CW's "In the Dark": Being Drunk, Blind and Slutty Are Bad Combinations, But They Might Be a Good Thing for This Fledgling Network
Wednesday, July 31, 2019 at 5:57 p.m. PDT
Have you seen CW’s In the Dark? Let’s not kid ourselves, we know you haven’t. Before saying goodbye to a world that didn’t appreciate her, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend saw her position as CW’s lowest-rated series usurped by 2019 entry In the Dark. A murder mystery about a blind girl and her dog named Pretzel (yes, really), this little show that could deserves some props for making it to air.
You have to hand it to the CW — they’ve tried, like, really tried to air anything but superheroes, but since comic-based shows continue to be their bread and butter, they must be using all that ca$h to subsidize their second-favorite type of series: little left-of-center female-led dramas. While shows like Ringer, Emily Owens, M.D., Frequency, No Tomorrow and Life Sentence only got the gift of one season, 2019’s In the Dark wins the award for being the first to score a season 2. But before you get too excited, just know this renewal is entirely due to CW ending its contract with Netflix, meaning that all new shows launching in fall 2019 and beyond won’t be guaranteed a Netflix stream eight days after their conclusion (or perhaps any Netflix stream at all). However, the contract still covers all series that launched prior to fall 2019, so as good business sense would have it, CW renewed every single one of their shows this year as long as their actors didn’t want to run for the hills (see: Arrow and Supernatural).
What does this mean for In the Dark? Might we get four very long seasons of this most unusual show? Something tells us the series won’t see into the light of seasons 3 or 4, but for now, you can stream season 1 on Netflix. In the first two episodes, you get to meet the very miserable main character, whose blindness has left her a tad hopeless, unmotivated, and emotionally unavailable. While some viewers may find her unlikeable, her blindness makes her anger at the world a lot more understandable than the many unlikeable main characters of some other shows that we shall refrain from mentioning (:cough: Scandal :cough:). To deal with her dark reality, main character Murphy Mason drinks a lot, sleeps [with other people] a lot, drinks A LOT of cranberry juice from sex-induced UTIs, and, oh, get this, even has two BFFs, one who’s black (gasp!) and another who’s lesbian (even bigger gasp!). Sadly, for Murphy, only one of these best friends survives the pilot — we can only have one best friend, right? (Looking at you, Elena Gilbert — Caroline and Bonnie can’t BOTH be your best friend). The season begins unfolding in episode 2, as Murphy looks to solve the mystery of her (murdered?) best friend.
Is it a perfect, award-winning show? Certainly not, but cheers to the CW for trying something a little different and showcasing a lead character with a disability. That said, the show is wide open for criticism. Lead actress Perry Mattfeld isn’t blind herself, so critics might condemn the show for not casting an actual blind actress, just as The Village caught flack for not casting a disabled actor when the part called for it. For some, Mattfeld’s frequent blinking and occasional eye contact might prove a persistent bother; there’s a reason blind-for-television actors hide behind dark glasses after all. That said, most people won’t notice/won’t care about potentially trivial matters and will appreciate the show for its originality. However, be warned, in episode 2, the CW television gods introduce the ever-persistent, never-absent gorgeous romantic prince who will soften our hard hero[ine]’s heart. Ah, if only real life could be so convenient…
Season 1 of In the Dark dropped on Netflix on July 5, 2019. Season 2 will premiere in the mid-season, most likely sometime by April 2020.
