Review: An archivist gets drawn into a spooky cold case in addictive Archive 81

According to showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine, "We’re hoping to give the supernatural horror genre a new twist—while keeping a dark, deeply emotional romance as its core."Per the official premise:Archive 81 follows archivist Dan Turner, who takes a job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994. He's estranged from his wife, he's had at least one nervous breakdown, and he mostly hangs out with his best friend Mark (Matt McGorry, How to Get Away with Murder), who hosts a podcast.When a wealthy businessman named Virgil Davenport (Martin Donovan, Big Little Lies) approaches Dan with a lucrative freelance job offer to restore the aforementioned damaged videotapes, the archivist accepts—even though it requires him to work alone at a remote facility upstate with no cell phone reception. The connection between the two timelines—and the respective fates of our protagonists—is finally revealed in a genuinely shocking season finale that opens up a lot of new possibilities for future seasons.There's no word yet on whether we will get a second season, but Sonnenshine has said her team has already been discussing ideas for where they could take the story next, now that one piece of the puzzle has essentially been "solved." I'd like to see what they come up with, but even if the show isn't renewed, this highly entertaining first season stands well on its own.Archive 81 is now streaming on Netflix.You must login or create an account to comment.Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox.