Tyler Krenzin
Lantern Staff
Netflix has been killing it lately with its original shows. Some viewers can be happy with their choice to cut the cord because of the competition with regular TV programming. Living in a house myself, I decided to do the same and get my entertainment from my parents’ Netflix account.
Stumbling through their original options, one of the newer ones stood out. American Vandal, the name itself, made me interested from the start. I threw it on while I was cleaning my house, giving it no chance to impress me. Let’s just say that the house didn’t get clean. I stopped in the beginning because I was genuinely confused by the opening. As the series began in a documentary style, I began to ask myself if this is real. Well I quickly found that I am, in fact, an idiot as the main actor that played Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro) was recognizable from his role in the movie, Blue Mountain State. The absolute ridiculousness that followed the first episode made me fall in love with the show as I sat there.
Honestly, this show has everything that a viewer would need for his binge watches. A compelling, but not super serious story, solid acting (especially from unknown teenage actors), drama (albeit teen drama) and lots of moments that will have you go “Oh F*CK”.
With each episode averaging 35 minutes, and the first season only being eight episodes long, it’s very reasonable for a viewer to knock it out in a day. The funny almost campy nature of two kids asking grown adults about who committed the vandalism is the most awkwardly funny thing that a viewer will watch in a while. The ridiculousness of what the vandalism is accumulates in an episode where the two students on the film project, Sam and Peter, look to each other and try to make the case of why they could have committed the vandalism. The six to seven minutes that they take for this part happens during a very serious part of the series, and for the most part seems like a waste of time, but if I wanted to show someone the scene that made me love this series, it would be that scene.
American Vandal is a smart show. The people who wrote this to be episodic instead of one long movie did the right thing. The show made viewers think. It makes viewers look at every small detail that they bring up in hopes of finding out who committed the vandalism. Honestly, after finishing the first season, all the details that accumulate to the final verdict were scattered throughout the prior episodes. Everything was right in front of me, but I couldn’t put it together, but maybe you have what it takes to catch the American Vandal. 8/10
