Our take
Amazon Prime’s Harlan Coben's Shelter is the latest addition to the slew of supernatural teen-led mysteries that have come out in recent years. Like Netflix’s Lockwood & Co., Paramount’s School Spirits, and even Showtime’s Yellowjackets, Shelter is genuinely intriguing and surprisingly mature, making it watchable regardless of how old you are. The show’s TV-14 rating lets the teens in the series act their age (that is, both crude and childlike), which adds to the show's authentic feel. It verges on being self-serious at times, which is funny when you hear them say things like “Octo Face got her” with a straight face, but those slips are forgivable. It doesn’t detract from the show’s compelling mystery and enjoyable performances.
Synopsis
Follow the story of Mickey Bolitar after the death of his father leads him to start a new life in suburban New Jersey. When another new student disappears, Mickey finds himself tangled in a web of secrets. With the help of two new friends, Spoon and Ema, they reveal a dark underground that may hold the answers to decades of disappearances.
Storyline
Based on the bestselling books of author Harlan Coben, Shelter is a ten-part series that follows high schooler Mickey Bolitar (Jaden Michael) and his friends as they investigate the mysteries that haunt their neighborhood in Jersey.
TLDR
If you can’t wait for a new episode of Yellowjackets or Lockwood & Co., maybe this could be your next supernatural teen show binge.
What stands out
At its heart, Shelter is still a teen drama that relies on its young performers to make coming-of-age cliches like love and friendship as charming, relatable, and believable as they can be. The actors do a splendid job of this. Mickey’s friends, Spoon (Adrian Greensmith) and Ema (Abby Corrigan) are instantly likable, the perfect comedic foils to Mickey’s self-serious moments. Mickey, for his part, goes through multiple experiences that have been shoved before in mainstream TV. The show doesn’t sugarcoat his struggles as a biracial teen, and as the son of a woman going through clinical depression, the show also highlights how mental health issues can affect not just the person going through them but the people around them as well.