Secrets at Red Rocks (series): Highly rated series I think is trash

Even though I have very little faith in the big review sites like IMDB and RT, I will admit that some of my choices as to whether or not I am going to delve into something that I have never heard of that pops up on my Plex server is influenced by the critical score that is automatically brought up whenever I look at the preview page associated with it.

While the text describing the story didn't exactly pull me in, I was lured by the fact that each episode was a mere 22 minutes long which normally means it was designed without the direction of a major streaming service and needed to be this length so that the producers could shop for a buyer that might wish to put it on network TV.

I know that almost no one watches network TV anymore, but this is a decision that independent show-creators have to make when they are deciding to make something that doesn't already have a financier.

Anyway, onto this rather highly-rated show that I think it complete garbage.

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Alright (sigh), The story is that 12-year old Jack is visiting his father at the coast somewhere in New Zealand because his parents are divorced or something. Whatever, they aren't together anymore whatever the reason is.

Jack's Dad doesn't have a lot of time to entertain his son while his son is visiting so he tells him to fuck off down to the dangerous coastline to explore on his own because that is totally safe to do in today's times and while wandering around Jack discovers a seal skin that he brings home and his father, who is some sort of scientist tells him (as he should) to bring that damn thing back to where he found it and get it out of his house.

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Jack initially does what he is told but ends up meeting a quirky little girl who knows the secrets of this seal skin and how it is actually a magical something or other that allows certain magic seals to assume human form and walk among us on land. We later find out that several other quirky members of the community area also seal-people.

Apparently, this is part of a real mythical belief that exists somewhere in New Zealand and I am not going to get into that because I don't care enough to look it up. I guess it would be something along the lines of a lot of mysticism that exists about sea creatures and this one just hasn't been fully addressed yet.

Jake and his Dad don't have the best relationship and Jake soon finds himself wandering around a lot and getting into what I can only assume is a government-approved portrayal of what sort of mischief kids get themselves into these days. The was a wonderfully diverse group of people that are the bullies - because I am pretty sure that it is required that they be diverse in all productions in New Zealand - but there was some really stupid things that happened during the scenes that just made me roll my eyes so hard I could see my own brain for moments at a time.

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While Jake and his younger seal-person friend are being bullied a great many times, the diverse group of young teens steal the skin from Jake and he has to try to get it back. He snatches the bag real quick and then jumps on his bicycle to get away from them, but not before putting his helmet on because that is of course, one of the many many rules that we are trying to let kids know is required at all times. When the bullies, who by the virtue of being bullies aren't all that interested in rules or civility, are shown in later shots, all of them took the time to put their own helmets on before pursuing Jake. Safety first folks! Even if you are doing something illegal like attempted murder and theft!

Later the same kids are seen walking their bikes in areas where it is illegal in that country ride your bike in for some reason. Urgh!

I feel as though the people that make these shows just simply cannot help themselves when it comes to brainwashing people into compliance as far as certain things are concerned in society. If kids watching this show were to take away anything from this, it wouldn't be that bullying and theft is wrong but that you really should wear a helmet at all times while cycling. It's just so stupid.

Obviously the bully gang members that have a change of heart and decide to be the good guys are definitely NOT the Caucasians. It's the law now.

All that brain-programming horse-doo-doo aside, the story itself is just kind of dumb. The setups are dumb and the reasons for people needing to go to certain places is dumb. The fact that nobody ever discovered this very easily accessed cave with a magical seal skin in it that Jake discovers in his first friggin day there is extremely dumb. The fact that all of the non-magical adults are complete idiots who refuse to believe in anything magical even though it is evident that something magical is definitely happening around them and has been happening for a while is super-dumb.

There is a scene where Jake is seriously concerned about his father's well being when father needs to swim something like 5 meters off the shore in order to retrieve his boat

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_{that dude must be supernatural himself to be able to swim such a vast distance and survive}

Basically the entire show is dumb. I didn't make it to the finish line as far as this one is concerned because even though the episodes are only 22 minutes long, they felt like they were extended director's cut editions. Despite all of this most of what we have going on in this thing is stupid repetitive dialogue and the effects on the seal-people themselves makes home made horror films look magnificent in comparison.

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_{I was stunned, STUNNED! to find out that these puppets were made by some unknown low-budget puppet workshop}

How this ended up with such a high (7.4) rating on IMDB defies all logic in my mind. The story is also quite predictable which leaves me no choice but to walk away from this.

Should I watch it?

It's been a long time that I have felt such an emphatic "NO!" about whether or not something is worth seeing but also, it isn't every day that something that on the surface looks like it could be a decent story and is based off of a best-selling book ends up being such absolute garbage. It peeves me even more when the review community props up this sort of stuff as well.

If you can make it an entire hour into this I think 8-episode season, I would be very surprised. But at least now I feel as though I must always wear a helmet, even if I am in the process of being pursued by 5 people that are significantly stronger than I am.

_{if you insist on torturing yourself you can see this for free on BYUtv and it is available on something called NEON which I have never heard of. It's also on Sky New Zealand, who bankrooled the project I think}