The witch thriller “Yaga” is a Canadian production that stars Hudson Williams, now hot enough in “Heated Rivalry” to merit a “with” before his name in the credits. That’s about where the similarities to the hockey-themed megahit end, but it’s not for lack of trying: “Yaga” — which airs on the AMC+ streaming service in the United States — painfully strives for the eroticism and insight into sexuality that came so easily in “Heated Rivalry,” resulting in an eight-episode season that’s often cringe-inducing without going all camp. But the other errors are all attributable to “Yaga”. Choppy pacing, poor casting and easy feminism combine to make “Yaga” a misfire, one that viewers looking for seasonal scares should overlook in favor of alternatives.
Adapted by creator Kat Sandler from her play of the same name, “Yaga” presents itself as a missing persons mystery centering on Williams’ Henry Park, a billionaire heir whose worried parents send family fixer Rapp (Noah Reid) to find him somewhere in rural British Columbia. But the real interest of the story lies in the title: Sandler wants to rework the Baba Yaga myth of cannibal witches in chicken-leg huts for modern times. (“Yaga” prefaces this project with Slavic covers of various pop standards, a legitimately amusing detail.) Unfortunately, the show can’t offer a more interesting take than platitudes like “a witch is just someone that society has decided is afraid of,” coming more than a decade after touchstones like “The Witch” and “American Horror Story: Coven” advanced similar ideas in a more clever way.
“Yaga” could generate excitement in other areas, and it tries to do so. Rapp quickly discovers that Henry and his lookalike roommate Logan (also Williams, sans colored contact lenses and no longer a prosthetic nose), both students, had an unusually close relationship with their professor Katherine (Carrie-Ann Moss), an anthropologist known as the “bone lady” for her academic interest in ossified remains. When he meets Katherine at a hotel bar, not realizing she’s about to become a person of interest, Rapp’s idea is to ask her some sexy bone facts.
Such clumsy and futile attempts at chemistry aren’t the fault of Moss, who is just about the only person in the ensemble to project the earthy, seductive vibe that “Yaga” is clearly going for. Rapp himself is part of the problem: Reid’s performance makes him a loud bro whose effect on the women of the town, including but not limited to Katherine, is totally confusing. (Sometimes the question of Rapp’s inexplicable appeal is more pressing than the question of Henry’s whereabouts.) There’s also a conflict between the beautiful, haunting atmosphere implied by the landscape, all the misty waters and shady forests, and the buddy-cop banter between Rapp and his quasi-partner Carson (Clark Backo), a local cop who he mocks for being manly – or even, gasp, gay! “Yaga” fails to move from such crude commentary to strange, metaphysical remarks, the elements forming a discordant clash rather than a harmonious blend.
If there’s a more exaggerated archetype than the witch who’s actually a misunderstood outcast, it’s the rich man who secretly dabbles in sinister sexual stuff. Sure enough, the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein begins to haunt “Yaga” as Rapp and Carson begin to uncover what Henry and Logan have been up to — namely house parties infused with bisexual illumination and occasional chicken sacrifices. Rather than seduce or even disgust, the details of Henry and Logan’s trysts are almost juvenile in their attempts to provoke; the details of who sleeps with whom and under what circumstances are filled with exaggerated and unconvincing detail, taking the shark from salacious to outright criminal in the blink of an eye.
By the time “Yaga” arrives at its inevitable reversals of aggressor and victim, whatever the spell (get it?), the spectacle cast upon the audience has long since been broken. Already shocking, Reid’s performance of Rapp’s early work – moving from dismissive skepticism to feverish belief with little in between – becomes less grounded by the minute. To be fair, the fault here also lies with the scripts, which dump information without building suspense first. Maybe there’s a reason why most horror dramas don’t have quick 30-minute episodes, even if the prospect of an even longer “Yaga” isn’t appealing.
The first two episodes of “Yaga” are now streaming on AMC+, with the remaining episodes airing weekly on Fridays.
Gn entert
