'Greenhouse Academy' Season 4 Review: Show loses its zing with dry plot and unforgivable rip-offs
Spoiler alert for 'Greenhouse Academy' Season 4
When 'Greenhouse Academy' first debuted on Netflix in 2017, the tween drama opened to positive reviews from its viewers and found fans even among the older demographic. The show was adapted from the Israeli show 'Ha-Hamama' created by Giora Chamizer. But then, things went a little downhill.
The first season featured an exciting mystery after an astronaut presumed dead turns out to be in a coma, held hostage by the main villains. The villains are trying to mine the eponymously named private school for a mineral called magnetite.
However, the astronaut's son and daughter ― Alex and Hayley Woods ― start attending the school. They end up in opposing houses, the Eagles and the Ravens in the school. Amid some healthy competition between students, Alex and Hayley make friends and even manage to rescue their mother.
The third season of the show came with new villains who wanted to use an extra-terrestrial virus to blackmail the rich into paying them for the cure. That plot continues into the new season in an unnecessary extension of the plot.
It would seem the writers concentrated more on the love triangle between Hayley, Leo Cruz, and Daniel Hayward and even then, petty jealousy rears its head in meaningless ways to create tension between the characters. Even the fake new 'Fast and the Furious' movie playing in the background seemed more interesting than what the viewers were actually given.
The first season of the show succeeded because it did not treat its viewers as if they were children, even if they are the designated audience of the show. However, the writers seemed to have lost the plot. The cast changes that occurred after Season 2 did not help either, with the new additions lacking chemistry with the original cast members.
Of course, most things can be excused considering that the show is made for children ― that the kids manage to escape a bomb, that they take down goons while ensuring that the virus is not released, that they deduced two of their own were poisoned by rare mushrooms because those two were immune to the virus.
What cannot be forgiven is the blatant ripoff of 'Psycho' and even 'Fight Club' seen within the final moments of the last episode of Season 4 ― yes, Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' and David Fincher's 'Fight Club'. Jason Osmond was caught as the plot was foiled, and was sent to the hospital ― however, the main villain is missing. As Jason whines to himself, he suddenly changes demeanor as it is revealed to us that the main villain has been Jason all along, right from Season 1.
The show was at its best until Season 2. Even if Season 4's plot was condensed into Season 3, it may have fared better. That said, considering Season 4 ended with almost a sense of finality, it is unlikely there might be an additional season.
All episodes of Season 4 of 'Greenhouse Academy' are now streaming on Netflix.