Anatomy of Crystal Lake: Episode 1: Camp Crystal

 The long wait for a new official adaptation in the Friday The 13th franchise has been an exasperating ordeal spanning over a decade, which included studio mismanagement of the franchise and an elongated legal rights battle. With all of that now out of the way fans are finally ready to go back to Crystal Lake and revisit more Voorhees lore. Many people do wonder if a prequel is necessary, however, as the larger fanbase is really yearning for more Jason killing in films on the big screen. So how does the inaugural episode in the Crystal Lake series fit into the Friday The 13th franchise? It not only holds most of the cannon of what was presented in the original Friday The 13th 1980 film, but it also makes some very interesting revelations and also presents Jason Voorhees as a kind and gentle child, as normal as any child can be with the physical conditions he deals with on a daily basis.

SPOILERS...

The most notable change to the story thus far in the series is that Jason's drowning takes place in the year 1971 at Camp Crystal Lake, and not the year 1957. Outside of that change, everything in Episode 1: Camp Crystal plays out as the legend has been foretold previously. One of the first things that struck me is how young Jason is portrayed. He is not a frightened young boy with a cognitive disability, but a normal child with aspirations and heightened anxiety due to his physical condition. Unfortunately, he is dealing with obvious physical ailments which also cause him to have seizures and his deformities make him self-conscious as he attends Camp Crystal Lake while his mother, Mrs. Voorhees, works as the cook.

The crux of this first episode of this series is the emotional and heartfelt bond that Mrs. Voorhees has with her child Jason. It's this connection that drives and motivates Pamela through her everyday life and makes it so heart wrenching when Jason struggles to swim and eventually disappears in the lake. We cannot say drown as we do not actually see Jason do so, per say, and that will most definitely be explored in later episodes. I found myself gutted after Jason is lost to the lake and Linda Cardellini's raw emotion as Pamela Voorhees over the loss of her child is very much felt with sympathy.

Of course, Jason is lost to the lake as a result of Claudette leaving her group of kids that she is responsible for while getting supplies for their next activity. Claudette takes too long to get these supplies as Barry ambushes her for sexual escapades. This follows the original film's explanation for why Jason drowns but is also compounded by the fact that Jason went into the deeper part of the lake to retrieve a volleyball after being bullied so his friend Grace would not get kicked out of camp.

Nine months later, Pamela is still grieving, and authorities have not found Jason's body. Town Sheriff Levon Brooks is called to Camp Crystal Lake to retrieve Pamela as she trespasses at the camp hoping to find Jason. He deeply cares about her and empathizes with her situation. Levon attempts to integrate Pamela back into a normal life with the town and its people to begin the healing process, but it's very clear from the outset that everyone is ready to move past Jason's disappearance at the cost of Pamela's very real loss. Couple that insensitivity with the truly awkward and weirdly hilarious encounters with Ralph (Crazy Ralph to those not indoctrinated and he is first seen in the episode setting animal traps in the woods!) and you start to see the beginning of Pam devolving into lunacy. Once Pamela learns the camp is reopening that summer, her pure crazy and hatred come out as she unleashes on the townspeople at their Founder's Day celebration.

Enos the truck driver and Officer Dorfman (That's Dorf to you) are also introduced and have their own interesting and humorous traits (Dorf enjoys martial arts movies and Chinese throwing stars). I am sure more of these personalities will be explored in later episodes. I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the introduction of the Kristy's, John and Kay, as the camp owners who are all too eager to reopen the property for financial reasons.

The conclusion of the episode brings the first new creative thread of this series that has never been explored in the franchise, and that is Pamela has a history with a mysterious company and possible experimentation. Not only that, but two people (Ed Shobani and Benny) have tracked her down to her house, posing as police, and attempt to sedate and kidnap her. We also learn in this exchange that the Voorhees name is not Pamela's true surname and that will be further explored in later episodes as well. Unfortunately for these fellows, the attempted kidnapping does no go well as Pamela takes care of things the only way she knows how, kill kill kill.

Benny has his neck sliced with scissors and bleeds out and Ed Shobani has part of his face sliced off with a machete and then that same machete is embedded into the middle of his head! What follows is a particularly funny exchange where Pam puts a bag over Ed's head to keep the blood from exiting his wound onto her floor. When Ed's body has a reflex action and jumps up from the floor, he ends up on top of Pamela and the blood bag bursts, and everything falls onto her face!

Pam packs up the bodies and takes them into the woods in hopes that a bear will eat the bodies and thus destroy the evidence of her crimes. As the bear munches away inside the cave it resides in, Pam watches on as she envisions Jason standing next to her in an all too familiar set of clothing.

Overall, this first episode is a good reintroduction to the franchise, the lore surrounding Pamela and Jason, and the quirky townspeople that have been littered throughout the Friday The 13th franchise. The opening title card is nostalgic and hearkens back to the original Friday The 13th film title card, and Harry's new music matches the wistfulness that this series wants viewers and longtime fans to experience. It feels like Friday The 13th and the murderous vengeance of the Voorhees is upon us.