While Linda is doing a great job as Pamela, I don't like how modern day showrunners come in and try to make us sympathize with villains/villainesses.... and why do the origin stories have to complicate things so much.

And the 13 year old character Grace is pointless, if anything.. it should have been a boy instead of a girl since Pamela had a son... but I guess in the 2020s.. we can't have that.

I do like that the opening scene of the original F13 (with Barry, Claudette, and Maryann) is fleshed out in the prequel.. and that we get to meet a younger Ralph, Enos, the goofy officer Dorf, and Trudy (she had a cameo at the restaurant at the start of the original and is featured in this as a younger woman)... but the cop and his sister seems tacked on and kind of distracting from what we really need focus on.. Pamela's descent from grief into pure evil/rage.

On 10/15/2026 at 9:26 PM, Soaplovers said:

While Linda is doing a great job as Pamela, I don't like how modern day showrunners come in and try to make us sympathize with villains/villainesses.... and why do the origin stories have to complicate things so much.

And the 13 year old character Grace is pointless, if anything.. it should have been a boy instead of a girl since Pamela had a son... but I guess in the 2020s.. we can't have that.

I do like that the opening scene of the original F13 (with Barry, Claudette, and Maryann) is fleshed out in the prequel.. and that we get to meet a younger Ralph, Enos, the goofy officer Dorf, and Trudy (she had a cameo at the restaurant at the start of the original and is featured in this as a younger woman)... but the cop and his sister seems tacked on and kind of distracting from what we really need focus on.. Pamela's descent from grief into pure evil/rage.

I liked the Sheriff, I thought the actor was good and played well against Pamela. As for his sister, the character would have worked better if she spent most of her time being suspicious of Pamela and investing her, rather than leading the 1970's investigation story as to "why Jason is bad" as you correctly pointed out as being unnecessary. Adding insult to injury was the show employing modern TV's worst storytelling device: the penultimate flashback episode.

That said, I did enjoy it. Cardellini was great, and the rest of the cast was good as well. Aside from the 7th episode, it moved along at a good pace and didn't get progressively worse like the Ryan Murphy & Mike Flanagan (aside from Carrie) horror shows. Hopefully we'll get an original serial horror streaming IP that figures out how to keep up the momentum all season soon.

Edited October 21Oct 21 by bongobong

26 minutes ago, bongobong said:

I liked the Sheriff, I thought the actor was good and played well against Pamela. As for his sister, the character would have worked better if she spent most of her time being suspicious of Pamela and investing her, rather than leading the 1970's investigation story as to "why Jason is bad" as you correctly pointed out as being unnecessary. Adding insult to injury was the show employing modern TV's worst storytelling device: the penultimate flashback episode.

That said, I did enjoy it. Cardellini was great, and the rest of the cast was good as well. Aside from the 7th episode, it moved along at a good pace and didn't get progressively worse like the Ryan Murphy & Mike Flanagan (aside from Carrie) horror shows. Hopefully we'll get an original serial horror streaming IP that figures out how to keep up the momentum all season soon.

Mike Flanagan sucks.. and he had no business doing a version of Carrie. Brian De Palma's Carrie is untouchable and I wished people would accept it and focus on adapting other SK's work.

I'm hoping that Crystal Lake eventually hits the OG movie since Victor Miller had so many threads he introduced in that movie (Alice and Steve Christy, Alice's home life and her wanting to home, Brenda being a low key feminist, Marcie being quirky, Jack/Marcie/Ned, and Annie's need for helping kids). that could be expanded on in the series.

I will wildly disagree with both of you on Mike Flanagan, but best of luck with the show!

On 10/15/2026 at 9:26 PM, Soaplovers said:

While Linda is doing a great job as Pamela, I don't like how modern day showrunners come in and try to make us sympathize with villains/villainesses.... and why do the origin stories have to complicate things so much.

And the 13 year old character Grace is pointless, if anything.. it should have been a boy instead of a girl since Pamela had a son... but I guess in the 2020s.. we can't have that

The unnecessary additions, and contradictions of the established timeline, in order to pad out the story kinda messed everything up, for me anyway.

And I refuse to believe that pointless Grace had anything to do with Barry and Claudette's murders lol

Assuming that Crystal Lake gets renewed for a second season, would it be a good idea for Corey Feldman to do a cameo on the series? Feldman did, after all, appear in both Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning.

11 hours ago, FlyRightOrchestraGuy said:

Assuming that Crystal Lake gets renewed for a second season, would it be a good idea for Corey Feldman to do a cameo on the series? Feldman did, after all, appear in both Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning.

I don’t know that they want to deal with all of his issues. There is a wrong kind of publicity for a project and CF brings that with him, sometimes even revels in it. It honestly makes me sad to see what he has been like over the last decade, because I know he is carrying around real trauma.

I finished the show and it had some fun moments and a lot of questionable decisions. Like a lot of these untold stories kinds of shows, it has moments of hitting close to what made the source material entertaining and then a lot of filler that could belong in any show of the same genre. But Friday the 13th was never the deepest of films to begin with. It’s not like Nightmare on Elm Street which really does have enough story elements to tell a tv show about Freddy.

4 hours ago, titan1978 said:

I don’t know that they want to deal with all of his issues. There is a wrong kind of publicity for a project and CF brings that with him, sometimes even revels in it. It honestly makes me sad to see what he has been like over the last decade, because I know he is carrying around real trauma.

Well, titian1978, do you think it would be a good idea for Kimberly Beck of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter fame to do a cameo on Crystal Lake? How about Peter Barton? Both Beck and Barton were concerned about Corey Feldman when The Final Chapter was in production.

Do you Kimberly Beck has carried around real trauma, titan1978? I know she was cast as Trish Jarvis in The Final Chapter shortly after she was let go from the role of Julie Clegg on Capitol. It seems to me that Kimberly was going through a divorce at the time she was making The Final Chapter. Her biological parents went through a divorce themselves when she was little. When she was 23 years old, she lost her 50-year-old singer-stepfather Tommy Leonetti to cancer.

You have to excuse me, titan1978. I can't say it doesn't bother me than Kimberly Beck's best-known role is in such a critically reviled movie as Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. The late Roger Ebert called it "an immoral and reprehensible piece of trash." It doesn't help matters that Kimberly Beck herself hasn't been a fan of slasher movies in general.

Edited October 25Oct 25 by FlyRightOrchestraGuy
Felt need to bring up Kimberly Beck not being a fan of slasher movies in general

50 minutes ago, FlyRightOrchestraGuy said:

Do you Kimberly Beck has carried around real trauma, titan1978?

I’m just going to answer this part of your post. I was referring to the childhood sexual abuse he suffered as a child actor, and his clear substance abuse issues over the years and various controversies in recent years. Not at all like the issues Kimberly Beck had from your post.

On 10/25/2026 at 7:37 AM, titan1978 said:

I don’t know that they want to deal with all of his issues. There is a wrong kind of publicity for a project and CF brings that with him, sometimes even revels in it. It honestly makes me sad to see what he has been like over the last decade, because I know he is carrying around real trauma.

I finished the show and it had some fun moments and a lot of questionable decisions. Like a lot of these untold stories kinds of shows, it has moments of hitting close to what made the source material entertaining and then a lot of filler that could belong in any show of the same genre. But Friday the 13th was never the deepest of films to begin with. It’s not like Nightmare on Elm Street which really does have enough story elements to tell a tv show about Freddy.

Below is a section from this TV Insider article:

That said, [showrunner Brad Caleb] Kane laughs that “if we’re lucky enough to get a Season 2, I will 100% go back to those people, actors from the original movie. I mean, I’ll say it right here…I’m dying to find Corey Feldman a part!”

@titan1978 Why do you think critics hated Friday the 13th movies so much back in the 1980s? Do you think they hated them because they didn't think the movies were deep enough?

Edited October 28Oct 28 by FlyRightOrchestraGuy
Felt need to bring up critical disdain toward "Friday the 13th" movies

Critics hated it cause of the TnA that's why lol

2 hours ago, dragonflies said:

Critics hated it cause of the TnA that's why lol

Right? The TnA and the extreme for the times violence were off putting to general audience critics then and now. Horror, especially slashers, are not a genre that reviews really matter all that much. Especially back then. What mattered was word of mouth and audience response. Was the experience fun? Some of them elevated the material (Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street for example), and got less harsh reviews. As Cunningham has said many times, this was designed to strike a chord and make money. It’s a slick version of exploitation filmmaking. The first one is the only one that tried to make a somewhat coherent story, most of the other entries are basically how does Jason kill this batch of young twentysomethings? And Part two is even my favorite with Ginny being one of my all time favorite final girls in all of horror. But Friday films were more fun than good.

2 hours ago, dragonflies said:

Critics hated it cause of the TnA that's why lol

Yeah, it was a lot of mindless fun full of TnA, gore, and sex. I always figured that Jason was attacking anyone that stepped onto his domain (The Camp) and that was all I needed to know about his motivation.

Out of all the final girls, Chris from Part 3 was my favorite final girl because she fought and survived Jason twice.. and it was interesting to see Jason trying to navigate her domain instead of someone trying to navigate on his domain. She was a fighter that knew the property, knew what weapons to use, and had the best idea to hang him before freaking out that he was alive before axing him in the face.

I liked that we had a final guy for parts 4 through 6 of Tommy Jarvis and wish that he continued to be the final guy that carried over through all of the films. When I looked at the Halloween films, I thought Laurie's time should have ended after the 1981 follow up Halloween II though H20 wasn't too bad of follow up (except the use of well known actors instead of unknowns that defined 80s slasher films).

Halfway through and this show is an absolute hoot so far. It's not Bryan Fuller's vision based on what little I know of the leaked pilot script I am still trying to track down, or the work of the many talented writers and directors he had involved (including bringing in the legendary Adrienne King, who I hope might also have acted again for the show), but Fuller is his own worst enemy and hasn't been able to stick with a long form project in over a decade so I can't fault the final show or its new team for that.

So far Crystal Lake is far from genius, but it's a lot of fun and doesn't bury the lede. Unlike when Fuller fled Star Trek Discovery the show didn't fall apart. You came to watch Pamela Voorhees lose her mind and make the sinners pay at Camp Blood and that's exactly what she does in very short order. (Even if IIRC, Fuller's pilot had her killing certain folks even earlier) They don't mess around, they get down to business quick. Linda Cardellini is also great so far. She is softer than Fuller's alleged choice, Charlize Theron, would likely have been and can give Pamela much more vulnerability in key moments than I think Theron would have, though I'm sure she could've been excellent. Pamela getting horny for the police chief after letting loose was hysterical and fun; William Catlett is great. (I think the romance with a police officer as well as some of the bear stuff were also from Fuller's original plans, but I know the bear stuff changed dramatically.)

Here's where I get pretentious and start to ramble on about various shows vis a vis this one, forgive me. It's a curious time for these kind of shameless streaming IP grabs. There's a lot of talk of the "Surf Dracula" problem where a 'prequel/reinvention' spends endless episodes waiting for its titular leads to get to the actual role they're supposed to be filling onscreen. For example, Lanterns on HBO definitely struggled with being awkward or potentially ashamed of its comic book source material; it had stellar performances and some excellent writing and episodes throughout, but at the end of the day its conclusion didn't quite land and was very muddled IMO, as well as feeling like it needed to play it cheap staying extremely earthbound despite being a multimillion dollar streaming show. It felt like, as Damon Lindelof's work sometimes does for me, a sociocultural thesis grafted onto an IP that it's not entirely suited for. I thought his story had value but I wasn't sure Green Lantern was the property to tell it on, and I thought the ending of that story didn't work and felt hamhanded and weak at the same time, echoing some of Grant Morrison's complaints about it.

Then you have something like It: Welcome to Derry, which many loved but I found comically goofy, fan service-laden with an unnecessary X-Files-esque conspiracy plotline stapled onto a story that really didn't need it and a lot of weird video game logic elements. But I'll give it to them, its final hours delivered on a very fun (if super cheesy and at times brainless) blockbuster finale where Lanterns didn't, as it felt like Andy Muschietti was trying to outrun his failure on It Chapter Two in theaters and top himself with a bigger and stronger conclusion. He got that in Derry, even if the show's overall storyline and plot logic is still very silly to me, with a lot of very hokey dialogue and characters/story beats.

That brings us back to Crystal Lake. Yes, already several episodes in there is clearly a totally ludicrous new '70s paranoia thriller-style lore mythology a la Welcome to Derry being put in place lol. But unlike that show, as @titan1978 has noted: This is Friday the 13th! If this series can contain Jason Goes to Hell, Jason X and Freddy vs. Jason you might as well do something as wacky as this is clearly starting to look like it's shaping up to be. And unlike Lanterns they're clearly not chagrined or uncomfortable with the IP. I love the retro title card in the pilot and some of the other trappings. It may not be the high art it could've been but it was always going to be Friday the 13th. I'm really enjoying it for what it is so far, even with the typical 'IP prequel' meandering storylines. Because every episode they're still selling what you came for and not skimping on it.

I should add that CGI aside, the gore is hardcore. Which feels appropriate given how many films in the F13 series had to be heavily cut down to avoid an X. Finally, this show can show it (even if Peacock said no to nudity).

Edited October 29Oct 29 by Vee

Yahoo Entertainment

Peacock’s ‘Crystal Lake’ Thrills Up 1.7 Billion Minutes i...

“Crystal Lake” is a Halloween hit for Peacock, with the "Friday the 13th" prequel series generating 1.7 billion minutes watched over its first 14 days

Good sign of a possible 2nd season.