The first season received mixed reviews primarily for the handling of the series' subject matter, which was criticized as exploitative and unnecessarily graphic. However the screenplay, production values, and the performances of Ayorinde, Thomas, and Wright Joseph received widespread acclaim.
Premise
Set in 1953, THEM: Covenant follows a black family who move from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in Los Angeles during the Second Great Migration. The family's idyllic home slowly transforms into an epicenter of evil forces, next-door and otherworldly, that threaten to haunt, ravage and destroy them.[2]
Set in 1991, THEM: The Scare centers on LAPD Detective Dawn Reeve, who is assigned to a new case: a gruesome murder that has left the most hardened detectives shaken. As Dawn draws closer to the truth, something malevolent grips her and her family.[3]
Story by : Francine Volpe Teleplay by : Francine Volpe and Dominic Orlando
April 9, 2021 (2021-04-09)
9
9
"COVENANT II."
Craig William Macneill
Dominic Orlando
April 9, 2021 (2021-04-09)
10
10
"DAY 10"
Ti West
Little Marvin
April 9, 2021 (2021-04-09)
Production
Development
On July 28, 2018, Amazon gave the project a two-season order.[4] The series was created by Little Marvin, who also wrote the script for the first season and was set to executive produce the show alongside Lena Waithe under their overall deals with Amazon Studios.[5][6]Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, and Michael Connolly of Vertigo Entertainment were also announced as executive producers, with Vertigo co-producing the series under the company's deal with Sony Pictures Television. The first season is subtitled Them: Covenant, and the series will follow a similar limited semi-anthological structure to American Horror Story, with each season following a different story with different characters. Alongside the series order announcement, Waithe said:
Little Marvin's script stayed with me for weeks after I read it. He's written something that's provocative and terrifying. The first season will speak to how frightening it was to be black in 1953. It will also remind us that being black in 2018 is just as horrifying. This anthology series will examine the cultural divides among all of us and explore us vs them in a way we've never seen before.
On April 1, 2019, David Matthews joined the series as showrunner under his newly announced overall deal at Sony Pictures Television.[7]
A year and a half after premiering, the cast of the second season, titled The Scare, was announced.[8]
For the second season, Deborah Ayorinde returns with the new additions of Pam Grier, Luke James, Joshua J. Williams and Jeremy Bobb as regulars, and Wayne Knight, Carlito Olivero, Charles Brice and Iman Shumpert will recur.[12]
Filming
The series began production on July 8, 2019, with filming taking place between Atlanta and Los Angeles.[13]
The series had its world premiere on March 18, 2021, at the SXSW Film Festival as part of the Episodic Premieres section.[15] The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 9, 2021.[2] The second season will premiere on April 25, 2024.[16]
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a 58% fresh rating from 50 critic reviews with an average score of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads "Deborah Ayorinde and Ashley Thomas' gripping performances help Them sustain a sufficient sense of terror, but its blunt and bloody approach undermines any social commentary in favor of more superficial horrors."[17] On Metacritic, the series received a mixed rating of 57/100 based on 20 critic reviews.[18]
The Guardian's Lucy Mangan gave the show 4/5 stars, writing that "What marks out this portrayal of 50s prejudice (not unworked ground) is that, thanks to magnificent performances from Thomas and Ayorinde, you get a great sense of the cost to victims: the sheer amount of mental energy it takes to navigate a relentlessly hostile world, the consequent exhaustion, the constant abrading of the soul."[19]
In a mostly negative review, Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter said that "Them suffers from an overcrowded narrative and too many themes, making for an uneven, dizzying, at times overly dense viewing experience. From the violent neighbors and the history of Black homeownership to the traumas that plague each member of the Emory family, the show takes on more than it can responsibly unpack."[20]
Variety's chief TV critic Daniel D'Addario wrote that "In visual style and in the performances of the actors playing the Emorys, it captures a recognizable 1950s of the mind. A striking early sequence sees the family in integrated settings, being assisted by white employees at an appliance store and a soda fountain. The point is made, elegantly, that the Emorys have left behind the explicit bigotry of the American South for a place where the horrors are more insidious", but described the series as "surprisingly unimaginative".[21]
Some critics took issue with scenes of graphic racial violence, particularly a scene in which a Black couple is blinded with hot pokers and burned alive, calling Them "black trauma porn".[22]
