Cast: Joe Freeman, Ben Barnes, Mary Louise Parker, Hannah Galway, Julian Richings, Fionn Laird, Simone Miller, Viggo Hanvelt, Arlen So, Robert Joy, Jason Diaz, Jane Luk

Based On the Book by Stephen King

Length: 8 episodes

Streamer: MGM Plus

Audio description produced By:

Written By:

Narrated By: Roy Samuelson

What Is it? A convergence of two stories. one follows a teen (freeman) who is kidnapped and wakes up in a facility that is testing kids who are telekinetic or telepathic. it is obviously a shady organization with a dark secret. We also follow a former police officer (Barnes), who moves to a sleepy town in Maine, hoping to get away from violence. Instead, it looks like he might just be the hero needed for this story. But does he also have a dark secret he’s hiding? it’s Stephen King, so even I have a dark secret, and I’m just writing the review. in fact, you have a dark secret, just for reading a review about something Stephen King made. i don’t make the rules.

What Works: doing this with as little spoilers as possible, is actually really hard. I would say that this is a series steeped in lore, and it only builds as the series moves forward. I think the series really kicks into high gear when the character Avery is added, but it still adds more mysterious threads to this complicated quilt. The performances are strong, and much like MGM Plus’s best show ever, from, it doesn’t give you immediate or total answers. it does give more answers than from, but there are still some things left for future seasons, even after a revealing finale.

It is mostly science fiction, but with most Stephen King things, it does turn in some horror moments. For a show that relies heavily on a young cast, who are essentially being tortured, it is an oddly compelling series I’m excited to see evolve next season.

What Doesn’t Work: only Stephen King still plays around with night knockers. It feels very King, not that it’s a bad thing, but I know fans of his are very particular about which adaptations are worth the time, choosing almost every single time the novel over the film. but this isn’t a dud, and I don’t know how fans feel.It just doesn’t feel like a bold take like the Shawshank redemption, but rather a possibly more faithful adaptation. It could turn off fans who are hoping to see certain benchmarks.

Other than that, if I could change one thing, I would add more cast. It just feels sparse, both ina en outside the institute. Barnes interacts with very few people, which could have helped to shape the community near and around the Institute. And, there aren’t a ton of kids. it doesn’t help that Luke is basically skeptical from the get go. he’s calling bullshit right out of the gate, so trying to build a world that convinces him he’s wrong would help the longevity, but it might not have had the season finale in the same place.

Aside from that, I have very specific reasons, both pros and cons, which are really big spoilers, so just trust in my eventual score down below.

the Audio Description: I never caught the company. I do MGM Plus through Amazon, and they’ve been pretty aggressive about not letting me watch credits. But I know Roy’s voice, and the show is well narrated and described. Most of the truly crazy shit happens in the last two episodes, where the audio description feels especially challenged, and rises to meet it.

Why You Might Like it: if you subscribed because of from, here’s a very like minded show on the same service to give you more bang for your buck.

Why You Might Not Like it: the only reason I can think of is that you read the source material, and this doesn’t live up. I haven’t, but I hear it from King fans all the time.

Final thoughts: While it isn’t from, it is an excellent reason to keep an MGM Plus subscription when From isn’t airing new episodes. It doesn’t take a telepath to know that The Institute requires two different types of critics. those familiar with the source material, and those who aren’t. As one of the latter, I found it to be twisty, thrilling, and laden with lore worth exploring. It’s check in time at The Institute.

Fresh: Final Grade: 8.0/10