Twisted Teen Thriller

Tv shows about teen psychos are all the rage right now (Did you see what I did there?). Bates Motel focuses on the formative years of Norman Bates (yes, the character from Psycho), but personally, I'm more interested in Twisted, a tamer take (I need to stop doing this) on the subject of young sociopaths.

ABC Family ran the first episode of Twisted in March as a preview to the show's June release. The concept is tre unexpected for the network and there was a period where the series seemed uncertain for pick up, given events in the US at the time. While murder mysteries are the network's style, they don't generally opt for programs that have such potentially disturbing core material, with a primarily teen target audience.

(Note: I think the promo's weak, considering how surprisingly intriguing the episode was.)

Twisted kickstarts with a slightly saturated flashback scene including a swing set (cue recognised television symbol for innocence/childhood). Two eleven year old girls are talking about their friend Danny, who's been acting strangely.

Danny emerges from the house carrying a red skipping rope. Turns out he then confesses to murdering his aunt whose corpse is inside (she was babysitting). Not a casual opener for what is ostensibly a teen drama...!

Now sixteen, Danny's returning to school, fully rehabilitated (in theory), and determined to reconnect with his two best friends. They're both harbouring a boatload of issues as a result of what happened back in the day, and are none too happy to see old Danny Boy.

Initially. 

Turns out, teen Danny is determined, confident and charismatic. By the end of the episode, each girl is bonding with him, albeit reluctantly. We think we know where the story's going now (in broad terms)...

...until a classmate is murdered. Either Danny's back to bad habits, or someone's setting him up. Say hello to the season's narrative arc.

The genius aspect here is that the premise allows leeway for moments of awkwardness in the pilot. What would a teenage girl say to a childhood friend slash murderer? The whole scenario is so brutally uncomfortable for all the characters involved, that it excuses moments of clunky dialogue or the occasional wooden performance.

 Even better, by writing the two best friends as girls who've since had a falling out, there's a neat love triangle already set in place for the show's hero(?).

While watching the pilot, I assumed Danny's innocence for a few reasons. He won't talk about what happened that fateful day (love that phrase), which to me implies some kind of conspiracy (keeping in mind this is the channel responsible for Pretty Little Liars and the unsolved murder at the core of that show has kept it on air for four years). Also, this isn't HBO, so if he is a budding sociopath, ABC Family are pretty far off their usual content course. Finally, Danny is written rather sympathetically.

(And yes, before you ask, everyone's good-looking and full of sassy, referential teen dialogue, because hello, ABC Family).

Still, there's enough elements in the pilot to keep the viewer uncomfortably aware of the possibility Danny might be guilty of murder. There's something detached and slightly calculating about the character. You're hoping because as a victim he's had to learn to disconnect to survive, and not because as a killer, he's watching, planning, and working to stay a step ahead...!

There's something's odd about Danny, and the murder of his aunt is never far from the characters' (or viewers'), minds. It's like you can never quite relax into the story while you're watching it, because you're just not sure about this kid.

I think actor Avan Jogia's experience on the Nickelodeon series Victorious has paid off because while he's obviously capable of acting troubled and dark (Ben the bomber in the opening episode of Caprica), he can also turn on the smooth friendliness that's de rigeur for tween/teen shows, which comes across as borderline chilling in such an emotionally complex scenario.

The pacing's interesting, the pilot moving very briskly through the set-up. You start in the past, move to the present, and from then on you're walked through (jogged through?) moments in the school hallway, a teen party, interactions in the car, a cafe, there's a murder, post-murder, a school assembly, the sheriff's interrogation, a few home time interactions with parents... Basically a flood of character introductions and developments. I wonder if these short scenes are a stylistic response to reduced teen attention spans? 

Like most modern shows aimed at the youth market, the parents are all a bit weird (read lame), but I definitely liked the adult casting here, including Kathy Najimy as a teacher. (Though I wonder, do they really teach Psychology in US high schools?)

Will definitely watch on to see how the story unfolds...

And yes, I won't lie, the skipping rope opening credits freak me out a tad.