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Plot: A multi-generational, coming-of-age love story disguised as a fast-paced mystery about the disappointment of time. An anniversary trip puts a marriage to the test when the couple finds themselves embroiled in one of the Yucatan’s most bizarre unsolved mysteries that took place fifteen years prior.
Review: Watching the trailer for The Resort, I was expecting this to be the first of many vacation-themed comedy dramas trying to piggyback on the success of The White Lotus. While there are some similarities between this series and the HBO hit from last year, there is much more going on in The Resort than you see in the trailers. With a great ensemble cast of talent, The Resort takes you on a trip, unlike any vacation you have ever taken. With a quirky sense of humor and some mind-bending twists, The Resort is a show that will get audiences buzzing as soon as they finish the first episode thanks to a combination of mystery, humor, and just plain surreal storytelling.
Without spoiling the crux of the series, The Resort starts out focused on married couple Noah and Emma. Taking a vacation trip to celebrate their ten-year anniversary, Noah (William Jackson Harper) and Emma (Cristin Milioti) are entering a stagnant stage of their relationship. With the romance lukewarm and the intimacy more along the lines of friends than lovers, Emma is desperate for a rush of adrenaline to make her feel alive. While taking part in the various resort activities, she stumbles upon an old cell phone that belonged to Sam Knowlston (Skyler Gisondo) who went missing fifteen years earlier along with Violet Thompson (Nina Bloomgarden). Now armed with a singular goal, Emma enlists Noah to try and figure out the disappearance of the two young people that have never been solved.
Over the eight-episode season, The Resort shifts back and forth from the present day to 2007 to tell us the parallel stories of Noah and Emma as well as Sam and Violet. We are introduced to many characters including Sam’s parents Carl and Jan (played by real married couple Dylan and Becky Ann Baker), Sam’s girlfriend Hanna (Debby Ryan), couple Ted (Parvesh Cheena) and Ted (Michael Hitchcock), Violet’s father Murray (Nick Offerman) and resort concierge Luna (Gabriela Cartol), resort detective Baltasar Frias (Luis Gerardo Mendez) and resort owner Alex (Ben Sinclair). Each time period offers more clues as to what could have caused Sam and Violet to disappear as well as potential suspects that may have led to a more nefarious fate.
Before you say that this sounds like a tropical version of Only Murders in the Building, I will say that you are not entirely wrong. The popularity of true crime certainly has influenced this series, but The Resort weaves this mystery in such a way that little strange inclusions and odd statements made by characters change the course of the narrative. Halfway through the season, there is a substantial twist that completely changed my perspective on this show and made me love it even more. The weirdness of this tale is anchored by excellent performances all around, especially by Harper and Milioti. Both actors make a truly convincing couple but also manage to play their roles totally different than the more famous parts they have been associated with. Gisondo and Bloomgarden are also quite good, but this series is a great showcase for Mendez and Cartol. The least familiar faces in this series, Mendez and Cartol are on the screen more than anyone thanks to appearing both in the contemporary and flashback storylines.
Created by Andy Siara, The Resort shares a lot in common with his previous projects Lodge 49 and indie hit Palm Springs. Siara manages to blend the weird and the realistic in such a way that never feels inauthentic but also makes you question what the hell is going on (in a good way). Siara partnered on The Resort with producer Sam Esmail, who is no stranger to telling uniquely weird stories. The Resort also benefits from co-star Ben Sinclair also pulling duty as director, a role he has done well with on HBO’s anthology series High Maintenance. Together, this creative team makes great use of a half-hour running time rather than the more expected hour-long episodes commonly seen with more dramatic fare. There is also a high level of production value here that benefits from a tropical location that is showcased much differently than you have likely seen before.
What I like most about The Resort is that it plays with your expectations as to what a comedy or drama should be. It finds humor in a natural way rather than feeling purely like a comedy but also works very well as a traditional mystery. But, there is nothing truly conventional about this story as each successive episode adds more and more to the mix resulting in a finale that will have you going back to the beginning and searching for the clues as to how this puzzle fits together so well. I really enjoyed seeing this entire cast on the case with the various character pairings exuding chemistry that makes this journey feel more like an adventure than a vacation. Hopefully, Peacock earns a hit with this series as I would absolutely take this trip again and again with all new characters or to see these faces a second time.
The Resort premieres on July 28th on Peacock.
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