'Home Before Dark' hits all the right notes, viewers say they are 'not going anywhere until the end'
Spoilers for 'Home Before Dark'
Apple TV+'s latest release 'Home Before Dark' just dropped all 10 episodes on the streaming platform. Inspired by journalist Hilde Lysiak's life, the show focuses on 9-year-old Hilde Lisko, played by Brooklynn Prince, and sees her solve an unsolved murder case from 31 years ago.
Using the classic whodunnit trope, the show chronicles Lisko's passion for journalism, and how her reporter father Matthew Lisko influenced her passion. We see Jim Sturgess play the role of Matthew Lisko, Abby Miller plays his wife Briget, and Kylie Rogers plays Izzy—the eldest of the two daughters.
The series dramatizes the story but Prince's execution of Hilde makes up for the added, sometimes unnecessary, suspense as it becomes more Scooby Doo townie noir than Nancy Drew or even Veronica Mars for that matter.
Despite its confusing tone and an active debate around who its possible target audience is, 'Home Before Dark' is an automatic hit with those who decided to catch it the moment it dropped on Apple TV+.
Taking to Twitter, viewers voiced their opinions on the show, gushing over and criticizing it equally. One of them noted the biggest aspect of the show: kids are troublesome.
Hilde's pursuit sees her walking out in the middle of the night and running off with an escaped fugitive and—looking at her parents' reaction—it becomes evident that this happens a lot.
Hilde clearly can't be stopped in her search for a story. Talking about how problematic and anxious it might be for parents to have kids as curious and passionate as her, a viewer wrote: "Why must kids be so annoying? Who tf asked them to?"
Luckily, Prince makes Hilde fall on the not-so-annoying spectrum of precocious. But we would be much more relaxed if she just acted like a regular fourth-grader and was scared of the darkness or strangers for once.
Coming from Dara Resnik and Dana Fox, the John M Chiu production can be intriguing once you get past the initial episodes where it seems like the plot is trying too hard to make itself be taken seriously.
But as a local woman's murder in the quaint town of Erie Harbour finds its roots in the kidnapping of Richie Fife—aka Matt's best friend years ago—we also see a parallel between Hilde's investigative reporting and Matt's deeply rooted trauma from never being able to find out the truth.
Clearly, that's hit all the right notes with viewers as one congratulated the writers tweeting: "Well done @BadassMomWriter and @inthehenhouse! Just watched ur 1st ep and I know I am not going anywhere until the end of the season… Anyway I have to stay at home!"
Moms locked up with their toddlers during quarantine at home might find humor in Hilde's parents' exasperation at having such a curious child with such active imagination.
The show does go a long way to be an entertaining watch if you're trying to teach your kids about acceptable amounts of recklessness and setting boundaries with strangers.
However, as a fan notes: "One episode into Home Before Dark, and there's a few Jon M. Chu-isms in the editing that I could have done without but it's quite lovely. Hilde does catch a couple of lucky breaks but, eh, they're swept up in the pace of the thing. Broklynn and Jim are tremendous. Check it out."
'Home Before Dark' premiered with all 10 episodes on Apple TV+ on April 3.