Crystal Lake's Unenviable Task: Giving a Character with No Depth a Backstory
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Peacock's Crystal Lake is set up as a prequel to the original Friday the 13th film, even if it does not feel like one when you first press play. Its aim is a drama that is half homage and half uncharted territory, built around a long-awaited backstory for Pamela Voorhees.
That is an awkward assignment for a character who was beheaded in the first film after just 13 minutes onscreen. Betsy Palmer, who played Pam, refused to return, largely because the character has no depth.
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A character described as having no depth is a strange candidate for a long backstory. The blankness may be the point.
The blankness still had a charge in the first film: Pam pops out of nowhere, then speaks in her drowned son's voice. That is less a personality than a theatrical mask, and explaining it may be less interesting than preserving it.