The Institute review: Joe Freeman proves a breakout star in sinister Stephen King sci-fi

In truth, it would be easy to dub this simply as ‘MGM+’s answer to Stranger Things’ – and sure enough, there are similarities.

As mentioned, it centres around a group of young people dabbling in the supernatural. Most of the adult characters are quirky and unique. The setting is a relatively small, sleepy town in the United States.

Yep, there are definitely familiar elements, and there’s no doubt that fans of the Netflix show will find plenty to enjoy here, with creator Jack Bender and co combining tension and entertainment to similar effect.

Yet The Institute also feels like a unique experience in and of itself, bringing a more solemn, less Spielbergian tone to proceedings that allows the series to head more quickly to sinister places.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Bender and writer-producer Benjamin Cavell explained that they cast the main gang as slightly older than Stranger Things’s initial line-up to enable them to embrace the darkness that King novels provide, and they do make the most of this throughout.

Leaning into the horrors that humanity can supply, rather than monsters or the Upside Down, The Institute doesn’t hold back in pushing the boundaries with its unsettling scenes, tackling interesting moral questions in ways that only the elevated world of sci-fi can provide.

Certain sequences are Clockwork Orange-esque in their execution, and there is an underlying tension for these young characters in almost every moment, with the cast behind said characters stepping up to the plate in impressive style.

Front and centre throughout is Freeman, who embraces the challenge of taking on his first major role with a confidence that suggests he’s on to big things.

Son of Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington, Joe clearly has a pretty useful mentor when it comes to managing the pressure of taking on popular literary adaptations, but ‘nepo baby’ or not, if you have the skill, you have the skill – and it appears Freeman Jr does.

Across eight episodes, the 19-year-old is asked to bring such range to his character – charm, smarts, vulnerability, defiance – and, aside from some slightly stiff line deliveries here and there, he delivers it all.

While a number of the younger characters get a chance to shine (Fionn Laird’s rebellious Nick Wilholm provides several great moments), the scenes at the Institute rest largely on the shoulders of reluctant leader Luke, and Freeman brings a level of humanity that gets the audience firmly on board.

That said, through Mary-Louise Parker’s delightfully deranged antagonist Ms Sigsby, there are moments when you almost start to root for the other side.

Emmy winner Parker is clearly having a blast in this mischievous role, toying with her enemies with a glint in her eye. Beneath the playfulness, though, there’s a sense of purpose that eventually takes Sigsby from mischievous to menacing, with her single-mindedness making her a ruthless foe.

Outside of the Institute itself, the show also follows the story of Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes), a ‘night knocker’ battling his own personal demons who joins the local police force and begins to notice strange goings-on.

Without a doubt, keeping this seemingly separate narrative strand interesting is the writers’ biggest challenge in early episodes, but through Barnes’s brooding, brave hero, Cavell and his team manage to do exactly that.

While it’s a bit of a tired trope to have an out-of-towner come into an area and instantly aim to fix everything – despite all the characters around them suggesting that nothing needs fixing! – the charisma that Barnes brings to the screen helps you to simply enjoy being in his presence, as does his easy chemistry with police deputy Wendy (Hannah Galway), as the pair slowly bond as the season pans out and their teamwork becomes increasingly important.

What prevents The Institute from being a bona fide sci-fi classic, then? Well, as is often the case with heightened worlds such as this, there is a tendency to drift into melodrama every so often, with certain lines of dialogue feeling inorganic and unnatural.

This leads to some slightly clunky moments, which can take you out of the scene on occasion.

At a pretty hefty eight episodes, too, the show almost threatens to outstay its welcome in the middle section of the season, retreading familiar ground at points when a more streamlined narrative may have helped to keep things punchy.

Yet these are minor quibbles, and the story is well worth persisting with as, by the end, the plot threads weave together in a satisfying way, creating new character dynamics that would prove interesting to explore in a potential season 2.

Whether that comes to pass is yet to be confirmed, but there’s no doubt we’d head back to The Institute in a heartbeat.

The Institute will premiere on MGM+ on 13th July.

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