I Know What You Did Last Summer: The Mistakes of Our Youth

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a modernized adaptation of a 1973 novel written by Lois Duncan, which also inspired the 1997 slasher flick of the same name.  The television series seems to have a similar spirit to the novel than the film, and all three versions have the same basic plot.  A group of hard partying high school seniors, driving highly intoxicated, hit someone on an isolated road.  Instead of calling the police, they hide what has happen.  A year later, they start receiving notes stating, “I know what you did last summer” and a mysterious killer begins to stalk the lifelong friends, who have grown apart due to this terrible secret they all hold.   The main difference between them is who is struck down on that fateful night.  In the book, it is a young boy named David.   In the movie, they run over a fisherman, named Ben, who had his own dark secrets.  In the new television series, they twist the story even further with who they hit and kill.  Where the movie kept the names of the characters from the book, the series updates them to fit the times and the new location of Oahu, Hawaii.

In the first episode, Lennon Grant (Madison Iseman) returns home to Hawaii from her first year at college.  Her father, Bruce (Bill Heck) seems a bit concerned at her reserved behavior.  As she looks through the photos of her and her twin sister, Alison, she opens her closet door and sprawled on a mirror is the “I Know What You Did Last Summer”.  We flashback to the graduation party that fateful night, and meet her friends, Margot (Brianne Tju), Dylan (Ezekiel Goodman), Riley (Ashley Moore) and Johnny (Sebastian Amoruso).  Back in real time, we see the bloody warning hanging in the closet and Lennon screams.

The first four episodes were released all at once, I only had time to watch episode one so far.  So, it is difficult to see if the series is going more in the “Slasher” direction of the movies, or in the “Thriller Character Drama” of the book, or maybe a mix of both.  The story moved along at a good pace.  There were a lot of twists and turns and there is a ton of exposition information given in a rather short amount of time, which some could find confusing and overwhelming.  With all of the twists and turns if you aren’t paying attention, it would be easy to miss some vital information.  But the dialogue never felt forced, and we are given enough information to understand the characters and the story, but to leave a lot of room for character exploration and growth.   Although, they didn’t get into any heavy themes, I can see inklings of some.  Personal identity in the aftermath of tragedy.  The morality of our choices and how they influence our very personality.  It will be interesting to see if these get explored or if they are left at just “inklings”.   The acting is all very good with Madison Iseman’s dual role as both Lennon and Alison standing out.  Lennon the hard partying, sexually promiscuous extrovert, as apposed to Alison’s dark and brooding introvert.