“I don’t know, I woke up here too.”

“Who are you, where am I?”

“Those are the top two questions.”

Vito Viscomi’s The Hollow is an animated series about three teens, Adam (Adrian Petriw), Mira (Ashleigh Ball), and Kai (Connor Parnall), they begin trapped in a dark, bewildering world with no idea how they got there or how to get out. The characters are periodically in danger, nearly falling off cliffs or being captured and eaten by giant minotaurs. They come up against colossal villains with sharp teeth and appalling eyes, and the music is pulsing and intense. Female characters have strong leadership roles, on both the “good” and “bad” side of the action.

“Are we dead?” Adam wonders, then, when he finds a rack of scientific vials in a mysterious cabin in a forbidding woods. “Are we someone’s experiment?” Unclear. In agreement with Commonsense Media, they say, “And as the mystery deepens, the kind of kid who’s maybe just a little too young for Stranger Things is just the right age for this appealingly weird series. And parents who have an appreciation for the dark and puzzling may be pulled into watching The Hollow, too.” The progressively complicated relationship between Mira, Kai and Adam add more drama, comedy, and conflict as they try to fight their personal demons and the actual demons that exist in their unknown world. The Hollow could have deepened the development of the characters since their actions in the first episode don’t really define them in a significant way. This is is also true for the additional three teens that appear midway through the season since the viewers don’t get to know where they began their journey.

But where The Hollow shines is how it rewards those who watch all 10 episodes to see the mystery finally get solved. Although hints are dropped all throughout the show and might not make the ultimate ending all that great, the ending is still very awesome. Just for the mystery and the reward, I would recommend  The Hollow to anyone looking for a mysterious, sci-fi type animated show.

The Hollow is streaming now on Netflix.