In our world full of slasher films, Pamela Voorhees continues to be somewhat of an anomaly. Most villains who dare to slice, dice, maim, and murder are either men or, if they are women, they are teens and twentysomethings. Pamela bucks that standard as a woman who is more than twice her counterparts age. She looks like she would bake you a cake, not stab you in the chest. That coupled with her fierce motivation to avenge her son makes her a total icon in our eyes. For the first time, we are getting deep into Pamela Voorhees backstory in Crystal Lake, and the dark, twisted journey is a murky ride.
Crystal Lake takes us back to 1971, where we meet Pamela and a 12-year-old Jason. He’s trying to find his place at the summer camp where she works as a cook, but it’s hard. In usual fashion, kids pick on him because he looks physically different, even though he’s an actual sweetheart of a kid. Pamela’s world seems to revolve around her only child and they share a loving relationship. Things go awry with the story that we all know: Jason drowns in Crystal Lake. But, what we actually get to see in his series is what happens just a few months after his death in 1972 as Pamela struggles to come to terms with his death. And that story is far more complex and disturbing than what any of us could possibly imagine.
If you’re coming to Crystal Lake primarily for the slashing of it all, you probably won’t be disappointed. Is there someone dying every single episode? No, and that’s a good thing. This show has a powerful story to tell about friendship, pain, vengeance, motherhood, sacrifice, and so much more. But when you do get kills in Crystal Lake, they are truly gory and delicious. To no one’s surprise, Linda Cardellini absolutely crushes it as Pamela Voorhees in every aspect, from her dejected heartbreak to righteous rage to brutal chaos. Any time she’s on the screen, it is electrifying to watch, and you’ll enjoy every single time she draws blood.
If you’re here for some winding mystery and expansion of the Jason Voorhees universe, you’ll get both in hefty amounts. There’s far more to Pamela and Jason’s origin story than what meets the eye, and it sparks a central source of conflict as bodies begin to pile up. It also takes us out of Crystal Lake (the town) and into parts of this universe to explore truths that we couldn’t imagine. This storyline helps provide a more solid foundation and explanation for what we see with both Pamela and Jason, especially in the franchise’s earlier films. It’s a story that will surprise fans of the franchise and helps Pamela feel more like a fully-realized person, but it may leave them wishing that there was more to it or that they hadn’t seen it at all. It depends on how much you want things explained to you or not.
The journey to get there feels a little disjointed at times as the show focuses from this ongoing mystery to the many happenings in town. In that sense, Crystal Lake feels a little all over the place tonally. It’s campy slasher meets investigative drama, which is an odd pair to navigate without feeling too muddled and messy.
At eight episodes that are all clocking a little under an hour, this narrative could’ve easily been condensed to six episodes (hell, maybe even four). The story certainly sags a bit in the middle episodes, mainly because of too much focus on secondary and tertiary characters that truly don’t matter versus our raging momma. There’s one particular moment that steals a major moment from Pamela, and it is truly infuriating.
Overall, Crystal Lake is worth a watch if you want to get more Pamela Voorhees in your life. There are some cool concepts that the show dives into, but be prepared for some tonal shifts and moments that you might want to skip past altogether.
Crystal Lake drops all eight of its episodes on Peacock October 15.