REVIEW: Panic May Be a Hit for Some & a Miss For Others

A society where teenagers are pitted against each other in a crazy, death defying event may sound familiar to some. It was the plot of a little known book, and movie, by the name of The Hunger Games. After the release of the book in 2008 and the movie in 2012, many stories, whether by book or screen, tried to use the same idea to captivate audiences all over the world. Some were pretty successful, like the Divergent series (2011) by Veronica Roth, while many others have fallen flat.

In 2014, Lauren Oliver released her own take on the idea entitled, Panic. The book followed seniors, Heather and Dodge as they joined their graduating class for Panic, an annual event that finds the seniors of the small town, Carp competing for a cash prize that will help the winner out of their poor town and to a better future. The book became a best selling hit and now, Amazon Studios and Oliver are gearing up to release a new series based on the book, which some may enjoy while others might pass on.

As someone who has not read the book, I can tell you that this is definitely a series you will want to binge watch. The show builds exactly like a book. It is just intriguing enough that you will want to see what happens next, but not intriguing enough to have to wait a week before watching the next episode. The dares featured in Panic are the clear winners in this series. I was less interested in the characters and what would play out with them and more interested in what stunt the seniors would be taking part in next. The build-up to the event and the fact that the police were attempting to put a stop to them before they happened were some of the best parts of each episode.

Olivia Welch and Mike Faist lead the cast as Heather and Dodge and, at first, I was extremely confused on what these two were supposed to be to one another. Were they supposed to be enemies, lovers, or just friends? It was hard to decipher. But, after getting about halfway through the season, I eventually was able to figure it out. I’m not sure if it has to do with how the story was laid out or if it was because the two leads really didn’t have much in the way of chemistry, but it took far too long to get on board. Ray Nicholson (Ray), Camron Jones (Bishop), Jessica Sula (Natalie), and Jordan Elsass (Tyler) round out the cast and it really depends on the episode on how much you see from this foursome.

I will say that with most book to movie adaptations there have been some changes, at least based on the book reviews I read, so be prepared for storyline changes. If you are a fan of the book, definitely give this a watch. For those who have not read the book, it definitely kept my attention, but it wasn’t my favorite.