Chambers – Episode 1 “Into the Void” Recap & Review

Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Despite the episodes themselves ticking by at a relatively slow pace, Into The Void begins Chambers right at the heart of the drama. Sasha is getting ready to meet with her boyfriend and at her house, mentally prepares herself as she plans to lose her virginity. When she visits her boyfriend, they start kissing but as thunder rumbles outside, Sasha’s heart inexplicably stops.

As the scene fades out, we cut forward a few months where we find Sasha alive and well, albeit with a scar across her chest thanks to an emergency heart transplant. Her boyfriend is now acting differently around her too, worried he’ll hurt her which ironically causes Sasha a whole different sort of pain, as she longs to be treated the same as she always has been.

Later that day, at her Uncle’s store she runs into the Father of the girl whose heart was transplanted into her. This girl’s name was Becky and he invites Sasha and her Uncle to dinner at their house. Thinking nothing of it, they arrive at Becky’s house and meet with her parents, Ben and Nancy, along with Becky’s brother. At dinner they discuss Becky and what she used to be like while Frank expresses his gratitude to the family and how they will do everything they can to keep her memory alive.

Happy her heart has gone to a good home, Ben and Nancy then offer Becky’s school scholarship to Sasha. Before they can head home to deliberate over the offer, a dust storm kicks up forcing them all to spend the night in the house. Sasha doesn’t want to go to college though, her dream lies with opening a nail salon with her friend. While Frank tries to convince her to accept the offer, Sasha wanders around the house where we find out Becky’s brother takes drugs.

After a particularly creepy dream where she sees Becky having sex in a car, Sasha finally loses her virginity. Later on that night, she calls the Lefèvres and accepts the scholarship offer. Of course, that’s easier said than done as she realizes when she shows up at Crystal Valley High. The new new school is very different to her old one with plenty of advantages and benefits. With free meals, laptops and even a nap room, Sasha begins to see the pros of going to this school.

She runs into one of Becky’s friends here too, who explains to her that Becky was electrocuted in the shower by an old radio which is how she died. Only, this story proves to be fake as we find out given you can’t donate your organs if you’re electrocuted. The episode then ends with Sasha getting ready for bed and experiencing another vision. This time, she sees Becky in the reflection to her mirror instead of herself.

As an opening episode, Chambers does pretty well to set the scene and inject a good level of mystery and intrigue into the plot. The premise is laid out well, with a good structure, and Nancy certainly steals the scene here whenever she crops up on screen. Having said that though, Chambers’ slow pace can already be felt and this does prove to be an issue during the later episodes. For now though, there’s enough here to make for an intriguing opening episode.