Common Sense Media Review
A mysterious death ignites a story about class, privilege.
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Saint X
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What's the Story?
Alison Thomas (West Duchovny) was a first-year college student when she flew with her family to a resort in Caribbean paradise SAINT X. She never came home. Her death devastates her family and causes a firestorm of attention to rain down on the island where she lost her life; ultimately the two employees accused of her death, "Gogo" Richardson (Josh Bonzie) and Edwin (Jayden Elijah), are set free amidst suspicions. Two decades later, a chance meeting between Gogo and Alison's now-adult younger sister Emily (Alycia Debnam-Carey) sends Emily on a search for the truth that reveals how Alison's death affected the lives of many.
Is It Any Good?
Built around a too-familiar premise, this drama is a slow burn that never really ignites due to its leisurely pace and thin characters. There's definite dramatic meat in the setup that there's outsize attention paid when young, well-to-do White women die mysteriously or go missing, and the world seems to care less about missing women of color, or, in this case, the Black resort employees accused of Alison's death. But Saint X doesn't draw its characters finely enough to make us care about them, instead of the ideas they're symbolizing. Yes, Alison is a fiery young college student who criticizes her parents for taking advantage of the privilege they wield in a Caribbean country; she also confusingly seems to immediately relax into that same privilege when dropped into the resort where she'll meet her untimely fate. For her part, her younger sister is a damaged and thoughtful adult woman, yet seems to inhabit a world full of cardboard characters who serve only to reflect (or oppose) her thoughts and feelings.
Things are on surer ground when we shift to the backstory of the resort employees accused of Alison's murder: Gogo and Edwin, whose lifelong friendship is complicated by the arrival of a five-star resort in their hometown, as well as by Gogo's fraught relationship with the mother of his child (Bre Francis), and Gogo's pious Christian background. We don't feel like we've seen these characters umpteen times, and it's disappointing every time the action shifts from their story to the Thomas family, who gets the lion's share of screen time. Saint X ultimately has more on its mind than investigating one murder, but the messages about privilege and fairness feel unearned in a drama that itself cares more about its boring American characters than their more intriguing Caribbean counterparts.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the resort that's a centerpiece of this drama. What has brought each of these people there? How are the staff expected to behave toward them? How is the tourists' behavior different than the staff's?
What mystery is introduced in the opening episode of the show? How does this change the feel of the show? What do you think will happen? Does the show give us any clues to how the plot will unfold?
What points do you think Saint X is trying to make about privilege and crime? Who's the main character of this drama? Are we expected to sympathize with all the characters, or just some of them? How can you tell?
TV Details
- Premiere date : April 26, 2023
- Cast : Alycia Debnam-Carey , Jayden Elijah , Josh Bonzie
- Network : Hulu
- Genre : Drama
- TV rating :
- Last updated : May 1, 2023
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