‘Wreck’: A Queer Horror Series With A Lot Of Heart [Review]
Cruises can be a dicey vacation choice given their reputation in recent years. Inclement weather, epidemics, and faulty facilities are just a few of the most commonly reported issues. However, in Wreck, a series streaming exclusively on Hulu, the hapless passengers of the Sacramentum endure a far less typical problem: someone is out to kill them.
Wreck takes place entirely on a cruise liner where, three months ago, a crew member named Pippa (Jodie Tyack) threw herself overboard to avoid being murdered by her stalker: a knife-wielding assailant dressed as a mascot duck. “You can’t have me,” Pippa declares in her final moments before taking the big plunge. The story then shifts to Pippa’s younger brother Jamie (Oscar Kennedy), who’s gone to great lengths to find his missing sister. After switching identities with a fellow named Cormac (Peter Claffey), Jamie joins Velorum, the same cruise company his sister worked for.
Jamie, who’s pretending to be Cormac while the real Cormac hides out in Jamie’s room, investigates a number of leads that might give him a sense of closure about Pippa. These hot tips often force the protagonist and his fellow trainee-turned-confidante Vivian (Thaddea Graham) to zip back and forth between the cruise’s cliques. From the thankless show entertainers to the disregarded Filipino employees running illegal activities right under their bosses’ noses, Wreck satirizes an actual cruise’s work hierarchy and culture. Of course beneath the ostentation is harsh truths about the industry as a whole.
There are mysteries both above and below deck, and as the audience might expect, they all eventually converge toward the end. This is only after the series runs a tad too close to losing its focus and drifting away from the horror element. Jamie himself becomes distracted when he falls for the affable Olly (Anthony Rickman), and his fellow sleuths each get wrapped up in their own dilemmas. Vivian crosses a line when she flirts with a posh but seemingly enlightened passenger, and Cormac’s flame for his ex continues to burn. Fans of teen dramas will be most lenient and invested when Wreck detours into adolescent and romantic subplots. Thankfully, for everyone’s sake, the angst is kept to a minimum.
Wreck benefits from its young central characters. They can be likened to the Scooby Gang but as a whole, they’re a lot less put together. Jamie doesn’t quite escape the problem that other teen shows have where the lead is frequently upstaged by more colorful and extroverted supporters. That being said, Jamie, along with Vivian, is a refreshing example of LGBTQ+ characters on modern television. Both Jamie and Vivian are gay, yet their characters aren’t defined by their sexualities. At the same time, series creator and head writer Ryan J. Brown doesn’t gloss over Jamie and Vivian’s troubled pasts. Brown even shows how their complex experiences have better prepared them for life’s other challenges (like, say, a masked killer on the high seas). Cormac, Olly, and others don’t receive the same spotlight or character-building and molding, but they’re also immensely likable.
The prospect of a duck-dressed antagonist running amok will undoubtedly draw an audience. But, keep in mind this isn’t undiluted horror. The striking villain certainly metes out carnage here and there, though these grisly moments are maybe too infrequent for slasher purists. Instead, this show is primarily a versatile dramedy with a charming sense of humor as well as a dark underbelly. Jamie and Vivian’s affecting friendship is a huge selling point, the presentation is colorful and energetic, and the overarching mystery has a twisted and fun payoff. Wreck doesn’t exactly fulfill its pitch as a full-on slasher, but in other ways, this seafaring horror story delivers aplenty.
Summary
Wreck doesn’t exactly fulfill its pitch as a full-on slasher, but in other ways, this seafaring horror story delivers aplenty.
