‘The Institute’ Episodes 1 & 2 Review
‘The Institute’ has debuted its first two episodes on MGM+. An adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name, the show follows Luke Ellis, a fourteen-year-old boy who’s developing telekinesis and is kidnapped from his home and taken to a secret lab, The Institute, where he’s subjected to tests to make him use and control his powers.
The obvious comparison with the show is ‘Stranger Things’, which features a similar story with Hawkins Lab, where Eleven and a group of other kids with telekinetic powers were kept and experimented on. It’s not the only similarity either, as there’s a second storyline involving Ben Barnes as Tim Jamieson, an ex-cop who shot a kid and was forced to resign, which led to a drinking problem and a broken marriage. All this feels a little cliched and out of their time. King’s novel was only published in 2019, but it could have been written thirty or forty years before.
Much of the show follows a pretty standard formula, at least so far. The kids at The Institute try to come up with ideas to escape, Tim gets a job as a nightnocker in a small town nearby (a small town in Maine, obviously). As yet, these two storylines haven’t crossed paths, though it seems likely he’ll become suspicious of what’s happening at the Institute, which is disguised as an infectious disease lab, and begin to investigate.
The show gets off to a surprisingly quick start. We hardly get to see what Luke’s life was like before he’s kidnapped and his parents killed. Obviously it’s not the focus of the show, but it would have been nice to see a bit more, just so we know what he’s missing.
Some things also seem a little too convenient. The kids don’t seem all that alarmed at being kidnapped and imprisoned in such an unpleasant place. I get they’re intelligent, trying to save face in front of the staff, but they are very cool. Likewise, it’s surprising that they get along so well, with no one trying to push to the front of the group or become the “alpha”. Again, they’re smart enough to know it won’t help them, and that the people in charge are their enemies, but still, it’s lucky for them that they do get along so easily. It also seems a bit odd that Luke knew of his abilities before he was kidnapped, but didn’t seem concerned about it, again, something that a bit more set-up would have helped to explain.
That might all sound like it’s not very good, but it’s actually very entertaining. It’s not going to be mind blowing, or set new standards for premium television, but I actually quite like that. It’s episodic, intriguing, and feels a little more like old-school TV. There are plenty of mysteries to be uncovered, like what the purpose of The Institute’s research is, and the characters are all likable. I’m definitely very interested to see where it goes.
