In the Dark Season 1
Imagine having someone save your life and then become one of your closest friends. This is a person you can be honest with, and you trust immensely. Then, imagine coming to find his lifeless body outside your apartment. What do you do when the police are skeptical about his death? What if trying to find his killer puts you in danger? And what if it introduces you to new people who change your life forever?
Wait. One more thing: let’s add one more scenario: what if including all of the above, you’re also blind?
This is Murphy’s life. Her best friend Tyson’s was murdered, and the police are less than helpful. In the Dark is on the CW Network (and recently available on Netflix for your binging pleasure) and is the show you’re not going to be able to stop talking about.
Before we get to the season recap, let’s first talk about the best part of this show. That is the characters and their relationships.
The Characters
Murphy Mason (played by Perry Mattfeld)
Murphy is our sarcastic, overdrinking, underperforming heroine of the show. She is also a blind woman who doesn’t take shit, from anyone. Her sarcasm is sometimes more than those around her can take, and her apathy to the world can make her seem cruel and bored to those of which she surrounds herself. This includes all of her co-workers at Guiding Hope, a seeing-eye dog company set up by her parents, and where she works.
Using casual sex with just about anyone as a way to fulfill herself, but not get close to anyone, she truly only trusts her best friend and roommate, Jess for assistance. The only other person who comes close is a teenager named Tyson. She forms relationships with various characters over the season, including Dean, Chloe, and Max. While she may seem brass and hard to warm up to, as the season goes on, you will grow to root for her.
Jess Damon
Jess is Murphy’s best friend and roommate. She is a veterinarian at Guiding Hope and is shown to be a bit of a nervous character, but with a heart of gold. Jess takes care of everyone else first and herself second, but also is the only person who Murphy of which sometimes will listen.
While she helps Murphy, she is also fiercely in love with Vanessa and is probably Felix’s only true friend who can stand him for more than a few minutes at a time. As the season goes on, you will love her growth. She is someone we all have in our lives and we don’t thank enough.
Felix Bell
Felix is the person you know that you want to punch in the face most of the time, but can also sometimes be a sweetheart. He works for Guiding Hope and is always’s on Murphy’s case about being late and not doing her job. He’s also filthy rich and doesn’t have a great relationship with his family. Throughout the show, we learn that Guiding Hope is all he has.
Max
Max owns a food truck with an underlying business we’ll talk more about soon. He is head over heels for Murphy who tries her hardest to push him away, but he seems to melt some of those walls. He’s sweet but sometimes clueless and is also definitely in over his head in more ways than one. Max cares deeply for Murphy but keeps secrets from her during the season.
Darnell James
Darnell is Tyson’s drug-dealing cousin who is in Murphy’s mind a suspect in his murder. He is involved with someone from his childhood of which puts their relationship in an interesting power imbalance.
Detective Dean Riley and Chloe Riley
Dean is one of the detectives who comes to Murphy’s house when she reports Tyson as murdered. He is the one who believes her and can talk to her because his daughter too is blind. She begins to ask him for help and trusts him more as the season goes on. He is a widow and has a young daughter named Chloe, who lost her vision from being sick. Dean grows to have a thing for Murphy as time goes on.
Chloe is Dean’s daughter and little miss matchmaker early on. She doesn’t want her father lonely. She also struggles to find people who understand her, and Murphy takes her underneath her wing.
Jules
Jules is the second detective that visits Murphy at her house. She is less helpful than Dean and also doesn’t understand blind etiquette. The detective is involved in a relationship that puts her at risk during her job.
Tyson
Tyson is Murphy’s friend who was murdered at the start of episode one. He previously rescued her from a mugging and saved her life. He is a sweet teenage boy who is wrapped up with his drug pushing cousin Darnell and in turn, helps him. Murphy thinks this might be what got him killed.
Recap: The Start
Season one of In the Dark follows Murphy as she tries to find Tyson’s killer. She goes looking for him one night and stumbles across his body in the alley where they usually meet. While she calls for help, no one comes, so she goes back to her apartment down the street to call the police. By the time they arrive, there isn’t a body.
Detectives Dean and Jules come to speak her, but both seem reluctant to believe her story. Murphy is drunk, looks disheveled, and is blind, so of course, they believe she must be mistaken. Tyson probably just ran away. Dean tries to relate to her, as his daughter, Chloe is also blind. Murphy, the ever sarcastic one, is less than warm back. As the pilot continues, she comes to realize that she is the only person who will find Tyson, starting her obsession.
Not Your Typical Heroine
As we meet more characters, it becomes clear that Murphy has poor relationships with everyone but Jess. Her parents struggle to make her happy, but she pushes them away. She hates that they made Guiding Hope for her and only begins to use her seeing-eye dog, Pretzel when she loses her cane. Felix, who also works for Guiding Hope, is constantly frustrated with her. Even Max, who eventually becomes her boyfriend, struggles to understand how to get her to have a serious conversation.
But, Murphy bonds with Dean’s daughter, Chloe, throughout the season. They go on multiple adventures (some of which don’t end well), and she’s much more at ease with the young girl. She talks more and is willing to help out where Dean struggles, including a period mishap. It seems like one of the few times during the season that she feels happy and is open.
Take it to the Max?
Murphy also tracks down Darnell, who Tyson worked for selling drugs. She initially believes that he is the one who murdered him but came to decide that he is not. Darnell uses a burger food truck owned by Max to launder money for his drugs. She meets Max there one day taunting Darnell for more information. She goes on a date with him, swearing it would just be once, but it quickly becomes more (but not before she injures his penis).
With Max now in tow, Murphy gets closer to Tyson’s killer. Darnell tells him that Tyson ran away with a girl and Tyson’s girlfriend seemingly confirms it—but who turns out not to be a girl at all, but his long lost father that lives out of town. He admits he hasn’t seen Tyson in some time and the two go back to square one.
Murphy is falling harder for Max each day, though she doesn’t want to admit it. They start to do cute things, including picking out a safe coffee table for Max’s apartment, so she doesn’t get hurt walking around there. Max is quick to want to help her, which pisses Murphy off and often causes rifts in their relationship. Jess tells him time and time again to give her a chance to warm up.
The Murder is Solved?
During this time, Murphy and Jess find out that Felix is loaded though he doesn’t take his mother’s money. Guiding Hope is all he has, as his mother does not believe him to be the son she wants. Jess begins to bond with Felix during this episode, but as usual, Murphy is brash and a bit cruel, leaving her on her own by the end of it. Things only get worse when the worst is confirmed: police have found Tyson’s body.
They soon can pin Tyson’s murder on another drug mover that worked for Darnell. Murphy identifies his voice (as she walks in on another murder in this episode—people might want to stay away from her) and it’s enough to put him away, but he makes bail and wants to kill her. While Murphy believes she’s safe, she takes Chloe to the mall to see a boy she likes and gets abducted in an Uber mix up. (Watch this episode, that’s all I’ll say.)
Not Over Yet
A big OMG moment: Darnell is sleeping with Detective Jules, and she saves him on numerous occasions. She even gets him arrested for Tyson’s murder to stop him from walking into a setup. Alas, this backfires later.
Soon, as Max and Jess come after Murphy, worried for her safety, our murderer is no longer an issue, and for a brief amount of time, all seems calm. She begins to fall harder for Max, and we see many cute moments, but Jess soon finds out from Dean’s short-lived girlfriend and the bartender where Murphy and Jess frequent, that Tyson has two killers. One strangled him but didn’t kill him. The second put a bullet in his head.
Jess struggles with this information and wonders if she should tell Murphy, who was obsessed with the case. She wants her to get back to normal. Finally, she decides she can’t lie to her best friend and reveals the information. As she once again spirals looking for his killer, she learns a shocking secret from Max. Max is an informant for the police and working for them to put Darnell’s boss, Nia, away for a long time. Murphy believes the person who killed Tyson thought he was the informant, and thus she believes Max is the reason her friend’s dead.
Not Your Typical “Vacation”
Nia has found out Max is the informant and wants Max dead. Murphy comes to give him his stuff back (being the reason your friend is murdered is a break-up-able offense in her book, despite it not being true) and is “abducted” by Max for her troubles. In reality, Nia sent someone to kill him, and they take off in his food truck to escape. This leads them to the middle of the woods where they ditch the truck and begin to trek through a snowy wooded area until they come to a house. Murphy doesn’t want to talk to Max, who injured himself getting into a boat while putting more distance between them and the murder for hire. She’s ice-cold, in fact.
But soon, as her anger fizzles and they makeup, their safety is once again compromised. The man trying to kill him breaks into the house, and they leave through a window in just enough time. Max takes her back to the rowboat and puts her on it, but says he has to stay behind. Murphy rows away as she hears gunshots.
Didn’t Your Mother Tell You, Don’t Take a Blind Girl to the Woods
The majority of the next episode is Murphy and Pretzel trying to find their way through the woods, while we don’t see if Max is alive or dead. Jess and Felix have a … moment of sorts, unaware that Murphy is in trouble. Eventually, she finds the road and church group saves her. This is a hilarious moment and a great break up for all the tension.
Jules gets to work on proving that Darnell isn’t the murderer, while Jess and Murphy go on a road trip to find Max who is on the run. They use the Guiding Hope van to do this, which comes at an awful time. Previously, Felix buys Guiding Hope from her parents, as the business was about to go under. His mother doesn’t like that she made the purchase and sends someone to audit him. The van going missing is the last straw. He reports it as missing.
Best Friends who get Arrested Together…
Murphy finds Max, and they reunite. He is okay, but he has to leave; it is not safe for him to come back to his previous life. They embrace as the police pull up behind them, but it’s not for Max. It is for Murphy and the stolen van. Murphy and Jess get arrested for stealing it, and Jess tells Murphy she is obsessed with Tyson’s case and she needs a break from her.
The next episode sends Murphy into a spiral without Jess. Jess gets closer to Felix during this time, and Murphy gets closer to Dean. She now knows he has a thing for her and begins to wonder if it is worth it. She decides to take a break from looking for Tyson’s killer and try to rebuild her life, but now Jules is focused on saving Darnell and proving he is innocent. And she wants Murphy’s help. Murphy also celebrates her birthday, and the episode just before the finale ends on a positive when she and Jess makeup and everyone goes rollerskating.
SAY WHAT?!
You may wonder what happens in the finale of the show… right? Well, the recap ends here. I’m telling anyone reading this now: please go and watch this show. You do not want to read about the season finale via recap; you must experience this first hand. I promise you it’s worth it.
Overall Thoughts
What a rollercoaster of a show. I truly enjoyed every episode.
The Great Parts of This Show
The show’s humor is fantastically placed in such a dark drama. I have not laughed out loud at a show in some time, but the cast’s timing is perfect. Murphy and the gang have such great chemistry, and you can’t help but love all of them. It is hard for a show to do both drama and comedy as well. I think the CW has found a hidden treasure in this show.
To tie into that: it also balances such darkness with light well. As much as you want to cry with Murphy, scenes like the IKEA one, Jess and Felix’s various adventures and the rollerskating scene remind you how important the people in your life are to you.
To build off that: the relationships are phenomenal. There isn’t a single character on this show that isn’t flawed, but all have redeeming qualities as well. You will find someone to relate to on this show. Whether its watching Murphy’s walls come down with Max, or Jess and Felix bonding in the hotel pool room, or our bad guy drug dealer having a soft side, all of it is so well done. I think having characters that are more than one dimensional are what make or break a show.
Most of all?
You never know what is going to happen next. I mean this. Until the very last episode, even. I am a firm believer that writing is hard, and in today’s pop culture world, it is hard to surprise someone. I never, ever even suspected the ending to season one, and I think the writers did an even better job setting up for season two. The finale was one of the most exciting finales I’ve seen in some time.
A Final Note
Perry Mattfeld (Murphy) especially does a fantastic job portraying someone blind. This show highlights the everyday difficulties someone with this disability might encounter and also shows that despite this, Murphy and others can succeed and even be our heroine. I think it’s an important message to send.
So, if you’re a fan of great characters, a good drama with the perfect amount of humor, and a storyline that is just freakin’ fantastic… what are you waiting for? Binge In the Dark on Netflix today and see what everyone is talking about.
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