Modern adaptations of popular myths are easy to come by, but the new Crave (and AMC+) original series “Yaga” turns its attention to a tale many people won’t know: the Slavic legend of Baba Yaga. Often described as a disheveled old woman living in a decrepit hut on chicken legs and surrounded by human bones, this series, an adaptation of the Kat Sandler play of the same name, reimagines the figure in various ways.
From a college professor to a hospitalized elderly woman to a detective on a mission, the Baba Yaga may look different in each story. But one thing remains the same across each rendition: she is a woman on a quest for revenge.
The series largely focuses on Henry Park (Hudson Williams), the missing heir to a billionaire commercial fishing company, whose disappearance from the coastal town of Whittock has thrown the community into disarray. Local, no-nonsense detective Carson (Clark Backo) takes the case, but private investigator Charlie Rapp (Noah Reid), hired by Henry’s parents to uncover what happened to their son, soon complicates it. Although they’re both trying to do the same job, the two couldn’t be more different, and their new working relationship breeds a fascinating toxicity that bleeds into the town and takes root in its residents’ spirits.
“Yaga” quickly makes clear that this hostility isn’t simply brought on by Charlie’s appearance or Carson’s digging; it’s something that has lain dormant beneath the town’s soil, and its inhabitants have nurtured it for too long. As the two detectives search for Henry, they meet his peculiar roommate, Logan (also played by Williams); his suspicious professor, Katherine (Carrie-Anne Moss); and his secretive ex-girlfriend, Pam (Ezra Franky).
Each character clearly knows more than they’re letting on, and as the series unfolds, so do their lies and truths. After the two detectives attend a drug-fuelled party Logan is hosting at the house he shares with Henry, a body turns up, and the case of a missing young man turns into a homicide investigation.
After an entertaining, albeit quaint and scattered, first two episodes, the show finally kicks into gear with its third outing and never looks back. As the stakes rise and mysteries unravel, Sandler’s screen adaptation slowly morphs into one of the year’s most thrilling and sexy series.
Getting to the truth of Henry’s disappearance and the deaths that follow it forces both Carson and Charlie into a world that Whittock has long attempted to keep secret. It’s one that brings on hallucinations and mutterings from elderly women in hospitals, and one where powerful men have been coddled, leaving the women of this community to deal with the subsequent fallout of their heinous actions.
Each character is helmed by an actor who clearly has a blast with the material Sadler has given them. The chemistry between Backo and Reid crackles each time they share the screen, until it threatens to shatter and transform not only their relationship, but the series itself. As the two unlikely allies slowly begin to trust one another, they’re pulled deeper into a world hidden at the center of Whittock’s past, present, and future, forcing them to reach conclusions that often seem incomprehensible. Soon they set their eyes on Katherine, who has a dubious reputation for sleeping with her male students. Yet from her first appearance on screen, where Moss is as enchanting as ever, it’s clear there’s more to her than meets the eye.
“Boys…men…they need to be protected from their base nature. We need to protect them from themselves,” a character tells Carson, fully putting into perspective how the town of Whittock has long been shaped by wealthy and powerful men who manipulate and harm the women around them.
Thus, the series becomes a thrilling examination of how rural communities can, and often do, foster the harm these men inflict, leaving a town forced to reckon with violence that spans generations. As this thread unfolds, the series becomes something entirely different from what was initially promised, shapeshifting like the Baba Yaga herself and becoming a timely, captivating thriller.
In this version of “Yaga,” sex, magic, and violence are inherently intertwined, no matter how hard Carson, Charlie, and others may try to pry them apart from one another. Excavating these themes forces the characters to confront the skeletons in their closets they would rather see collect dust; this exposure will delight the audience this wicked new series is guaranteed to cultivate.
With this adaptation, Kat Sandler has transformed her own work for the better, breaking down her play and molding it into a story that not only translates well on screen, but gets even better in this entirely different medium.
Seven episodes were screened for review. Premieres October 23rd on AMC+.
