Chosen – Not Your Mom’s Stranger Things [Review]

Chosen is a 2022 Sci-Fi series from Tall and Small for Netflix. It was released on 27 January on Netflix and stars Malaika Mosendane, Andrea Heick Gadeberg, Andreas Dittmer and Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt.

Synopsis

17-year-old Emma has always felt like an outsider in the town she grew up in. Middelbo. The town that got hit by a meteor 17 years ago, and which only claim to fame is that it once got smacked by a rock. This is what makes the inhabitants of Middelbo proud. But not Emma. And when she finds out that the story about the meteor might be fake, she makes it her goal to reveal all the lies. Emma believes it’s all about a small unimportant provincial town trying to make itself more interesting, but reality turns out to be much more complex.

This review is SPOILER FREE.

Why Chosen Is Worth Watching

In this time of intense competition between the streaming services (even outside of the US), it is important to see what Netflix still has to offer. The premise of this show sounded interesting and I am always willing to give Sci-Fi a try.

Is It More Than Just A Stranger Things Rip-Off?

I feel like someone somewhere in the Netflix offices sold this as the new Stranger Things. It really isn’t though you can see the similarities. I wonder after watching this is what other countries think after their shows are “adapted” for the US. Maybe this is overthinking it but there is no lack of spooky teen Sci-Fi/Fantasy options on Netflix from various European countries.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this but after watching Chosen full I wonder if the show ever made a decision. The show lasts six episodes and though a lot takes place the connections between the events seem loose.

Chosen season one feels like half a normal season one on either side of the Atlantic. It feels like these episodes could be packaged as a prequel to the actual story we are introduced to. That can be amazing IF you have a guaranteed main story to move to. We can look at book series where prequels come out after the fourth or fifth is released as evidence that most publishers, studios, etc. will only invest in more after a project proves successful.

Take The Good With The Bad In An Incomplete Series

It is much harder to tell with a production like this, what it takes to be renewed. While this feels incomplete there is nothing to say that there aren’t already more episodes on the way which tie things together.

I’ve highlighted the bad but there is good here too. The young cast does a lot with the precious little they are given by the script. Malika Mosendane does an amazing job playing Emma who just flows from bad choice to bad choice. Andrea Heick Gadeburg’s Marie is adorable and so earnest we can’t help but root for her.

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