TV Review: 'The Order' Season 1 Proves Itself As Fun Freshman Escape

When was the last time you actually had fun watching a television show? Where it entertained you with characters that actually enjoyed their lives despite their complicated circumstances? A show that was thought-provoking yet an escape. That is what the Netflix original, “The Order,” manages to deliver with tremendous finesse in Season 1.

The freshman supernatural drama is supplied with enough witty charm to create something unique in a highly populated genre landscape. As someone who has watched their fair share of horror series, I had doubts heading into “The Order.” Thankfully, the Netflix series creator, Dennis Heaton, proved this skeptic wrong.


Providing enough hope to watch in the first place was the refreshing angle of having the story pick up with its characters in college. Paving the way for it to avoid the tricky timing that high school-set shows have to deal with later on.

“The Order” having its characters start at this stage of legitimate young adulthood, lets it jump in with the right set-up. The action follows likable college freshman, Jack Morton (Jake Manley). He has been sent on a mission by his grandfather (and himself) to infiltrate a shifty secret society. The one that gives the series its name.

His biological father, Edward Coventry (Max Martini) runs it, and both Jack and his grandpa blame him for the death of Jack’s mother. Looking for revenge, Jack will uncover more than his initial mission entailed. Taking him and viewers down a path that neither viewers nor Jack could have expected.

As soon as he walks onto campus, he meets the girl of his dreams in Alyssa (Sarah Grey). From the beginning, it is clear that things are going to be complicated for them. Every TV romance has its struggles.

Meanwhile on campus, Jack discovers that college is not just filled with his fellow students trying to find themselves. It is also teeming with more supernatural forces than he initially thought.

If all of this sounds entertaining that is because it is. “The Order” is an engaging show that lets its story unravel with shocking twists galore. They are carried out in unexpected and novel ways that compliment the series' overall vibe.

Thankfully, “The Order” does not take the broody approach its genre peers have chosen to differing results. As someone who thinks it is high time to embrace the light-hearted aspects of the genre, the Netflix series offers an invigorating change of pace.

The ensemble is excellent, boasting one of the best young cast’s I have seen assembled in well over a decade. Every actor brings a sense of excitement devoid of the angst wrought by so many shows of its kind. It also boasts one of the few leads and star-crossed romances that have been worth rooting for.

Moving at a fast pace that also finds time to seize on the emotional details, it is apparent that “The Order” is going somewhere. There are resolutions and the sense that headway is always getting made.

Comprised of ten episodes, every two installments act as a responding half to the other. In essence, creating five movies when watched back-to-back.

Crafting the season in that way gives it a refreshing bent, and in a streaming universe that is ever-evolving, this angle sets quite the hook. You do not need an added temptation to binge watch a show these days. However, “The Order” provides a stellar impetus too.

Rating: 8.5/10

The first season of “The Order” is currently streaming on Netflix. Season 2 will premiere at some undetermined date in 2020.

[Featured Image by Netflix]