I'm writing this review 6 episodes into the first season and so far I'm pretty happy with the show overall. Reading though some of the reviews I'm seeing a lot of repeat criticisms - while they're certainly valid, I find a lot of the lower scores are either too harsh or simply exaggerated. If you're considering giving this a watch and you like a cross genre type of show with a bit of sci-fi, horror and mystery, this is definitely worth checking out. There are a lot of complaints that it's slow moving and as the title states, this is definitely a slow burn (sometimes maybe a little too slow) but my main problem here is the way they're bouncing back and forth between the two storylines. The show simultaneously tells two stories involving the same characters both in present day and in the 90's when they were a high school soccer team. The constant and sometimes poorly timed jumps back and forth definitely get on my nerves more than I'd like. It also creates a little bit of confusion at times so with these two elements combined it represents the shows biggest and only significant drawback, for myself at least. With that said, there's a little something here for everyone and that's what I'm currently enjoying most about the show. There's a strong mystery element, some elements of suspense, horror, gore and even a little bit of suggestion of the supernatural. While that's all great, there's also some teenage drama which certainly won't be for everybody but I will say that it's done in a very minimal and palatable way that still is effective in playing out the story. So don't let that deter you! The acting is very very good and while I found that Melanie Lynskey may have been miscast at first, she's really settled into the role and I'm thoroughly happy with the performances of all the cast. Now with this being the 2020's of course identity politics play a role in the writing and casting. As you might assume, the cast is perfectly diverse and comes complete with a black lesbian woman who is strong and in a traditionally male role running for office in the current day. Despite all this, this doesn't fall into the category of Woke Culture Slog like so many other shows have recently. Nothing much feels forced or unfitting so far in the script as far as I can see. So while there are a couple minor flaws and we don't have the next Lost, x-files, or Fringe we do have a great cross genre show that does a good job of combining drama, mystery, sci-fi and horror that's well worth checking out for a pretty broad audience with a little something for everyone. 8/10 would absolutely recommend.

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