After watching Netflix’s Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, you might not want to go to another wedding ever again. Hey, that’s a good thing, right? You don’t have to worry about squeezing yourself into a suit or making small talk with out-of-town relatives that you’ve never heard of before, and, most certainly, you won’t have to fear slipping on the dance floor during “The Chicken Dance” because everyone’s head is exploding due to an age-old curse. That absurdity of horror comes crashing through the sanctity of marriage in creator Haley Z. Boston’s delightfully bonkers pitch black comedy about relationships, trust, and saying “I do.”
There is a sequence towards the end of the first season of this limited series when Camila Morrone’s Rachel and Adam DiMarco’s Nicky are hearing everyone dole out their personal advice about what makes the perfect marriage. This young couple stands there, respectfully listening, as relative strangers offer up their viewpoint when it wasn’t really asked in the first place. That, to me, is the most horrifying sequence in the entire season, and that’s before we get to the carnage and the bouquet toss. Boston was interested in confronting these traditions that stay traditions, and the result is so startling in its honesty that it feels like a cold rush of wind on the back of your neck.
One of the things that I love about Something Very Bad is how it embraces the horror very quickly. Rachel can’t believe what she is seeing at almost every stop at she and Adam make their way towards his family’s home so they can celebrate their nuptials. We are quite literally hurtling towards the inevitable horror. When something is off, do you express it or do you feel pressured to not say anything? When Nicky’s mother, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, gives a speech about soulmates, it also feels like someone else is planting their point of view on this seemingly happy union. Boston wanted to explore the gendered traditions that comes along with weddings and celebrations that separate men and women before bringing them together.
Boston and I talk about how the layered conversations between Rachel and Nicky are vital to the show’s success. If we don’t realize what is at stake or care about how they will pave their own path, the payoff won’t work. Something Very Bad does something rather mighty in how it twists horror with this relatable confrontation over and over again: Can you trust what your partner says to you? Do you have the wherewithal to stand by the person you chose even in front of your family? With all this talk of soulmates, are you sure the one you are standing next to will say the same things about you?
Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is streaming now on Netflix.
