Home Before Dark is Harriet the Spy meets Stranger Things and it’s amazing

Home Before Dark is easily one of Apple TV+ best television series so far. It’s sharp, funny, a little whimsical, and definitely mysterious.

I didn’t have a huge interest in Home Before Dark before it released. I knew I would watch it because I love the cast, and will always watch anything crime-related, but I didn’t anticipate that it would become one of my favorite new shows of the year.

I’ve only watched a handful of episodes so far, but I already feel confident enough to say that Home Before Dark is an absolute treat and should keep you entertained for a solid weekend, at least. Thankfully, Apple TV+ ditched its plan to release this series weekly and opted to send all 10 episodes of the first season at once.

The biggest draw to this show is Brooklynn Prince, the skilled actress who broke out in 2017’s The Florida Project. She’s a little older now, but still incredibly adorable as Hilde Lisko, the precocious, stubborn, and ambitious 9-year-old reporter with a flair for Harriet the Spy-like antics. She makes for an excellent heroine.

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If you’re a fan of crime shows and if you loved Stranger Things, then make sure you don’t sleep on Home Before Dark. It follows the Lisko family as they move to their new home in Erie Harbor, where Lisko patriarch Matthew (Jim Sturgess) grew up.

One of Matthew’s friends was abducted when he was young, and he never got over the case, which went cold. He devoted a fair bit of time to trying to solve Richie’s disappearance as a reporter himself, but no one ever found out what happened to him.

Matthew’s talent rubbed off on his daughter, Hilde, who becomes obsessed with a new strange death in Erie Harbor that occurs not long after they arrive. Are the two cases related? What will Hilde discover in her investigation? These are all questions raised in the very first episode.

At times the show can be a little cheesy, and Hilde puts clues together faster than a skilled cop. Sometimes things are laid out too obvious as if she’s solving an escape room and not a real crime. But, the show has a lot of heart, and it’s genuinely enjoyable to watch, enough that you can ignore any minor flaws.

Give it a chance this weekend if you don’t have anything else to watch, you won’t regret it!

Home Before Dark‘s entire first season is now available to stream on Apple TV+.