Kids will be kids — but in the world of Stephen King, childhood often goes hand-in-hand with peril. (The terrified youths in It, the bullied buddies of Stand by Me, to name an iconic few.) This is especially true for the gifted adolescents whose psychic abilities become a curse when they’re snatched from their normal lives and awaken in the creepy prison of (wait for it) The Institute.
The surefire premise of King’s 2019 novel The Institute, adapted into an overlong and pokey eight-part thriller for MGM+, is strongest when depicting the plight of these kids, most notably the noble 14-year-old brainiac Luke (Joe Freeman), whose nascent gift of telekinesis (remember Carrie?) lands him among those trapped in a top-secret facility nestled in rural (where else) Maine. It’s a chamber of horrors and torture as a staff of zealots and sadists, led by an ice-cold Mary-Louise Parker, grooms the youngsters to develop their powers for shady purposes that we’re told are in service to humanity. But all we see is inhumanity, and the black smoke belching from the chimneys hints at a no-exit policy for Luke and his chums.
Less riveting is the poorly paced subplot involving nice-guy ex-cop Tim Jamieson (an overly restrained Ben Barnes), a peacemaking drifter who left Boston after a troubling incident that caused him to hang up his badge and gun. His new under-the-radar gig as a “night knocker” watchman is perfect for such a soft-spoken gentleman, but things get messy when he becomes suspicious of The Institute that dare not reveal itself. “I’m just not the kind of guy that can look the other way,” Tim needlessly explains.
It takes most of the season before Luke’s and Tim’s paths cross, at which point the series shifts into a higher gear. But it’s the sinister corridors of The Institute that are most likely to linger in memory and haunt one’s nightmares.
The Institute is the TV equivalent of a good beach read, though you’re better off looking for a copy of King’s original, which was a much more effective page-turner.
The Institute, Series Premiere, Sunday, July 13 (two episodes), MGM+