‘The Changeling’: This Is What Happens When a TV Show Is Too Full of Itself
Human beings are rife with desire. We often wish for things so hard that they seem to happen, which we label “manifestation,” a more willful terminology used to give ourselves all of the credit. “You manifested it!” we say to our friends after they spend years actively working toward a goal—less manifestation than cultivated effort. Sometimes, we spend years so caught up in our desires that once they come to fruition, we forget to proceed with caution, jumping headlong into pleasure without considering the consequences that may be hiding on the fringes.
The differing natures of wishes and fate creep throughout The Changeling, the new horror-mystery epic that premieres Sept. 8 on Apple TV+. The series functions like a fairytale, dusting off the lessons from old children’s books intended to teach kids the distinction between right and wrong, choice and restraint. The Changeling, however, is not your average children’s fable. Based on the 2017 novel by Victor LaValle, the show is an exceedingly dark and macabre twist on a fairytale love story—more Hans Christian Andersen (and, at times, H.P. Lovecraft) than Walt Disney.
But while trying to study what hand humans play in our own destinies, the series gets too caught up in existential questions. The Changeling desperately wishes to be one thing—a generation-spanning saga detailing the limits of free will versus fortune—and comes close to it. Despite that proximity, the show is so bogged down by its own ambition and endless ostentation that it’s destined for a different fate: squandering its immense promise under the weight of stylish, well-acted hubris.