just to put your minds at rest, there are also jocks, mean girls, rebels without a cause, good Christians, party girls with hearts and hymens of gold and – of course – nerds holed up in the library trying to figure out what the hell is going on and make the jocks understand that a finite food supply in the supermarket is Not A Good Thing. The shameless illogic The phones that work only to let the characters communicate with each other. The absence of panic with which these abandoned teenagers greet their situation. The mysterious appearance and disappearance of graffiti around town assuring them that they are being judged in pretty much biblical fashion. The unfailingly clean, ironed clothes and full makeup for all. The lack of even the slightest attempt to clear the trees and bushes that are blocking the road out of town. Good! I have enough detail in my life. I don’t need it in my art. The inexplicable fondness arising There is something endearing about a programme so carefully and competently engineered to be not one iota better than it needs to be. It’s soothing to watch something run so efficiently, to know that not an ounce of effort, vision or budget has been uselessly expended, that no one’s life’s work is being set loose to roam the brutal TV landscape like a fragile gazelle, that no hearts are going to be broken, whatever ratings it does. We are free to enjoy or not, and I am grateful. And finally … There’s the suspected pregnancy, the golden boy who’s nastier than he looks and the nasty boy who’s nicer than he seems; the dramatic unexpected death; the eventual realisation of which older stars it is the youngsters remind one of (Allie is a dead ringer for Virginia Madsen; Cassandra is Sarah Paulson); the rigorous hewing to the pathetic fallacy as legitimate dramatic device. All of this and more makes for a brilliantly average, perfectly imperfect show for bouncing teens, cankered fortysomethings and nothing in between. A joy.<doc-sep>
The Netflix teen drama has almost become a genre in and of itself. Between offerings such as “On My Block,” “Sex Education,” “13 Reasons Why,” and syndicated CW staples like “Riverdale,” the streaming network has found a solid niche in exploring the everyday lives of teenagers, in all their flailing, moody glory. “The Society,” Netflix’s compelling new drama from “Party of Five” co-creator Christopher Keyser, takes a grab bag of teen tropes and mixes it with “Lord of the Flies” and a vague dose of supernatural intrigue for good measure. Its premise even manages to sidestep the question of what to do with the parents, a typical teen show consideration that some shows (like “Riverdale”) answer by folding the older generation into the action just as much as their scheming kids. “The Society,” by contrast, banishes the adults altogether — and indeed, anyone but the central teens, period. At first, the show seems like a typical high school drama about the popular kids versus the burnouts versus the overachievers. But when a field trip drops the senior class back in an abandoned facsimile of the town they just left, with no way out or in, the teens of West Ham have to figure out how to live together without imploding under pressure. And after the requisite initial panic of apocalypse partying, both the characters and the series, to their credit, take that question incredibly seriously. (If you don’t trust me, trust the show’s reliance on dramatic handheld cameras.) Think “The 100,” but instead of juvenile delinquents learning how to function as a community, it’s wary rich kids flailing without their Ivy League plans. For a while, the existing social order remains intact. Class president Cassandra (Rachel Keller, “Legion”) tries to take the lead amongst the panic, setting off a chain of insecurities from her little sister Allie (Kathryn Newton, “Big Little Lies”) and popular pretty boy Harry (Alex Fitzalan). The jocks, united in their letterman jackets, band together as they’re so used to doing. Friendly nerds like Gordie (José Julián), Becca (Gideon Adlon, “Blockers”), and Sam (Sean Berdy) try to unpack the bizarre logistics of their situation. Social outcasts Campbell (Toby Wallace) and Elle (Olivia DeJonge) gravitate towards each other, for wont of better options. Despite — or maybe thanks to — their best efforts, their attempts to make a revolutionary new order end up looking an awful lot like the more rigid, heteronormative one in which they all grew up. Even as much as “The Society” spins its wheels — and with 10 episodes clocking in at a solid hour each encompassing a sprawling cast, it inevitably does — there just aren’t many other teen shows that routinely debate the advantages of capitalism versus socialism or democracy versus dictatorship. With the exception of a time jump deeper into the season, “The Society” rarely takes shortcuts while the teens figure out what it means to build a community from the ground up, and what the dynamics of their old world mean in this new one. Much of the series’ best material comes when the characters have to confront their privilege or lack thereof. Harry, who used to have everything, struggles to adjust to sharing his assets. Will (Jacques Colimon), a poorer orphan, embraces the opportunity to found a more equitable order. And some of the most interesting and revealing moments come from the reaction to Cassandra’s aggressively pragmatic solutions from all the disgruntled boys who resent her power and influence over their girlfriends. To them, the biggest threat isn’t whatever force brought them to this New Ham (a question the show entertains but isn’t wholly consumed by), but a smart girl with the audacity to tell them what to do. More than anything else on the show, the exploration of this dynamic (which I like to call “the Elizabeth Warren paradox”) feels both urgent and timely. All of this is wholly worthy and fascinating for a show like this to dive into. But after I watched all of “The Society” within 48 hours — which, to Netflix’s inevitable relief, is a relatively easy thing to do — I wasn’t nearly as invested in its story as I should’ve been. Few of the characters register as particularly compelling beyond their loglines; not even the aforementioned time jump, usually a storytelling device meant to shake things up, does all that much to meaningfully shift anyone’s particular arc. Take the jocks, who tend to blend into one dim bro.