ROX-TV takes a look at ARCHIVE81, one of the latest series to be released this year on Netflix. Don’t waste another second, watch it now.

1. a place in which public records or historical materials (such as documents) are preserved the material preserved
2. a repository or collection especially of information

Enter “ARCHIVE81”

The episode starts off with some old looking and scrambled footage, reminiscent of a badly damaged video clip from the 80’s. You can tell a lot about a piece of content by the opening shots, and this made me want more, plain and simple. Within seconds you are introduced to the series lead man, Mamoudou Athie (who plays Dan Turner) shopping at a street market in the city.

He’s checking out old VHS tapes at the table for sale. Mostly unknown content but with a chance of gold that only a real collector would take a gamble on. Back in the late eighties and early nineties, the tapes who Dan is looking to take a chance on literally were in homes all across America. Home videos, old movies, everyone that owned a VCR had these items “around”. Most of the time they filled entire drawers on the family entertainment box holding the TV, or perhaps they were stored in a nearby closet or cardboard box. These visuals instantly spoke to me in regard to time before the internet.

It only takes a few seconds with Dan Turner to know that he is a serious archivist and that there is some type of bad break up in his past. The music playing in the background is perfect and invokes feelings of pre-dread and doom. I live for these moments in a show, the kind that pull you in magically. Dan seems to be a curator or restorer of old movies on different mediums (reel to reel, vhs, etc.)

Dan Turner is a historical buff on movie related content and its refreshing to watch a show that places value on restoration and archiving. As the show rolls on, he is given a job by his boss, to restore some badly damaged video footage from the 1990’s.

The footage appears safe enough, holding images and dialogue from a PHD candidate working on a project regarding a building in NYC. Although the comfort and anxiety levels are normal for the time being, the viewer knows they are about to be taken on a ride with unknown consequences.

Dan seems genuinely amused by the small talk on the screen, which I think anyone can relate to and flashes a smile as the images roll by. After finishing the job, Dan takes to his computer to do some digging on the woman’s topic for the film. He finds a story about a fire at the building that Melody Pendras (played by Dina Shihabi) was doing her piece on (The Visser building).

The show quickly progresses and never loses any steam. A lot of the scenes are shot in a darker lighting, which I think adds to the spooky vibe of the show. The view reflects how a city street would really look like at night and authenticity is valued here.

The Turn

Dan’s work on restoring the damaged video tape was greatly appreciated by the customer, which prompted a meeting offer for Dan to be thanked in person by the client. A lonely looking and almost blank business card leads Dan down the rabbit hole. After a short walk through the city, Dan arrives at his location. The client greets him at the elevator and the usual pleasantries are exchanged. The client was very happy with Turner’s work and makes him an offer to work on a project relating to the first tape. Money appears to be no object and on face value, it’s a dream job knocking or so it seems.

Dan has some questions of his own after the offer, pertaining to the fact that the business he did the work for doesn’t seem to exist, at least not on the regular channels. The client counters this with his own observation that nothing could be found on Turner either. Dan tells the client he enjoys his privacy, and the client responds in a similar fashion. My curiosity is rising, not only on the shadowy client with a normal enough looking facade, but also in regard to Dan Turner. As you all know, it is exceptionally rare in this day in age not to have some sort of digital footprint. Perhaps Dan, who is a lover of movie history and recordings, is a bit old fashioned, not easily swayed by the luring temptations of social media…perhaps and so the story rolls.

The Offer

Dan Turner is offered a temporary job for a whooping one hundred thousand dollars. The Client needs an “artist” that would be up to the task and based on Dan’s previous showing, he believes Turner to be the man for the job. There is even a twist…the job isn’t actually in the city, but far away in a private location in the Catskill Mountains, which for those of you that are familiar, was also home to Rip Van Winkle although I’m not sure that fact has any play in the matter. As the offer rolls out, the Client relays a bit of private information about Dan’s past, which shakes him up a bit. He declines and walks out, disturbed by the information the Client possessed, which is explained more in the show.

Insights

There are a series of haunting images from Dan’s past in regard to what the audience has been keyed into and later that night, Dan reviews the original film for clues. The ground is slowly starting to shift below my feet as I watch on and I love it.

Dan later confides in what I assume is his best friend, but in classic form, the friend doesn’t seem to be buying what Turner is selling, which probably bothered Dan on some deeper level, but that is only an opinion. The makings of a quickly unwinding mystery, perhaps with unexplainable implications seems to be looming larger by the second and this has all happened in the first 16 minutes of the show.

After some contemplation, Dan agrees to take the job. He believes he has saw a “sign” and much like myself, has started to follow it. This show is smart, intriguing, perfectly paced, and each step inward only opens up a larger scope. To me, is seems like the Client knows more about Dan Turner than he should. When Dan and the Client arrive at the “complex” where he will be working, I can’t help but notice something just doesn’t appear right with the structure of the “building”. I’m going out on a limb, although not too far…I believe the location might have something to do with Dan’s past, but I will leave it at that. The timing that the “company” acquired the property would also fall within a timeline that could have Dan Turner in its past as well, but that’s just me.

After a tour of the place, the Client has left Dan alone to start his work. The low-level lighting shots continue to set an ominous tone, along with some well-adjusted background music. The mission begins and so it goes. Dan does what he does best, applying great care to recovering more footage.

Interestingly enough, at this point the show literally shifts back and forth in time. In one moment, it’s Dan watching the film of Melody Pendras, and seamlessly shifts back to 1994 in real time with Melody. You hardly realize the time shift and anything that plays with time is going to hit a home run with me. We learn the building Melody is investigating was built on a mansion, which just so happened to burn down in the 1920s, like the Visser Apartment building would eventually (we learn) that she was investigating. We start to spend more time with Melody’s view and get dragged further down the rabbit hole into her own part of this clever story.

Conclusion

After spending 24 minutes with the show, I’ve already concluded I like where this is going. I won’t talk about the other 33:33 minutes of the episode though because I don’t want to spoil anyone’s experience. This is definitely a show worth sinking your teeth into and I hope if you have time, that you manage to check it out. Shows like this don’t come down the line very often (besides the Squid Game) so don’t miss out. Instead be the first kid on your block to watch it. Until next time…

Signing Off,

Mike Shepard

ROX-TV

shepard2909@hotmail.com