The new YA Netflix series is extraordinarily creepy if you happen to be old enough to drink legally. Between is the story of a town called Pretty Lake that has been struck with a plague that affects only those over 21. What is the plague on Between ? The use of texting as a narrative device is not nearly as hip as the disease itself. Not only is this disease deadly, but it comes on quick. The only symptoms are bleeding at the mouth, blue veins and sudden death.
While this whole scenario may seem like a dream to our inner child, it's not all sleepovers and candy on Between. The pilot, appropriately titled "School's Out," showed us the beginning of the epidemic. So this is not like The Walking Dead orThe Leftovers where we just jump in the middle of the action. However, in only ten days, about 40% of the town's population has dropped dead. Not only that, but there are heavily armed guards quarantining the area and leaving the kids to fend for themselves. What's the deal?
The pilot neatly set up some of the character dynamics we're going to be dealing with as this disease takes hold and chaos ensues. We've got class warfare brewing between the Lots family (seriously) and some working class youths. We have an archetypal pregnant teenage girl who also happens to be the minister's daughter. To be fair, I've had Lost on my brain recently, but all of this is feeling a little familiar.
That said, I'm always down for some mystery solving. Let's figure out what's causing all the dumb grown-ups on Between to kick the bucket. The fact that we saw a subtitle from Day 1 of the epidemic that listed the death toll as "0" has me spinning conspiracy theories already. Did they know it was going to happen? This is some kind of experiment, right?
The one character who may be able to get some answers is Adam. He's very smart, headed to MIT, has been going "deep into the government computers" and figured out the age trend with the epidemic. In one of his first scenes, Adam was wearing a shirt that made a joke about binary language. Was that a clue, or just reinforcing that he's a bit of a math and science nerd?
Whatever it is, our investigative hero already has a test subject — his teacher, who is still 21 after completing graduate school early. Why is someone that young with a Master's degree teaching High School in a small lake town? Simple. The economy is terrible. I get it, girl. Anyway, how much do you wanna bet that they're going to team up to solve this mystery and that her birthday is coming up in the next six episodes? The stakes are very, very real on Between. I just hope they can get answers in time!
Images: Ken Woroner/Netflix; Giphy
