Wreck – Hulu Series Review

WRECK on Hulu is a BBC series with both comedy and regular slasher scenes. It all takes place on a luxury cruise ship, where a number of young people take seasonal work that offers quite a few challenges. Read our Wreck season 1 review here!

WRECK is a new BBC series that can now be seen on Hulu in the US. There is great diversity in the characters, so you’ll see various races and sexualities. It’s also been dubbed a “queer slasher comedy”, which is quite appropriate. It’s a youth horror series mixed with dark humor – and a bit of drama, of course.

The main thing in the plot, however, is that people continuously disappear or die – most often they disappear and are subsequently found dead. The series has been a success for the BBC, so the green light has already been given for season 2. In other words, if you enjoy the series, there is more to look forward to.

Continue reading our Wreck season 1 review below. All six 45-minute episodes are on Hulu from March 1, 2023.

Howard the Duck on a murderous cruise ship

If you’ve ever seen Howard the Duck (either the movie or the small cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy), it’s probably hard not to think of this character when you see the mascot of this cruise ship. The series starts with a young woman being chased by a tall adult in this Howard the Duck-reminiscent costume.

The woman disappears, but the next time the “Sacramentum” cruise ship heads out, a young man sneaks onboard under someone else’s identity. His sister was the woman being chased in the opening scene, and he does not believe the story the luxury cruise line company has come up with. They say she committed suicide, and he does not buy that.

The main thing in the Wreck plot is that people keep disappearing or dying. Or, as mentioned earlier, usually people disappear and are then found dead later. On a very weird note; When someone dies on the luxurious luxury cruise ship, it is always written off as a suicide.

Even if the body clearly bears the marks of an assault. After all, they argue, it’s important to protect the cruise ship crew and passengers and avoid panic. You can’t argue with that logic when it’s paired with them promising to investigate. Though it all still seems very shady!

On top of this, there are the mafia-like gangs. They all seem focused on an internal battle over drug dealing onboard. Oh yeah, the very cozy “Howard the Duck” ship – focused on both families and senior citizens (or anyone rich enough) – turns out to be a pretty dirty business.

Queer slasher comedy

As a series, this BBC production is a black comedy with rather violent slasher scenes along the way. It is both bloody and violent. Sacramentum is also a luxury cruise ship where many young people take seasonal work and are actually treated quite badly. Problems with running water are just one challenge they face.

What several of the employees have in common is that they just wanted to get away from home. Something a cruise ship certainly fulfills in a very physical and geographical way.

For several characters, the desire to get away from home is also connected with the fact that they want to find themselves. Or just be themselves. For quite a few characters, this includes being free to love the ones they love.

Obviously, this means there are quite a few LGBTQ characters in the series, so you might as well be ready for that. It is an essential part of the story, although there are also plenty of straight characters who “fraternize” with each other.

Among the actors, there are many young and relatively unknown actors, but also quite a few well-known faces. This applies, among others, to Amber Grappy from the HBO series The Baby and Thaddea Graham from the Netflix series The Irregulars.

Watch Season 1 of Wreck on Hulu!

Ryan J. Brown is the creator of this BBC series, which he also wrote on. Prior to creating this series, Ryan J. Brown only had one other writing credit. This was on the Netflix series The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself, which premiered in October 2022. This was when Wreck season 1 also had its BBC premiere, so this Hulu premiere comes six months later.

The directors of the six episodes in season 1 are Louis Paxton and Chris Baugh (Boys from County Hell), where the latter is also noted as being a director on the six episodes in the upcoming Wreck season 2.

The BBC has created the series and has had great success with it. Season 2 is due to premiere on the BBC in 2023, so hopefully, it will also be released on Hulu soon after. Until then, you can enjoy the first six episodes on Hulu and get to know the characters.

Wreck season 1 is on Hulu from March 1, 2023.

Details

Creator: Ryan J. Brown
Script: Ryan J. Brown
Starring: Jodie Tyack, Oscar Kennedy, Thaddea Graham, Amber Grappy, Louis Boyer, Harriet Webb, Warren James Dunning, James Phoon, Anthony Rickman, Peter Claffey, Miya Ocego, Ali Hardiman, Alice Nokes, Ramanique Ahluwalia, Donald Sage Mackay