The Body is a deliciously unhinged teen thriller packed with toxic friendships, forbidden crushes, religious paranoia and enough bad decisions to keep things interesting. Set in 2004 at a Catholic girls' school, this eight-part series throws together dance-team drama, supernatural mystery and psychological horror, then lets everything spiral spectacularly out of control. Honestly, what's not to love?
At the center of the chaos is the Lions, an elite dance team where popularity is currency and everyone has something to hide. Their carefully curated world starts falling apart after a Halloween initiation goes horribly wrong, leaving newcomer Grace Franklin in a coma. When the girls begin seeing visions of Grace, questions of miracles, guilt and possible demonic activity take over the school. Nobody is particularly equipped to handle the fallout, which makes watching it unfold all the more entertaining.
The characters give the show its real bite. Kristina Bogic plays Anya Butler, the Lions' queen bee captain, whose polished image hides a growing crisis of guilt and romantic confusion. Her feelings for best friend Elise threaten the carefully controlled life she's built. Sara Boustany's Elise Zakaria is ambitious, perceptive and unwilling to let anyone dictate her choices. Their chemistry is electric, with plenty of longing, jealousy and emotional landmines.
Geena Meszaros is a standout as Lisbeth Anderson, the socially awkward newcomer who soon discovers that popularity can be a useful weapon. Beneath her outsider image is a calculating mind and a talent for exploiting other people's weaknesses. She's an intriguing mix of vulnerability and manipulation, making her one of the season's most unpredictable players. Sofia Wylie plays Grace Franklin, the devout, talented newcomer whose sudden collapse turns her into the school's unlikely obsession. Even unconscious, Grace dominates the girls' thoughts and fuels their increasingly bizarre behavior.
The supporting cast adds another layer of intrigue, particularly Lisbeth's brother Leo, whose unsettling drawings attract attention, and Father Franklin, Grace's uncle, who faces mounting pressure to explain the possibility of a miracle.
The Catholic school setting is an inspired choice. Teenage sexuality, religious guilt and deeply questionable ideas about morality collide in increasingly bizarre ways. The girls' attempts to make sense of Grace's condition lead to visions, exorcisms and escalating paranoia. Watching a group of teenagers turn their personal drama into a full-blown religious crisis is both hilarious and genuinely creepy.
The 2004 setting is another win. From the fashion and music to the flip phones and high-school social politics, the series delivers a generous dose of Y2K nostalgia. There's a distinctly Jennifer's Body meets The Craft energy running through it, with flashes of Carrie and Mean Girls thrown in for good measure. The whole thing has that wonderfully dark, slightly trashy teen-movie atmosphere that makes it hard to look away.
Creator Quinn Shephard clearly understands how much fun can be had with complicated girls behaving terribly. The writing moves between sharp humor, uncomfortable tension and twists, while the cast keeps the emotional drama grounded. Some moments are genuinely unsettling, others are completely ridiculous, and occasionally they're both at once. That unpredictability gives the show plenty of personality, and the finale brings the season's tangled storylines together with a satisfying payoff.
What really makes The Body work is its gloriously messy mix of female friendship, obsession, queer romance, supernatural mystery and religious hysteria. It's stylish, provocative, darkly funny and packed with characters who make terrible choices for extremely entertaining reasons.
If Yellowjackets and Cruel Summer are your kind of television, this deserves a place on your Netflix watchlist. Come for the Catholic-school chaos, stay for the secrets, questionable behavior and increasingly wild twists. The Body is one seriously entertaining mess. I hope to see season 2!
All 8 episodes of The Body are available now on Netflix.
