How many twists is too many for a TV series? It’s an open-ended question without a doubt, but the answer based on personal preference will have a huge bearing on how much of a kick you’re likely to get out of Harlan Coben’s Shelter.
In fact, there are so many twists, turns, revelations, rug-pulls, misdirects, and red herrings peppered throughout Prime Video’s new mystery series that even wading knee-deep into specifics presents choppy waters in regards to spoilers. This review covers all eight episodes, but with the first three premiering today before weekly debuts up until the finale airs on Sept. 22, it would be rude to give too much away.
Coben’s works have proven to be a fertile ground for Netflix – with the streaming service having delivered seven episodic originals based on his works with an eighth on the way – and the strengths of Shelter state the case for Amazon’s platform getting in on the action, too. There are lulls along the way, but well-rounded characters, an appealing cast, and the overriding sense that things could jump clean over the shark at any minute will be more than enough to keep viewers hooked between the first and last installments.
Things open with a bang, as we’re introduced to Jaden Michael’s teenage protagonist Mickey Bolitar, who swiftly ends up being roped into a cardinal sin for any film or TV character who wants to stay alive; an in-car singalong. Sure enough, his father Brad (Kristoffer Polaha) ends up dead and his mother Kitty (Narci Regina) is displaced out of the picture, leaving him to be raised by Constance Zimmer’s aunt Shira in smalltown Kasselton, New Jersey.
On his first day at school, Mickey instantly befriends Adrian Greensmith’s Arthur Spindell, who adopts the nickname “Spoon” and somehow manages to make an impression despite being the 8456th actor to play the “neurotic and eccentric best friend” this year alone. Eventually, Abby Corrigan’s Ema makes their duo a trio, and they find themselves plunged headlong into unraveling the mystery of fellow high school newcomer Ashley Kent (Samantha Bugliaro), who vanishes without a trace.
Somehow, it’s all tied to an event in his father’s past that nobody wants to speak of, leading to many suspicious glances between the various residents who’ve called Kasselton their home since the day they were born, although it quickly becomes clear that Tovah Feldshuh’s local crazy old woman dubbed the “Bat Lady” is somehow at the center of it all, with the various threads needing untangled stretching back decades.
For better or worse, Shelter is defined by its tropes and archetypes. Name one aspect of either the high school or conspiratorial subgenres, and you’d best believe it’s present and accounted for. Erstwhile hero crippled by daddy issues? Bespectacled best buddy with computer expertise? Socially outcast member of the core crew who isn’t what they seem? Shady men in suits lurking in shadows? The popular jock riddled with doubt and insecurities? Crumbling marriages? A subplot revolving entirely around social media? Small town anxieties being buried for decades to the detriment of everyone involved? Oh yes, it’s all here.
Some of the academic sequences do drag, but you’re literally never much longer than 10 minutes away from the next narrative sleight of hand. While it does keep things moving along nicely – albeit several notable moments where the pacing slows to a crawl – the breakneck nature of having so many major reveals crammed into each and every episode does lessen the impact somewhat, and it even reaches a point where you could be left feeling exhausted and numb by the time the latest game-changer plays its hand.
That being said, the effortless chemistry between the leads handily papers over the cracks by virtue of Michael, Greensmith, and Corrigan’s excellent turns, while Zimmer holds up the older generation’s end of the bargain with a more introspective and nuanced turn, a far cry from Bat Lady’s rather jarring existence as someone who feels they’ve been ripped right out of a 19th Century Gothic novel in terms of aesthetic and ominous intonations every time she opens her mouth.
The latter is indicative of what’s an altogether bizarre tonal imbalance that plagues Shelter from beginning to end. The way the Bat Lady is introduced might lead you to believe something supernatural is afoot, while the stilted dialogue and high school cliches feel ripped straight from the 1980s, the biggest underlying mystery comes out of nowhere and feels totally out of place for what’s supposed to be a contained, localized mystery, and the leaps in logic frequently come right out of the blue. Not taking it too seriously is the best approach, because despite its very modern trappings, the series is basically pure pulp.
There are some serious, timely, and relevant subjects handled with varying degrees of subtlety and success, too, but for the most part the focus remains on playing it safe in those respects while simultaneously going for broke in piling twists on top of twists, only for yet another twist to emerge soon after that repeatedly shakes the foundations of what you think Shelter actually is, never mind what it’s either supposed to or trying to be. Again, that’s a hard distinction to make when one second the gang is in too deep with an international trafficking ring, only for them to swiftly take their seats for the big basketball game almost immediately afterwards, complete with an entire choreographed dance number.
It doesn’t always work, but anyone with a soft spot for the genre is going to derive at least some enjoyment from Shelter, which may yet end up with a second season depending on how things pan out.
