Brief Story Line
The Campbell family that consisted of Bennet (Josh Braaten), his wife Sarah (Kelly Frye) and their children Griffin (Preston Oliver) plus the twins Wyatt (Landon Gordon) & Zoey (Madeleine McGraw) moved from Chicago to the small town of Sulphur Springs. The move was not well received by Sarah and especially Griffin who felt disappointed leaving his friends and start new in middle school.
At school, Griffin met and befriended with Harper (Kyliegh Curran - Doctor Sleep etc) who was excited knowing his family moved to hotel Tremont where a young girl named Savannah (Elle Graham) who had been missing for 30 years was said to haunt it. Harper and Griffin immediately became best friends as they explore and found a secret related to the house.
So how would the story progressed? You can find them in this first season.
End of Brief Story Line
It's funny how I originally felt that the series was really for kids, especially seeing the main protagonists are 2 middle school students. But as I continued watching, I grew fond of the story and also these two. By the end of the first episode, I was hooked by it. Main reason for me was the intriguing mystery and obviously another factor towards the end of the episode. It really made me could not stop watching as I wanted to find out more.
The mystery solving combined with the other surprisingly interesting element was done in a light manner, but somehow it still captivated me. And seeing children trying to solve it made me feel like I was back in my childhood years reading various children's books focusing on mystery and fantasizing I was the one doing it. It certainly brought back some fond memories.
Another part that I enjoyed was the appearance of the twins. They were funny to look at with Wyatt being the naughty one while Zoey being a girl who seemed mature for her age. And it was just adorable looking at these 3 having silly pranks among themselves which looked very natural. Another supporting cast that I really liked was Harper's younger brother Topher (played nicely by Bryant Tardy). Meanwhile Diandra Lyle as Harper's mother who has recurring role, will be promoted to series regular from season 2 onwards. Yes, this one has been renewed and there would be a second season which I am looking forward to.
This series was having a short duration around 20+ minutes only, so I could easily finish the whole season in few hours time. At the end of every episode, there would be some promotion to the subsequent episode, which was logical seeing Disney channel released an episode every week, but it became redundant when watching the full season on Disney+. So I usually just skipped that part. Of all episodes, my favorite was episode 10 which almost felt like a finale to me. On the other hand, the 11th episode felt more like to setup for 2nd season.
Overall this was something that was surprisingly enjoyable to me, with its premise and interesting mystery solving that made me curious and excited to finish and find out more. All the cast did great job, in particular Preston Oliver, Kyliegh Curran and Ellen Graham. As an original series not based on anything, credit has to be given to the creator Tracey Thomson (writer for soap operas like All My Children and The Young and the Restless). So if you like to watch family friendly series (parents still need to accompany their young children as there might be scenes mildly scary for them) where kids trying to solve mystery, having some family drama, then this would be perfect for you. The whole first season is available on Disney+.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment