Midnight, Texas Season 1 – Release Date: 2017

Episode Guide

Pilot
Bad Moon Rising
Lemuel, Unchained
Sexy Beast
Unearthed
Blinded By The Light
Angel Heart
Last Temptation of Midnight
Riders on the storm
The Virgin Sacrifice

Midnight, Texas feels like a show that isn’t quite sure what it wants to be. There’s some humour thrown in but its poorly implemented, there’s a forced romance between two characters and a mystery woven through the episodes that’s resolved almost as quickly as it starts. Individually, this could be forgiven but together it conclusively makes the show messy and disjointed. Despite some good special effects and some action thrown in, Midnight, Texas is a poor adaptation from the books of the same name.

The story begins with Manfred (François Arnaud), a powerful psychic who’s literally able to see the dead. With his past catching up to him, his dead Grandma suggests moving to Midnight, an off-the-grid town in Texas where other people with strange abilities live. When he arrives, a woman washes up on the shore dead. Manfred and the other residents of the town decide to find out who killed her whilst grappling with their own problems. The premise itself is promising and for the first couple of episodes, if you can forgive the breakneck speed and poor characterisation, the mystery that encapsulates the episodes moves at a decent pace while we learn more about the supporting cast. As the season progresses however, the mystery and Manfred’s past are resolved and in its place a cliched prophetic apocalypse story takes hold. Its here that the show dissolves from the interesting premise it once had to simply another supernatural fantasy show.

To make matters worse the characters are also a mixed bag, ranging from mediocre to outright bad. A lot of this can be placed squarely on the pilot episode script which feels rushed and does a poor job of establishing who the characters are and most importantly, why we should care. Toward the end of this episode we’re told through expository dialogue who all the characters are and what abilities they have but it frustratingly leaves little to the imagination. Its particularly irritating because the elements are here for an intriguing supernatural thriller, especially given the popularity of the books but its squandered with numerous issues that make it difficult to empathise with the characters as they jump from one problem to he next.

Behind the issues that plague Midnight, Texas is a fast moving supernatural thriller that’s sure to please some people. If you can forgive the acting, poor characterisation and take the show at face value there’s definitely some fun to be had. The action is certainly appealing; vampires exploding in a cloud of dust, demonic monsters and swirling translucent ghosts tormenting Manfred are great additions to the show. As a fun throwaway summer action, Midnight, Texas does scratch that itch but for anyone after a binge-worthy fantasy show that grips from start to finish, Midnight, Texas unfortunately doesn’t fit the bill.