Archive 81 is a mess.

I really wanted to like the series. I delight in a horror story in which music plays a role. It has a wonderful and diverse cast. But there are so many problems with the story, both large and small. The plot follows Dan, who restores archival footage and is hired to repair videotapes from a mysterious fire that destroyed the Visser apartment building in 1994. We watch him watching the parallel story of Melody, who moved into the Visser with her camcorder as part of a documentary project and disappeared in the fire, leaving behind the damaged tapes. Melody discovers that her strange neighbors are part of a cult involving human sacrifice. As her situation grows perilous, strange incidents begin plaguing Dan as well. Let’s take a look at how this narrative fails so miserably.

Nagging, Little Problems

Little issues don’t necessarily sink a story line, but they accumulate annoyingly in Archive 81 like a cloud of gnats. Melody carries her camcorder constantly. Yes, it’s a necessary conceit since Dan only has access to her story through what she has recorded, but it begins to feel forced. Dan conveniently restores the tapes in chronological order. Okay, I can live with those problems for the sake of the plot. But Melody carries her purse everywhere in the building. I envisioned the purse growing larger in each scene, like the mole on the agent in Austin Powers, until Melody has to drag it around like a sack of potatoes.

An expletive here and there makes sense. But the fucks, what the fucks, and fuck you’s begin to proliferate faster than bunnies. No bodies were found in the Visser fire, just as no bodies were found in the fire that destroyed the Vos mansion that once stood on the property. An energy field transports some individuals to the “other world.” But not everyone who participates in the cult ritual is enveloped in the energy field. So what happened to them when the fire started? And what about the bodies of the sacrificial victims?

A Convoluted Plot

A good mystery or two keeps viewers engaged and propels a story. But too many complicated elements confound the story in Archive 81. We have “leaders,” “vessels” and “sacrificial victims” needed for the cult’s ritual, a confusing distinction when people seem to play overlapping or changing roles. On top of that, individuals seem to be carefully chosen for these roles, yet the cult easily locates substitutes when someone can’t fulfill the task.

The script tries its best to juggle multiple mysteries. Melody’s motivation to interview residents of the Visser derives from her search for her birth mother, who may have once lived in the building. Trauma haunts Dan’s life, largely due to a mysterious fire that killed his family when he was a kid. But the strange fires, the odd behavior of the residents, the forbidden sixth floor, the remote compound where Dan performs his work, the threatening groundskeeper, the secretive millionaire who hires Dan, Melody’s disappearance, the dangerous mold that leads to madness, on and on… In the end, it becomes too much. The plot ties all these elements together, more or less, but not in a satisfying way. Everything but the kitchen sink gets thrown in as the episodes try too hard to keep the viewer hooked.

Missed Opportunities

For me, the music angle offered one of the most intriguing elements of Archive 81. Melody first hears the strange four-note motive through a vent in her apartment. The sound gives her a sickening feeling. A neighbor who writes music incorporates the motive in her ritualistic opera. As a young child, Dan also hears the motive when his sister plays it on the piano. Unfortunately, the music affects no one else the way it affects Melody (an intriguing name for the heroine and another lost opportunity). This makes no sense and is never explained.

Other horror stories follow through with their musical element for maximum effect. In Curtis M. Lawson’s novel Black Heart Boys Choir, a resentful high school student re-creates his father’s composition to produce music that unleashes death and destruction. In the 1963 Hammer film The Kiss of the Vampire, strange piano music lures young women into the clutches of a vampire coven. Other examples abound in fiction and film. Archive 81, however, squanders the opportunity for music to play a pivotal role. It ends up being irrelevant, an expendable part of the cult’s ritual to call forth the demon god Kaelego.

Archive 81’s Inconsistent Characters

The behavior of characters constitutes one of the greatest weaknesses. Melody’s live-in girlfriend Annabelle, a playful and rebellious painter, eventually joins her at the Visser. At least, we’re told that they are more than friends (and in the original Archive 81 podcasts, Melody is clearly a lesbian). But we see no intimacy or affection between the two, and Melody seems to resent Annabelle’s presence. Then Melody flirts with a guy who lives in the Visser. Yes, this could happen in real life. But no explanation is given for this change in behavior, and the romantic relationship between the two women vanishes in a wisp of smoke, as if censored by the writers.

Unlike some other Netflix projects—for example, The Haunting of Hill House, Sabrina, or Stranger Things—all the characters except Melody and Dan are one-dimensional. We understand little of their backstory or motivations. The elderly neighbor Cassandra acts coldly toward Melody and rebuffs attempts to be interviewed (most of the neighbors act similarly withdrawn). Once Annabelle moves in, Cassandra suddenly opens up, welcoming Melody into her home. Even so, she accuses Melody of smothering Cassandra. Any story behind this inconsistency remains unexplored. Furthermore, if Melody is indeed a valuable vessel, why do the cult members not work together to groom her?

I find a more serious flaw in the behavior of both Dan and Melody as revelations about what they are dealing with slowly dawn on them. Convinced she must move out of the Visser to save her life, Melody packs her suitcase and prepares to leave. Any rational person would certainly flee at this moment. Instead, Melody lingers to explore the building, then decides to stay in order to save a neighbor, the teenage Jessica. Similarly, Dan begins experiencing menacing hallucinations, including a horrible creature that emerges from computer and TV screens. Despite the threat to his life, he continues to restore the tapes, driven by the need to understand his father’s involvement with Melody and the cult. Would someone actually make such a decision? I don’t think so. Not after seeing what he experiences. I would flee that compound quicker than you could say “Archive 81.”

Ultimately, these minor and major flaws accumulate to doom Archive 81. It remains a promising but unsatisfying experience. The cliffhanger ending ensures that a second season will follow. I won’t be watching.