TV shows may only have a few minutes to snag restless viewers before they click over to something else. It’s why so many series start at the climax before flashing back to reveal how everything unfolded. Better to grab people right away with a blunt twist than lose them to a slow burn.
The classic move, as procedurals like “Law and Order” have demonstrated for decades, is to open with an untimely death. In that respect “The Body,” now streaming on Netflix, shows some restraint. Instead of starting with the murder implied by the title, the new drama makes the bold choice to tell its story in chronological order.
To hook its audience, then, the creator Quinn Shephard offers another form of temptation: languorous shots of Catholic schoolgirls helping each other stretch, eyeing each other hungrily while sinking into the splits. In their matching pink sweatsuits — did I mention that “The Body” takes place in the early 2000s? — they might as well be filming a commercial for Juicy Couture.
Leaning on such a basic type of sex appeal can be a cynical gambit. But if you stick with “The Body” past its initial clichés, it is clear that Shephard, who also directed the first episode, is purposefully remixing the hypersexualized references of her millennial youth. The show’s visual language includes nods to “The Craft,” “Jennifer’s Body” and “Mean Girls.” These schoolgirls are growing up in a world formed by t.A.T.u.’s “All the Things She Said” and Britney Spears’s “ … Baby, One More Time.” They know what people assume about them, and are more inclined to embrace those perceptions than to examine their implications.
The first of eight episodes kicks off with the high school dance team holding emergency tryouts after a key member breaks her ankle. Lisbeth (Geena Meszaros), fresh out of home-school, is desperate to join the team’s built-in circle of glamorous friends. Instead, they choose Grace (Sofia Wylie), whose undeniable dance skills outweigh her inconvenient piety and familial connection to Father Franklin (Nnamdi Asomugha), the school’s head priest and principal. The co-captains, Anya (Kristina Bogic) and Elise (Sara Boustany), turn the team’s Halloween party into an initiation ritual in which they jokingly — or maybe not? — summon Satan.
Without spoiling anything specific, Grace’s fate that night stumps almost everyone. The only witnesses to how her Halloween ends are Lisbeth and Anya, who make a pact to never share the details. Anya, already hiding secrets of her own, can barely withstand the pressure of keeping another. Lisbeth, craving connection and power, sees Anya’s weakness as an opportunity.
It’s at this point that “The Body” evolves from “Cruel Intentions” to something more akin to “The Crucible.”
At first, Anya and Lisbeth are happy to let people believe Grace was the victim of dark and inexplicable forces. Lisbeth, drawing on her secret past as the daughter of a fire-and-brimstone preacher, is especially skilled at guiding people toward biblical explanations. With every day that passes without solid answers, the girls only get more susceptible to Lisbeth’s suggestions — or else more willing to pretend they’re true believers, lest they be excluded.
Anya and Lisbeth’s clumsy attempts to spin plausible stories become enormous lies they can’t control. Soon they’re standing on the edge of a contagious hysteria that spreads beyond the team to infect the entire town. The only stalwart skeptic is Elise, who knows (and loves) Anya better than anyone.
Much like “Yellowjackets,” the Showtime thriller series about teen girl survivors of a plane crash, “The Body” teases enough supernatural possibilities to keep its audience guessing. And just like “Yellowjackets,” “The Body” is also at its best when its twists are rooted in the reality of its characters.
Lisbeth’s cold calculations, for example, can be inscrutable when the show uses them to simply further the plot. But when she exploits true believers, like her trembling brother, Leo (Jackson Kelly), or Grace’s achingly earnest best friend, Maddie (Shirley Chen), her heel turn cuts especially deep.
Anya’s refusal to acknowledge the truth bleeds into the rest of her life with devastating reach and speed, especially when it comes to Elise. What looks like a fierce friendship to the rest of the world is a much more complex attraction that runs deeper than either can handle, especially while living in their increasingly conservative town. In every scene together, Bogic and Boustany create so many sparks that it comes as no surprise when their characters practically consume each other.
The chemistry throughout the cast is remarkable, which is especially impressive given that it is made up mostly of little-known actors. (The most recognizable face may be the reality TV star Gabby Windey, and even she is making her acting debut here.) Everyone onscreen taps into the same freaky frequency that gives “The Body” its edge and helps it become more than merely an echo of what came before.