I’ll be honest, these last two months have been miserable. I feel like the world is spiraling out of control, and nothing is the same. Except for my job (I’m still trucking), but even that is not the same. Trucking was a rough life before, but it’s even more brutal now. I’m no longer home every weekend; I’ve had to make some adjustments to my work-life balance in light of the current crisis we’re in… and they haven’t been for the better. I now take home time every other weekend, and sometimes even every third weekend. While most of the rest of the world gets to sit at home, I still have to work. It’s just not fair, but then again… that’s the way life is. Sadly.
It’s been exhausting, now more than ever. And… I was sick, too! Early in April, I came under the weather with a very unusual set of symptoms. Sinus pain (the type I would normally get with a sinus infection) but also very intense fatigue and complete loss of appetite. I wrote it off as just a sinus infection, despite the seemingly unrelated symptoms. Whatever it was, it cleared up on its own and I was fine after a couple days. But I will admit… I was a little scared.
Anyway, I’ve been forced to find new ways to entertain myself with the increased amount of time I spend alone on the road. Which brings me to the point of this post. I recently discovered AppleTV, an app on my iPhone that I always knew was there but never quite got around to looking into it. In the weeks leading up to “the day the world ended” (that would be March 13th)… I’d seen promos and ads on Instagram of a new TV series getting set to debut… called “Home Before Dark” based on a true story of a young girl in Pennsylvania that investigated, and then wrote a newspaper article, on a murder that happened in her hometown several years ago. I recalled reading about it at the time, and so I put “Home Before Dark” on my “to-watch list.”
The first season of this new series was released on April 3rd (the same day I got hit with the mystery illness). Ten episodes, all ranging between 45 minutes to an hour, available at once on the AppleTV app. I finally got around to watching the first episode on April 27th, and I was hooked. I finally finished watching the season finale (episode 10) on May 11th… just a little less than a week ago. I promised my twitter followers I would post an “official” review, so here it goes. Now, I’m not going to give away every single detail of every single one of the 10 episodes… rather, I will open with a few details of the first episode or two to provide a general introduction, then share a few of my own thoughts on the series. This is my first time ever really writing a review of anything, but I hope you’ll all enjoy reading!
The story takes place in the fictional town of Erie Harbor, Washington. Matt Lisko, a journalist living in New York, loses his job and is forced to move with his family (wife and three daughters) across the country to Erie Harbor, the same town he grew up in. Right off the bat, Hilde Lisko (Matt’s middle daughter), has a very uneasy feeling about the town of Erie Harbor. In particular, as they drive through the town on their way to their new home, she can’t help but notice a woman standing outside having a yard sale… but with no customers!
Now Hilde, 9 years old, really takes after her father quite a lot… she’s very inquisitive, calls herself a journalist, and even writes news articles of her own… which she publishes on a newspaper called “Magic Hour Chronicle.”
Curious about the woman she saw and the yard sale which doesn’t appear to be raking in any profit… Hilde goes to pay her a visit. She learns that the woman’s name is Penny Gillis, and that Penny knew Hilde’s father when he was just a boy growing up in Erie Harbor. Hilde couldn’t help but notice one of the items Penny was selling… an old VCR, or “video cassette recorder”… very popular in the 80s and 90s, but not a common household item these days.
Later that night, Penny Gillis is found dead inside her house. Hilde shows up again to visit, only to find police there and the yard taped off. She confronts the sheriff, who tells her Penny’s death has been ruled “an accident”, but Hilde is not convinced. Later, the young journalist writes and publishes a story on “Magic Hour Chronicle” on Penny’s murder… which everyone at her school reads. Hilde is met with a barrage of criticism over the article, but she literally stands up (on the cafeteria table in the middle of lunch hour, no less) to her critics and lets it be known she will uncover the truth. “Because if the truth doesn’t matter, nothing ever will.”
The VCR from the yard sale is recovered from the “accident” scene, along with a video tape. The tape reveals footage of an abduction that took place in the town of Erie Harbor more than 30 years ago, and Matt is forced to relive the trauma all over again. It was his friend, Richie Fife, who was abducted right in front of him that night in 1988, and what’s even more… it’’s Penny’s brother, Sam Gillis, who is currently serving a life sentence for the abduction and subsequent murder of Richie (even though Richie’s body was never found), booked by Sheriff Briggs, the same sheriff who ruled Penny’s death “accidental.”
But something doesn’t add up… and as the series unfolds and Hilde (with Matt’s help as well as that of a couple of her classmates) continues to investigate, it becomes increasingly obvious that Sam is innocent, and the real killer may (after all these years) still be on the loose!
In closing, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the series! I really got into the story, and it was suspenseful, and even laugh-out-loud funny at times! Each of the first nine episodes ended with a small cliffhanger, which had me eager to go on to the next one. The big cliffhanger however… the shocking revelation at the end of the season finale… has me eagerly anticipating the 2nd season! And there will be a second season too! In fact, the cast and crew were in Vancouver (and, from what I understand, are all still on location) working on the second season in March when production was suspended due to the global pandemic.
The entire cast and crew did an outstanding job on season one. “Home Before Dark” is my new favorite TV show!
