Warning: This review contains full spoilers for Yaga Season 1, Episodes 1-2. Both episodes are now streaming on AMC+ in the US and Crave in Canada.
For anyone familiar with the Eastern European folktale of Baba Yaga, you might have visions of a wicked old witch in the woods who lives in a hut made out of chicken feet. In reality, Baba Yaga is a complex character who can harness the role of both villain and mentor, depending on the story, and encompasses both good and evil.
Yaga, the new series from Kat Sandler, who wrote a stage play with the same title, is a modern retelling of the folktale of Baba Yaga itself. The first two episodes offer an alternate version of the traditional lore, as Yaga dives head first into seduction and horror, while sprinkling humor throughout amid many twists that make you question what’s real, what’s something else entirely, and what that “something else” even is. (Sounds weird, right? Good.)
The opening of Episode 1 sets the tone for where the show seems to be heading. It begins with narration from Baba Yaga herself, describing in detail how she has been perceived in tales “as wicked as the night and as wise and powerful as the sea” – a creature who eats children’s guts and bones and is too ugly to be desired by anyone. But there’s an underlying warning to her ramble.
Nighttime shots are mixed throughout the monologue, ending with Baba Yaga saying, “But the thing that really gets me… is this.” Cut to a man in a forest standing in the middle of a large bonfire, screaming while he’s being burned alive.
We then go straight into meeting the main characters of Whittock, a small Pacific Northwest-esque island town, and dive into the basics of the story: Charlie Rapp, played by Noah Reid (Schitt’s Creek, The Vampire Lestat), and Sergeant Carson, played by Clark Backo (Letterkenny, The Changeling), are forced to team up to investigate the disappearance of Henry Park, played by Hudson Williams (Heated Rivalry) – a billionaire playboy whose family is well-known in the town. Rapp was hired on by the Park family to find their son and seems to have questionable intentions for working on the case, which Carson is immediately suspicious of.
We next meet Logan Casey, Henry’s roommate – also played by Williams – who surprisingly looks just like Henry, albeit with a seemingly different demeanor and minor physical changes. Logan acts like he’s hiding something as Carson and Rapp look through the house, though he lets it slip that Rapp and Henry know each other, and Rapp doesn’t seem to appreciate the revelation.
The investigation continues in town, with Carson wondering if Henry’s actually even missing. Carson also accuses Rapp of flirting with basically every single woman he sees, and at first glance, it is possible to dismiss Rapp as a dumb flirt, but as you get further into these first two episodes, his eye-batting tendencies are revealed as a tactic to dig up more dirt (well, most of the time).
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/yaga-episodes-1-2-recap-and-review-hudson-williams-carrie-anne-moss-noah-reid-clark-backo
