Crystal Lake premieres on Peacock, centers on Pamela Voorhees

tvOct 15, 202626270

Peacock premiered Crystal Lake, an eight-episode Friday the 13th prequel that casts Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees and Callum Vinson as young Jason. Vulture reports that the season culminates in the season-one finale, "The Final Chapter," where after six episodes Pam, still grieving Jason, brutally slaughters a group of hippie counselors in a blood-drenched sequence that leans into gore and dark humor. The series shifts the classic backstory from the 1950s to the 1970s and spends much of its runtime building a larger, slower character arc for Pam. Development turbulence shaped the show: Bryan Fuller departed during early stages, a writers strike intervened, and Brad Caleb Kane ultimately ran the series. Critics at Vulture call the final eight-episode package muddled and say Crystal Lake fails to function as a straightforward Pamela origin story, swinging between mismatched ideas instead of paying clear homage to the films or delivering a focused new take. The show’s trajectory means viewers expecting a tight origin narrative centered solely on Pamela may find themselves watching a broader, uneven reimagining that only reaches her murderous turn late in the season.

pixelkitties🐭 🦆

@pixelkitties.bsky.social

Honestly, I'm with Pamela Voorhees. Jason is just a little guy and needs to be protected!

343h ago

pixelkitties🐭 🦆14

Mama Bear's got axes, archery, hunting knives, and God on her side.

𝔇𝔢𝔢𝔭 𝔇𝔢𝔩𝔳𝔢𝔯 ☽⛤☾ ℌ𝔬𝔴𝔩 𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔢1

Is it just me, or does he look like bald Chucky?

Olive1

He's just a silly lil fella!

ABooklySolo1

He really is one of those monsters that didn’t deserve to become a monster. Fuck those campers. 😭😅

The OcCULTure Crypt Keeper1

Jason is just a Mama's boy and he should be respected for it

Louis Peitzman

@louispeitzman.bsky.social

I hated Crystal Lake, and the only way I could talk about why was by spoiling the whole thing. If you’ve finished the series (or you simply don’t care), read my review for Vulture.

343h ago

jab lung4

Oh, man, what a bummer! Thanks for enduring all that so I can definitely not.

love island of dr. moreau1

I hate reading the words “Bryan Fuller’s abrupt departure” :(

Mike Ryan1

Jason is going to get you

Patrick Hamilton1

This article may end up being the reason I finish the show, simply so I can read it.

Sen. Pumpkin Gogurt

@ugarles.bsky.social

i want to see the prequel where he gives up the game winning goal at the crystal lake floor hockey tournament, costing his team color war

321h ago

Mike Ryan

@mikeryan.bsky.social

I spoke to Linda Cardellini and Brad Caleb Kane about the return of Pamela and Jason Voorhees in CRYSTAL LAKE. More Don Knotts discussion than I would have predicted

21Yesterday

Alan Sepinwall7

More than you would have predicted? Really? Really?

Mike Ryan4

I brought this up specifically for @briancgrubb.bsky.social

Benny Six Six Six-Cats1

“More Don Knotts discussion than I would have predicted” is extremely Mike Ryan Coded, somehow

Clive Daddy Rosfield

@asymetricalhomo.bsky.social

By the power of Crystal Lake, I have the power!

183h ago

Chrystal Williams 🏳️‍⚧️

@chrystalwrox.bsky.social

Watched the first episode of Crystal Lake and it’s already one of the best things to come out of this franchise. Glad we are getting new Jason Content and I hope they do another movie.

102h ago

Drewcifer Rising 🎃😈

@drewdietsch.bsky.social

Susan Tyrell as Aunt Cheryl should be as beloved and known as Pamela Voorhees. A perfect performance. BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER is such delightful scuzz that's also perversely progressive!

My Letterboxd review of BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER (1981)

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 🧡

Susan Tyrell gives what might be the performance of her career in this psychosexual sleazer that delivers the drive-in goods. Bonus points for a baby Bill Paxton as a bully and Bo Svenson as one of the most hateable movie cops of all time.

1122h ago

bort

@crushbort.bsky.social

A first look at young Jason in Crystal Lake Backwards, a prequel series exploring what Friday the 13th would have looked like the other way around

111h ago

Travis1

hey it's the Weapon from Weapons

Candice Frederick

@candicefrederick.bsky.social

As I feared, the extra story Pamela Voorhees gets in Crystal Lake is tedious and superfluous in ways that often render the character more ridiculous than unhinged. The additional narrative doesn't serve the character but rather panders to audiences more interested in fan fiction than anything else.

912h ago

Mason Voorhees

@daddyvourdalak.bsky.social

16 minutes into Crystal Lake and we’ve got a woman reading a piss play scene from her book out loud in a diner

91h ago

Nat Brehmer

@natbrehmer.bsky.social

The beauty of CRYSTAL LAKE is that I already know I'm probably going to love it because any single possible thing it could be doing is a fan theory I heard about at least once as a teenager and has been stuck in the back of my brain ever since.

72h ago