The Purge: Season 1

5.5 /10

Created by: James DeMonaco

Starring: Gabriel Chavarria, Hannah Emily Anderson, Jessica Garza, Lili Simmons, Amanda Warren, Colin Woodell, and Lee Tergesen

Genre: Horror

No. of Episodes: 10

No. of Seasons: 2

The concept of Purge came into existence with the first movie The Purge in 2013 starring Ethan Hawke. From that time, four movies have been made showing madness involved and brutal killings on the Purge night. So what does it's TV version offers us after five years? Let's see.

We are introduced to the main characters one by one. All having their own stories. Stories run parallel to each other throughout the series and get interconnected in the end. The background stories are revealed through flashback scenes. 

First story is of a working black woman, Jane Barbour, whose mother is admitted to the hospital, but she's working on the Purge night to close an important deal. Another story is about a couple, Jenna and Rick, getting ready for a party organized by the rich and powerful Stanton family. The couple wants to get investment from the Stanton's. Another story involves a marine named Miguel who is looking for his sister Penelope who has joined a cult. The members of this cult offer themselves to someone who wants to purge. And the last story is about a factory worker Joe who is saving people on the purge night.

From starting of the season, it focuses on showing the same brutality and madness involved on the purge night. The makers don't want us to care for any character. And that's why they haven't focused on character development. Throughout the season we are served with scary faces and masks, people carrying different customized weapons. It looks like everybody has become mad and there are only a few people who don't want to kill. For rich people purge is a way to execute poor people in their big parties. It's like a celebration for them.

At starting things are enjoyable but as we keep on going the story becomes boring. The episodes are a bit stretched. The characters are definitely lovable but their actions/decisions are foolish sometimes. The last 2-3 episodes are fantastic. We see real action in there with lots of surprises waiting for us. The series is dark, violent and action-packed. This season is highly inspired by  The Purge (2013) and The Purge: Anarchy (2014).

This season is having a major problem with its pace. There are parallel stories running throughout the series but the screen time distribution isn't even. The flashbacks don't give much info about the characters and their nature.

Gabriel Chavarria as Miguel and Dominic Fumusa as Pete The Cop has done a fantastic job. Also, Lee Tergesen as Joe has done a wonderful job. He's having quite an interesting role in the series. Watching these guys on screen was very satisfactory.

Overall The Purge is a little disappointment. We expected something new from the series and unfortunately, it doesn't provide that much. It would have been a great season if they would have purged some parts.  The strong and interesting end episodes helped it getting renewed for the second season. The Purge Season 1 is avoidable until and unless you're a fan of the movies.