The Order Season One review

The Order follows the life of Jack Morton (Jake Manley), a first-year student at Belgrave University, exploring the conflict he experiences between two secret societies, The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose and the Knights of St Christopher.

Jack works to uncover the dark truths of the Blue Rose and take vengeance on the man who supposedly caused his mother’s death

Within the first few of episodes, most of the new pledges of the Blue Rose (neophytes) are violently killed and Jack takes it upon himself to investigate into how and why. With the persistence of his obsessive and at times dismissive grandfather Pete (Matt Frewer) pressurising him, Jack works to uncover the dark truths of the Blue Rose and take vengeance on the man who supposedly caused his mother’s death.

The Order, in my opinion, is the new and perhaps darker version of shows like Teen Wolf and The Vampire Diaries. With its comedic nature, romantic focus and all kinds of supernatural monsters, as well as its heavy influence of magic towards the end of the season. Even though it is labelled as a ‘horror’, it definitely feels more fantasy or Sci-Fi with a dash of American comedy.

As someone who usually can’t and doesn’t tend to watch horrors, I found this show interesting and most of the time relatively light. There are gory visuals of dead bodies and a ‘spooky’ nature to the series, but I would not go as far as to label it ‘horror’. With young protagonists fighting off supernatural and magical beings and spells it certainly has the same potential and intriguing concept as these other American supernatural shows. Think Chilling Adventures of Sabrina but with more comedy and romance and slightly less fear, shock and intensity.

As someone who usually can’t and doesn’t tend to watch horrors, I found this show interesting and most of the time relatively light

There are some very good performances from the cast of the show. Jake Manley makes a good protagonist and brings humour to the rather dark episodes. His chemistry with fellow actor and on-screen love interest Sarah Grey as Alyssa Drake is believable and intriguing but Morten’s flirting is also at times cringeworthy, and not in a good way. He does make a good protagonist though, as a working-class kid infiltrating a society that mostly involves stereotypical ‘rich kids’. His inquisitive nature, courage and intelligence shines through, eventually earning him his place in The Order and capturing our attention as audience members.

However, his character does seem inconsistent at times within the script, which does make it hard to believe that he is an ‘underdog’ that lacks life, sexual and relationship experience. Despite these inconsistencies in script, the acting and character is interesting to watch and definitely makes the show worthwhile. Sarah Grey is outstanding, an intellectual female lead who shows a lot of promise for the next season.

Although I did enjoy the first season, the writing in terms of characters was either inconsistent or predictable. Every character is virtually a typical ‘stock character’ of an American teen drama. The male characters are mainly predictable. For example, the jock who is a douche and also ‘happens’ to be the love interest’s ex-boyfriend, the gay best friend who gets pushed around by their rich bitchy girl best friend. Most women in the show are perceived to hold their own agency, but when they come across a dilemma, they become submissive and depend on a man’s attention or approval. If not this, then they are presented as ‘evil’ or ‘bitchy’.

Jake Manley makes a good protagonist and brings humour to the rather dark episodes

Alyssa almost compromises everything she believes in to gain Edward’s (a member of the Order played by Max Martini’s) approval. Vera almost falls to her demise through her sexual feelings towards Edward. Then there is Gabrielle Dupree, the stereotypical ‘rich girl’ who cares only about herself. Always reaching to have control and power at the expense of others and even herself. Lilith is the only saving grace of the show. She manages to hold her own, and often ends up saving other people rather than people saving her like a damsel in distress.

The show’s small budget is evident at times through its visuals and graphics as well as inconsistency of scenes. The CGI for supernatural creatures at times were not believable. Most scenes that involved transformations broke the believability of the episode, and often drew my attention away from whatever deep situation the characters were in. With a new season on its way, the budget will hopefully be increased, and we can start to see more realistic and believable CGI effects and more effective editing that doesn’t make crime scenes look inconsistent.

With high energy characters, fast paced action and all the things we usually love about supernatural shows, it is a must watch

The Order may have small issues within it to work on; the consistency of characters, improving CGI and editing as well as gender stereotypes in the writing. However, I do recommend this show to others, especially if you’re into the likes of Teen Wolf, The Vampire Diaries and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a horror, it is an entertaining show full of twists and definitely improves as the season progresses. With high energy characters, fast paced action and all the things we usually love about supernatural shows, it is a must watch. I have every faith that the issues with the first season will be ironed out for the second, leaving us with an incredible show that you won’t want to miss.