Few series actually live up to their title. Netflix’s highly anticipated Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is an accurate warning to the viewer of what they’re about to witness. It’s a supernatural horror centered around a wife-to-be. And as viewers creep through all eight episodes, something very bad will indeed happen.
Rachel (Camila Morrone; Daisy Jones and the Six) is getting married to fiance, Nicky (Adam DiMarco), in five days. When the series opens, their road trip to Nicky’s family estate is in full swing. They plan to wed at the secluded home deep in a snowy forest for an intimate ceremony. Rachel tries to wear a happy face for Nicky, but she’s superstitious and paranoid, unable to shake the feeling that something very bad is going to happen. She chalks it up to her upbringing, which is a sharp contrast to Nicky’s silver-spoon childhood. Once she meets Nicky’s family, the feeling of unease begins to intensify.
Once Rachel reaches the family estate, a series of eerie things begin to happen. This is her first time meeting his family, and things feel off. Nicky’s family is full of suspicious characters, including his mother Victoria (Jennifer Jason Leigh), curmudgeon father Boris (Ted Levine), insufferable sister Portia (Gus Birney), older brother Jules (Jeff Wilbusch), and sister-in-law Nell (Karla Crome), who also happens to be Nicky’s ex. Rachel’s paranoia causes her to jump to interesting conclusions, which make for a series of awkward interactions and unearths a few truths, too. Just when things start to settle, and she begins to abandon the notion that something bad is on the horizon, another twist arises, which puts her and Nicky’s nuptials at risk.
The show’s cleverest conceit is treating marriage itself as a horror. Carrie was a horror about becoming a woman; Rosemary’s Baby was about becoming a mother. Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen stakes its claim as a horror about becoming a wife; that is, saying “I do” binds you to something for eternity. And if you don’t make the right choice, what you’re bound to could turn out to be something sinister. Haley Z. Boston brings all those fears to the surface with a manifested tension.
The closer Rachel gets to the wedding day, the more uncertain she is about marrying Nicky. Rachel presents as the never-gonna-marry type. She had a completely different upbringing than Nicky, one that wouldn’t have led her anywhere near the altar. She’s got a potty mouth and even filthier sense of humor, tattoos, smokes cigs — the antithesis of Nicky’s upscale background.
Each episode is filled with enough macabre to keep you tethered, even when some of the storytelling drags. Still, when the bad thing happens, it’s completely worth it. The story might’ve worked better as a single film, mounting the tension as the clock runs out, leaving our bride-to-be, Rachel, to rush towards a final decision. The pacing of the eight episodes seems a bit uneven, with more breathing room in the first half and a rush to close things out in the latter half.
The chemistry between Morrone and DiMarco is believable. Rachel and Nicky do look like a couple in love, though we can see enough cracks to suggest they may not be as perfect for each other as they seem. The other standout coupling in the series, Jules and Nell, is also an interesting pair. We see their dysfunctional marriage, yet their cracks seem to imply that, beneath their exterior, they do match each other’s freak pretty well. It’s in this way that Boston’s series also toils with the idea of perception versus reality, another notion that plagues relationships.
One thing is for certain — something very bad is going to happen, though what that “something” is shifts as the audience crawls through each episode. There’s a sense of unease courtesy of the spooky atmosphere, but there isn’t much story to cling to in between those moments. When we arrive at “the bad thing,” the series doesn’t hold back, exceeding the definition of “bad” in a blood-soaked scene that leaves no one unscathed. Everyone is somehow affected by what has happened.
In a sea of oversaturated streaming networks, Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is worth watching. It takes the seriousness of a lifelong commitment and packages it inside a dread-soaked thriller to reshape the weight of such a decision. Marriage isn’t something anyone should go into lightly. If a decision so simple can alter your life with such finality, you might think twice. As the credits roll, consider yourself warned.
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