The Head
By Marty Brown,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Blood, booze, profanity in classic horror-inspired mystery.
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The Head
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What's the Story?
THE HEAD opens with the crew of the Polaris VI Antarctic research station throwing a huge party the night before winter begins. The next day, most of the staff flies away while 10 crew members stay behind to man the station through the six months of freezing dark. But when the rest of the staff shows back up at the end of winter, they find that most of the 10 who stayed behind are dead or missing. Led by Johan, whose wife is among the missing, and the rookie Maggie -- the one known survivor of the winter -- the remaining staff set out to find out exactly what happened... before it's too late.
Is It Any Good?
Many people, when they find out a story is set at an Antarctic research station, will immediately think of John Carpenter's The Thing, in which a team of researchers are attacked by a shapeshifting alien being that picks them off one by one. The Head wastes no time in admitting to being inspired by Carpenter's film -- the inhabitants of Polaris VI ritualistically watch it on the first night of their long winter.
But The Head isn't just some self-referential Scream-like series for Carpenter fans. It cleverly uses the audience's presumed familiarity with its iconic predecessor to create a deeper sense of mystery once things inevitably go sideways at Polaris VI. Part of the fun of The Head is trying to figure out if it's a pure locked-room mystery or if something supernatural is going on, and it even has the episodic advantage of getting to dig into the characters' relationships and backstories. Using such iconic source material for inspiration could be either brave or misguided, but The Head smartly realizes that any premise as good as this one doesn't need to be confined to one story.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the Antarctic. What unique challenges does living in that climate present? How does the staff of Polaris VI deal with them? What protocols help the team in their day-to-day lives?
What's it like living in close quarters with other people? How do the 10 people on the Polaris VI relate to one another? What challenges does isolation present? How do they cope with those challenges?
What do you think happened on the Polaris VI? What are the clues to the mystery? What do you think the show wants you to think? Why?
TV Details
- Premiere date: February 4, 2021
- Cast: John Lynch , Alexandre Willaume , Katharine O'Donnelly
- Network: Max
- Genre: Drama
- TV rating: TV-MA
- Last updated: March 2, 2022
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