In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Stephen King adaptations developed a reputation for being (with important exceptions) mostly dreadful. But more recent years have blessed us with a far better hit ratio of movies and TV series. With Mr Mercedes, 1922, Gerald’s Game, The Outsider, Castle Rock, 11.22.63, just television adaptations alone have been incredibly good over the last decade. So, will MGM+’s The Institute continue the trend?
The book certainly seemed to set out with that intention! Of all of King’s recent works, nothing has read quite like it was created with its TV adaptation in mind. A peculiarly derivative work, of both King’s own oeuvre and so many other kids-with-telepathy endeavors, at times it felt like reading a pilot pitch more than a novel. (Know that I say this as a lifelong massive fan, who cannot get enough of the author’s other recent fascination with recurring character Holly Gibney.) Now we get to see if that will work out.
The Institute is about a deeply unpleasant facility hidden deep in the woods of Maine. Children who demonstrate telekinetic or telepathic powers are kidnapped and held hostage there, where they’re experimented upon and tortured, in efforts to embolden their powers, for mysterious ends. As you might expect, the story is mostly about a group of children banding together in an attempt to revolt and escape.
Like From A Buick 8's strange similarity to possessed car tale Christine, The Institute had far too many overlaps with King’s superior novel, Firestarter, and suffered by comparison. I mean, it was fun! King’s never a bad writer, and as ever, the relationships between the characters still shine. But it always felt too constricted.
Meanwhile, MGM+ (formerly Epix) has been fairly hit and miss itself with original TV shows of late. While it offers the best thing on TV, From, it’s also guilty of last year’s unwatchably awful Earth Abides, so it’s really hitting the extremes. The trailer for The Institute feels very stilted and cliche-ridden to me, but I have reason for hope. Take a look:
First of all, while we see glimpses of core character Tim Jamieson in the trailer, the emphasis is almost entirely on 12-year-old Luke Ellis and the institute’s monstrous director, Mrs. Sigsby (a perfectly cast Mary-Louise Parker). And that’s important, because the novel splits its tale into two interweaving parts. While here we see flashes of Ben Barnes as the former cop, it doesn’t show us how this is the far calmer, less melodramatic aspect of the story, betraying the trailer’s biases as unlikely to be reflective of the final show.
Secondly, the program is being directed by Jack Bender. That’s Lost’s Jack Bender, and the director behind most episodes of the stunning From, suggesting that The Institute is in very safe hands. The script has been adapted by Benjamin Cavell, best known as the creator of Seal Team, and who also wrote an awful lot of the ridiculously good Justified (although he was also the main writer on the damp squib that was 2020's version of The Stand).
As an aside, I must mention that when The Institute was first in development in 2019, Bender was still directing, but David E. Kelley was scripting. Given the legendary TV writer’s most recent works have been a huge deviation from the genteel dramas that made his name, and indeed that he was showrunner on the fantastic Mr. Mercedes, I would have loved to have seen that version too.
I’d love for this to work out, not least because the ending of the novel really underlined how much it felt like a setup for an ongoing series—a series that I’d like to know more about. There’s potential for this to deal with the book’s entire plot in its first season, and then have huge scope to explore more widely should it succeed. We get to find out on July 13 on MGM+, which you obviously don’t subscribe to, but thankfully is easily accessed via Amazon Prime.
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