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(Deep Cuts) CRYSTAL LAKE: Mother Knows Best...Even When She's Killing Everyone

By. Davalyn Baker

The discourse around Nikki (Obsession) being used as an attraction for Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights is still running online. The main issue it seems is that because Nikki is a victim, she shouldn’t be used. But there are many horror villains that have victim origins. Carrie White (Carrie), Jennifer Check (Jennifer’s Body), Amanda Young (Saw), Jedidah Sawyer (aka: Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and the most famous of victims – Jason Voorhees.

Jason’s backstory gets lost in the countless sequels. His mother goes on a killing spree because her son was neglected for teenage sex. Betsy Palmer portrayed the original Mrs. Vorhees with a great balance of nurturer and murderer with ease. And to think she only took the job because she wanted a new car.

The series, titled CRYSTAL LAKE, picks up on the day that Jason ultimately drowns in the lake. The opener shows a bloodied Pamela (Linda Cardellini) pulling someone’s tooth from her hand. It sticks the landing by drawing you in and making you wonder how she ended up here. We go back nine months to an open Crystal Lake, full of children and teen counsellors and Pam is trying to be supportive and encourage her young son, Jason (Callum Vinson) to make friends despite knowing that he is ostracized and occasionally bullied. Despite any teasing, Jason does have a close friendship with Grace (Gwendolyn Sundstrom). After being bullied by a group of boys, Grace takes the group’s ball and throws it out into the off-limits part of the lake. It’s her attempt at vindication for her friend, but the kids threaten that she’ll be the one getting in trouble because she tossed the ball into a forbidden section of the lake. Feeling guilty, Jason swims to get the ball which results in him drowning. And while this is happening, the counselor that should be watching him – Claudette (Danielle Kotch) – is having sex with her boyfriend, Barry (Phoenix Parnevik). Neglectful is not a strong enough word for Claudette’s mishap, while a horrified and intrigued Grace sees her in the boathouse engaging in these acts with her boyfriend. Pamela attempts to save her son while onlookers stand horrified, but her attempts are unsuccessful, and she spends the rest of the series trying to find him.

Pamela's grief is at the heart of CRYSTAL LAKE, but how much of her violence can be attributed to losing Jason? In CRYSTAL LAKE: The Psychology of Pamela's Love for Jason, Bee Delores takes a closer look at Pamela's psychological unraveling and how her devotion to her son becomes something far more dangerous.

CRYSTAL LAKE gives an extended look into the five-minute monologue delivered by Pamela Vorhees in the first film. Did we need an eight-episode arc exploring why the events of Camp Crystal Lake happened? Not really. But is it a good time? Absolutely. CRYSTAL LAKE is GOOD. GREAT, even. There’s no denying that there’s an amazing story that’s well-acted through Linda Cardellini’s Pamela. She gives just as good as Betsey Palmer and is such an underrated actress that her having this lead role is deserved. She’s her strongest when the audience sees how deeply she loves Jason, and how fiercely protective she is of him.

A true fan of the original series, it’s easy to see that showrunner Brad Caleb Kane treated this project like a labor of love. The title credits pay homage to the original series with returning to pen the opening theme. “The Final Chapter” is one of the strongest episodes, and mostly my favorite, because Pamela has completely gone off the deep end by now, Jason is running amok in the woods, Daddy Elias is taken care of, and thus the story of Jason the killer begins.

So where do Pamela and Jason go from here? Based on the reception and reviews, season two seems imminent. Most people are excited about that, but I am unsure how I feel. I worry the plot will become oversaturated, and it feels that they may be retconning the entirety of the Friday series. One of the best things about the Friday series is that it absolutely doesn’t make sense. Tommy Jarvis stupidly digging up the corpse of Jason Vorhees because of ego, thus turning him into the zombie killing monster most people associate with Jason was a fun reboot in the film series. I have no doubts that Brad Caleb Kane can make season two work just as well as season one, but I worry about the appeal of Friday the 13^th being lost in translation.

People either hate these films or they love them. Most may even side-eye my criticisms about the show because I genuinely enjoy A New Beginning and Jason Takes Manhattan the most. I believe the best element of surprise in the first Friday movie is how every character speaks of an impending threat and implying that it was Jason, but the audience gets the surprise plot-twist of a scene-stealing Betsy Palmer as mad mother Pamela.

And I did enjoy the series. I especially loved Linda’s chemistry with the supporting cast, and I grew heart eyes for Sheriff Levon Brooks’ (William Catlett) little sister, Briana (Devin Kessler). She’s a journalist who can’t leave well enough alone but ends up becoming an ally of Pamela alongside her big brother. I’d love if showrunners would stop using the Black person as police officer/therapist/judge/nurse (I could go on) trope but there’s no other way it works here. Pamela and Levon’s relationship is also great, showing a man bent on helping a woman that thinks she’s too damaged to start over. However, the relationship gets strained as the body count rises and seeing them interact with each other on-screen is one of my favorite things about the show. Another amazing thing is the expansion of “Crazy” Ralph. He’s a vet haunted by the horrors of war and I will never refuse a “war is bad” storyline. It also throws away that ableist origin of calling someone who clearly knew something was wrong – crazy.

And the tooth? It belongs to a goon from the corporation Bellflower Chemical, a company that spends its time experimenting on mothers and their unborn children. This is the reason Jason doesn’t die and explains why Pamela has run away, changing her name from Wittering to Voorhees to get away from her emotionally abusive and manipulative husband Elias (Hamish Linklater). I love how nasty Elias is. Just like the origin comics he’s still an abusive jerk but he’s especially sinister here, allowing his child to be tortured and abused for experiments that would result in people like him surviving any death attempt which results in making them stronger. It’s absolutely ridiculous but somehow works well, especially with Hamish Linklater’s amazing line deliveries defending his choices.

I don’t know if I’m a fan of the addition of Grace, who joins the show as a completely new character and best friend of Jason. In the first episodes of the season, I thought it was great. Jason needed a friend and it was nice to see someone besides Pamela genuinely love him for who he was, but as the series continues and we see Grace play a bigger role in aiding to the kill count, it makes no sense and creates a plot hole. Passing on the original kills of the film to a completely new character feels like an insult to the original and mostly unnecessary. It did receive a gasp out of me though.

All in all, I do recommend the show – especially if you’re a fan of Linda Cardellini and I can’t imagine anyone not so you will enjoy the show. In a world of reboots, CRYSTAL LAKE shines.

The show is available for streaming on Peacock.

Before CRYSTAL LAKE expanded Pamela's story, Davalyn revisited the tragedy that started it all. In FRIDAY THE 13TH and the Fear of Nobody Watching the Kids, she questions why the teenage counselors took all the blame for Jason's death while the adults responsible for running Camp Crystal Lake escaped scrutiny.