Written by Ayushi Kumari
Curon, an Italian supernatural drama series, dropped on Netflix on June 10th 2020 with its first seven-episode season. The storyline is quite intriguing, petrifying, and establishes its context right from the very beginning, keeping you hooked up till the very last moment. The show explores a very elemental idea of discovering one’s own true self in a supernatural way, and to let it sink in one must be able to digest a heavy dose of suspended reality. The setting is that of a town named Curon, a real location in Italy, with a spooky bell-tower in between a dark lake and dense forests. The story unfolds with a mother, Anna, returning to her cursed hometown with her two teenage twins, Daria and Mauro. Anna is still haunted by the mythical horrors of Curon which forced her to flee away to Milan and thus her homecoming leads to the development of a series of haunting events which eerily unravel the curse of Curon. The old palatial hotel of the Rainas has a striking resemblance to the hotel of The Shining, the iconic Stephen King horror story; however, the series is very much its own story and the nail-biting suspense it builds up makes you stick to your seats till the end!
EPISODE 1: THE BLACK LAKE
The episode opens with ominous church bells ringing and a young girl named Anna who lives in a spookily designed house with her parents, Thomas and Lili. Lili warns that the “same thing” will happen to Anna. Terrified, Anna returns to her room, but later sees her mother being shot by a figure who looks exactly like herself, who is then about to shoot Anna as well, but is stopped by Thomas at the very last second. The mystery starts to build up and the scene cuts to 17 years later where Anna is seen driving to Curon from Milan with her fraternal twins, Daria and Mauro. She is on a run from her partner, the father of the kids, and is cautious that he must not know where they are. Thomas is quite unwelcoming and tells her to leave first thing in the morning, along with her kids.
In the middle of the night, Mauro hears some disturbances and goes to investigate it, following a watery stain leading up to a locked room. He tries to unlock it when he is stopped by Thomas who says that it was the voice of his pacemaker, which is not the truth. The next morning, Thomas is seen rearing a wolf who killed his dog followed by Anna getting her kids admitted in the local school where they run into Albert, Anna’s past lover. At the school, the audience gets to know more about Daria’s strong character when she beats up a few kids who steal Mauro’s hearing aid. Later in the evening, Daria gets drunk with Giulio, Micki, David, and other kids from the school who tell the story of the bell-tower, which does not have bells but still produces the ringing and if you can hear it if you are about to die. Meanwhile, at the hotel, Mauro hears the same voices and this time he is able to enter the room only to see “Anna” gagged and tied up in chains who knocks him down unconscious. He is then carried by Thomas who tells him that it was just a bad dream.
EPISODE 2: THE DAY AFTER
The episode opens in a flashback with Anna fleeing with her father in his truck when she hears the bells ringing and a figure is seen emerging from the lake as they drive away. In the present day, Anna has disappeared and Mauro is worried as she isn’t answering her phone. Mauro is sceptical of what he saw the previous night and Thomas leads him upstairs to what he thought was a child’s room only to find it completely bare. Thomas tells the kids that Anna has gone to the mountains for some peace. The suspicions grow as he thanks another man (Berger) who helped him move the furniture from the room. Mauro is still worried about Anna’s disappearance and Daria tells him that she is probably offline to hide from their father, Pietro.
At the school, the teacher tells the story of two wolves inside every human being, a calm one and a ferocious one and the one who is wins is the one we feed more. This story stresses on the theme of duality highlighting the underlying concept of the show. Later on, Lukas tells Mauro about the legends of Curon and how it was Austrian and then became Italian, and it was Mauro’s family (Rainas) who made the decision to flood the old town. Later that night, Lukas has a terrible headache and we see shots of the bell tower. The episode ends with Lukas writhing in agony as his shadow self emerges from the lake and thus the theme of dark doppelgangers becomes pretty explicit.
EPISODE 3: THE KILLER
A flashback provides insight into a love affair that echoes across generations. Daria and Mauro set off to look for Anna in the woods. Meanwhile, Albert tells Micki that she shouldn’t be embarrassed about who she is and should embrace herself and not hide, which comes as a surprise from a guy like him who is too frosty with his wife, Klara. Thomas seeks help from Albert in finding his grandchildren. The episode helps to flesh out the relationship between the siblings, which is the backbone of the show. Later on, Lukas confronts his own shadow self who tells him that he is everything that Lukas was never brave enough to be.
Daria and Mauro arrive at a cabin, but are interrupted by Albert and Thomas, unable to have a look inside but Mauro finds Anna’s earring on the ground and becomes more suspicious. Back at the hotel, Mauro confronts Thomas about the woman he saw in the room and the granddad tells him those are nothing but “visions”. The twins return to the cabin and find a pool of blood, engravings of A+A (Anna and Albert) and the other earring. Albert arrives and starts cleaning up the blood, suspicious of someone being in the cabin; the tension builds up when Thomas attacks him from the back. The episode ends with Lukas being killed by his shadow self with a hammer.
EPISODE 4: THE FATHERS
This episode is titled fittingly as we get to know about the twins’ father, Pietro, who is seen arguing with his wife in a flashback. The residents of Curon are preparing for the Fire Festival, not a luxurious festival but just something that they do before the deep freeze to keep the evil spirits away. How spooky! The mystery of Anna’s disappearance is still unsolved and Mauro and Daria ask Thomas questions about it when Pietro arrives and is threatened by the granddad to stay away from the kids. Throughout the episode, we see Lukas’ shadow-self acting all creepy and taking the bridge too far when he crushes the pills and feeds it to his father’s cat, thereby killing it. The local priest visits Thomas to tell that the lake and the town won’t be placated until the last of the Rainas is put into the ground.
Giulio and Micki go to the cabin to see if Daria was telling the truth and it doesn’t bode well when they see bloodstains and cutting tools. At the festival, Lukas 2 strolls away with Micki and the twins are seen talking to their father at the pub who tells them that he was the reason for Mauro’s loss of hearing. Mauro storms off and rescues Micki who was being forced upon by Lukas 2 in the forests. A lot of build-up has happened as Klara is seen smashing a family photograph and Daria and Mauro looking for Thomas to tell him about Lukas 2 while the latter sets fire to the property. Mauro sees Anna in the flames and collapses.
EPISODE 5: THE CURSE
The events which take place compliment the title as the audience gets to know about the spine-chilling curse of Curon. It opens with the most revealing flashback and audience is introduced to the fact that Albert’s doppelganger has been living on for years which had emerged on the day Anna told him that she was carrying another man’s child. The doppelganger had killed Albert and Klara had been hiding this truth all along because of her love for him. Meanwhile, Anna returns to her kids and consoles them by saying that she was simply lost, however, Mauro doesn’t buy it. She is told about Pietro being in Curon. Albert is released from custody, but his kids are quite unwelcome and he tells them that he takes poached animals there to clean the meat- hence the blood.
Back at the hotel, Anna and Pietro have an argument and we see how in the two families the kids are mistrustful of their parents. Klara senses that something is wrong when she sees the wolf terrified of Anna just like it was terrified of Albert. Anna cooks for the kids, but after taking a bite, Mauro starts choking because of his allergy of hazelnuts. The kids are shocked at Anna’s carelessness and are sure that she is Anna’s impostor. Daria and Mauro speak to Thomas about the incident and Thomas tells them that he knows about Anna’s double. He tells them that everyone has two sides to them, which usually live side by side; however, at times one tries to take on the other and it starts with headache and the bells ringing…the curse of Curon.
EPISODE 6: THE WOLVES
A flashback where the shadow-self kidnaps Anna and interrogates her to be able impersonate her more effectively is shown. This happens when the twins were outside the cabin and were interrupted in episode 3. In the present day, the twins decide to go to the Plain of the Dead, a labyrinthine World War II bunker, to look for their mother along with Giulio and Micki. Shortly, after they leave, Klara tells Albert that it is happening to her too and that her doppelganger is coming soon. The kids continue their journey in the woods. Berger arrives at the hotel and Thomas tells him that Anna 2 is locked upstairs and refuses to tell where his daughter is. Berger insists that its impossible to live with shadows and she can’t be trusted as she killed Lili. As Albert and Klara prepare to defend the house, the lights go out. The doppelganger’s here. In the woods, there is a strange noise and Micki is knocked unconscious by an unknown assailant. Alongside, Klara’s doppelganger chops her way through the door, similar to the iconic The Shining. Albert kills the shadow puts her in the back of his truck and goes to look for Anna at the hotel.
In the woods, Lukas 2 attacks and ties the four kids when Berger comes to their rescue at the cost of his own life. Meanwhile, Anna 2 with the help of Albert chains Thomas in the same room. Towards the end while Klara is cleaning up the blood of the doppelganger, she is greeted by Klara 2 who tells her that once they become doubles, they can’t be separated that way. Klara then asks to be killed hoping that Klara 2 might have a better life than her.
EPISODE 7: THE MAZE
The finale opens with Anna being able to pick the lock and set herself free. Thomas is also able to muzzle and set free his ‘tamed’ wolf to which he was left as a prey by Anna 2 and Albert. The latter two set out on kids’ trail, however they don’t seem to be quite on the same page. They reach the Plain of the Dead and enter the bunker, which turns out to be the ‘Maze’ of the title. The kids arrive and spot Albert’s car, figuring out that Albert has freed Anna 2. Inside the bunker, the kids discover a grave filled with bones, Micki surmises that it might be the Italian soldiers who fought the Nazi invasion, but the Nazis never arrived so who killed them? Thomas and Klara 2 are also headed towards the Plain of the Dead. Anna 2 and Albert reach the captive location to find that Anna has freed herself, worrying that the kids might find her Anna 2 bangs her head against the wall to look convincing.
Immediately after, the kids find Anna’s bindings and continue exploring when Mauro and Daria get separated and the audience is about to see the classic who’s who moment. In a contrived moment, both find the two Anna’s and interrogate to decipher if she’s the original or doppelganger. Albert comes waving a rifle in the air and the two Anna’s begin to fight (the doppelganger has blood on her head but because of the hoods it is difficult to tell which is which. Albert shoots one of them before shooting himself and the other Anna claims to be their mother but Mauro isn’t convinced. She flees and he goes after her. Mauro threatens her off the cliff and as she falls she grasps for Daria’s hands. Thomas and Mauro ask her to let go which she does. Everyone returns. The priest in addressing his congregation states that the lake has been awakened and the Rainas must be put to ground before everything is destroyed. The show ends with Daria and Micki having excruciating headaches, and beneath the frozen lake their doppelgangers pound, trying to break out.
I enjoyed the show and would give it 7/10. Not only it serves thrill and horror, but also explores the creation and destruction of relationships which is crucial to one’s lives. The strong relationship between the siblings is the compelling central dynamic that holds the emotional anchor. In my view, the characters are flat and one should not expect a massive character development; however, the show aids in providing an introspection into one’s own self as to how there are two sides to every person. Curon, serves the right amount of horror and thrill with its intriguing plot and is great for a binge watch! The dread and suspense that builds up keeps you hooked until the very end. Be sure to watch the show in the original Italian language (with subtitles) because too much is lost when you go for the dubbed version thus losing on the full effect!
