The Changeling review: Does the fantasy horror do justice to the book? 

Apple TV's latest adaptation of Victor LaValle’s 2017 novel, The Changeling, stars LaKeith Stanfield and Clark Backo. The dark fantasy series, with its creepy concept and stunning visuals, is now the talk of the town. The story centers around a young couple, Apollo and Emma, but the tale is far from a romance.

As the young couple settle into domestic bliss and welcome their new-born son Brian, Emma begins to suspect that the infant is not human and has been swapped with a creature that is “not a baby.”

The eight-episode series brings to us a dark, fantastical, and horrifying exploration of themes like parenting and domesticity, weaved in with romance which is plated to the audience in a palatable and nuanced way.

Disclaimer: This piece contains spoilers and personal opinion.

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The Changeling brings to us a fantastical and nightmarish plot within the peripheries of the everyday

Premised in New York City, the Apple TV series follows the protagonist, Apollo (played by LaKeith Stanfield), who is a rare book dealer pining after librarian Emma (Clark Backo). The story starts out like any other rom-com, with Apollo's attempts at getting the charismatic and confident Emma to go out with him.

When Emma inevitably agrees to go on a date with him, what follows is a fairy-tale romance as the couple settle into domesticity which is to be unsettled by the arrival of their son, Brian.

As Brian enters their life, domestic bliss is interrupted and Emma and Apollo incessantly argue, with Emma suffering from postpartum depression.

While Apollo wants to be there for his wife, the chemistry between the couple becomes disrupted as Emma keeps getting text messages from a stranger that conveniently disappear when she tries to show them to Apollo. At the end of her wits, Emma makes a horrific decision and disappears, leaving Apollo to take on a painful journey to find answers to their troubles.

Parallely, the show weaves in the tale of Apollo's mother Lillian (Adina Porter) and her husband Brian (Jared Abrahamson), and the breaking apart of their relationship, which had lasting effects on Apollo.

Apollo's father had left him a box filled with various items, among which was a precious book of enigmatic fairy tales involving babies and witches, which comes back to haunt Apollo in his adult life.

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The Changeling presents a complex storyline but fails to tie up the loose ends

With an arresting visual palette with lush lighting and haunting imagery, The Changeling sometimes is a shock to the sense due to its intense scenes of graphic violence and child endangerment.

However, the narrative is not as gripping as it hops through time, creating disorienting effects on the viewer.

While the series explores the origin story of Apollo’s parents, it does little to help illuminate the main story. Each episode of The Changeling runs for about 45 minutes to an hour, keeping it brisk and tight, while propelling Apollo and Emma along their respective quests and diverging storylines.

Towards the end of the season, we have an entire episode that tangentially explores baby Brian’s fate. While this adds more depth to Apollo's storyline and explores the concept of generational trauma, the detour feels hurried, especially since the finale runs just for 30 minutes.

Despite The Changeling failing to be wholly captivating owing to a lot of loose threads that are hard to keep track of, Stanfield does a pretty good job at carrying forward the complex storyline on his own.

Backo similarly does justice to her own storyline and the times they are together show how nicely they play off each other, making us wish that they had more intersecting plotlines and screen time.

The fantastical plotline is not absolutely divorced from reality and The Changeling tackles a number of serious topics, often with seeming ease, like morality, spirituality, sisterhood, and domesticity.

It also deals with graver issues like depression, parenting, and technology, among others, in unique ways, while remaining grounded in reality even though the series deals with non-human, otherworldly entities.

With the novel's author LaValle serving as the narrator, and the lead actors playing their parts with much clarity, The Changeling is a fresh watch despite the lacking storyline.

The jumps through time and the unnecessary complexities in the plot make one wish that the series remained true to the original source, following the narrative structure of the book.

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The Changeling is coming soon to Apple TV+ this September 8, 2023.