To say the “resort” has a lot more to offer than it seems to be saying something, considering how much it already has at first glance. Created by “Palm Springs” writer Andy Ciara, and with a stacked cast led by perpetual killer Caitlin Milioti (“Palm Springs,” “Made for Love”) and William Jackson Harper (“Love Life,” “The Good Place”), the series unravels a mystery. It gets wilder, deeper, and more muddled with each passing episode.One of the most interesting TV surprises of the year, “Resort” will deserve a larger audience than it will likely get on Peacock (with three episodes currently available to stream, if you’re able to find it).
Initially, Ciara and Alison Miller’s “Resort” presents itself as a relatively straightforward story, albeit one that unfolds in two parallel time frames. In 2007, Violet (Nina Bloomgarden) and Sam (Skylar Gesondo) meet at a resort in Mexico before disappearing into thin air the night before a catastrophic hurricane strikes. In 2022, Emma (Milioti) and her husband, Noah (Harper), stumble upon the first clue in years as to where they may have gone, leading a troubled (and reckless) Emma to dive into more questions than she can actually answer.
Even as Sam and Violet’s timeline takes a darker tone, Bloomgarden and Jesondo provide a circular energy that nicely combats the agony of married Emma and Noah. (Between this, “Licorice Pizza,” “The Righteous Gemstones,” “Booksmart,” and “Santa Clarita Diet,” Gisondo really does make the stage for becoming one of Hollywood’s most reliable comedians.) Harper, as might be expected, makes perfect picks. For a show like this, which requires them to run a whole gamut of emotions while still retaining a sharp comedic edge. Of the two, Milioti gets a fuller character to play with, as Emma tries her best to minimize her weaknesses in favor of an indifferent embrace of true nihilism.
Other notable performances include Nick Offerman as Violet’s grieving dad, the cute couple Dylan and Becky Ann Baker as Sam’s annoyed parents, and Gabriella Kartoll as the ever-vigilant manager whose sporadic looks leave you wanting nothing more. When Ben Sinclair, who also directed the first four episodes, emerges as a fast-breaking guy, he takes the uneasy energy inherent in his famous “high-maintenance” character and raises it to 1100. In the pivotal fourth episode of the show, though, it’s Luis Gerardo Mendes who He kicks off a brilliantly funny performance in a part that could easily turn into interpretive nonsense, but instead anchor the entire show.
“The Resort” proves that he’s refreshingly eager to push himself to ask more questions and leave each episode on a note that makes it nearly impossible to stop watching. Honestly, it’s also exciting to watch a show that doesn’t quite look or feel like any other, where directors like Sinclair and Ariel Kleiman navigate stunning hotel corridors and equally perceptibly wet forests with discerning eyes for detail. As Emma and Noah delve into the lore of Sam, Violet, and the resort that seemed to swallow them whole, The Resort reveals his true and greatest ambitions.
Within the mysteries lurk the ghosts of Emma and Noah’s marriage, a painful past that haunts most everyone who ends up crossing their path, and the horrific yet exhilarating possibility that perhaps, just maybe, something greater than all of them lie ahead. It’s hard to say more about what the show is all about without even giving up on the twists, of which there are plenty. If you’ve already seen Palm Springs, you might have an idea of the kinds of turns the resort takes, and/or some of the variations on the themes of love and loss it explores along the way.
As time starts to run out for answers by the end of season eight episodes, it seems abundantly clear that The Resort may have grabbed more than it can handle in the end. Watching her, however, feels as close to what it would have been for Violet as she reads the book of adventures her mother left for her, with emotion if not much clarity. Even if you don’t know exactly where you’re headed, The Resort is still committed to making the trip worth the time you’re most successful. The most frustrating thing about his ending is that there’s no other page to turn for the next chapter — at least, not yet.
The first three episodes of “The Resort” are now available to stream on Peacock, with new episodes showing weekly on Thursdays.
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