Summary
Netflix’s The Woods is an easy pick for the weekend and has all the elements to be a hit.
This review of Netflix series The Woods season 1 contains no spoilers.
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In the opening of The Woods, the audience understands where they stand. Just like The Stranger, there’s this understanding that the story will drip feed information slowly, with a dark melancholy piano lurking in the background as the lead character navigate his world. This is the type of series that’s hard to put down as it keeps you at bay long enough to keep your attention, providing a binge-worthy experience.
That lead character is Pawel; a workaholic prosecutor who has a past that flagrantly haunts him. The Woods sees his past catch up to him, reverting back to his younger self when he was a chaperone at a Summer Camp with hormonal hungry teens. That summer, four teens went missing in the woods; two bodies were found dead while the whereabouts of the other two remain a mystery; one being his sister.
The Netflix series ponders whether his sister may still be alive, and if she is, what does that mean — a shocking discovery leads Pawel down a journey of unearthing the past, which is evidently traumatic for him and shapes who he is in the present. The Netflix series douses itself in mystery, with slow, played-out scenes and under-the-curtain dialogue to keep the audience at arm’s length.
The 6-chapter series is murky and joyless, with no expectation of lighter moments as The Woods expects the audience to view the story on Pawel’s level. There’s always a sense that a cloud is hanging over the story as Pawel begins to uncover the conspiracy that has haunted him for years.
And The Woods is a healthy six chapters long, meaning your investment into the series is short-lived yet satisfying. The character-driven story will encourage the crime fans with thriller-type themes and a mystery leaving you to ponder on the remaining minutes of each chapter. Netflix’s The Woods season 1 is an easy pick for the weekend and has all the elements to be a hit.
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