19 Reasons You Should Be Watching "The Resort" Right Now

Sam Esmail has garnered one hell of a reputation as a producer of exceptional televised mystery series, including Mr. Robot, Briarpatch, and Homecoming. With The Resort, Esmail knocks it out of the park once again, offering his trademark enigmatic storytelling, dazzling visuals, and dark humor set to the backdrop of a timeline-jumping island mystery.

Though she may be best known for her comedic roles in How I Met Your Mother, Palm Springs, and Made for Love, the ever-versatile Cristin Milioti showcases her dramatic chops as well as her innate comedic skills as the co-lead of The Resort, and her enthusiasm for the mystery at hand makes her character one of the most empathetic television leads in recent memory.

The astoundingly talented star of Midsommar and The Good Place effortlessly shines in The Resort as the begrudging amateur co-investigator who attempts to address his rocky marriage and unclear future as he’s simultaneously dragged deeper into a mystery of the past.

With a total of eight episodes in total, seven of which are currently streaming on Peacock, The Resort is a fairly brief yet undeniably engaging binge. With every episode lasting only a half-hour, even the least voracious streamers can watch through the first season before the finale premieres on Peacock on Thursday, September 1.

At first, The Resort draws you in with a mystery that you think might be predictable: star-crossed lovers escaping their families at a far-away resort to start anew, and whether or not they have something to do with a mysterious body that washed up in a hurricane. But this show sets the table only to switch up the meal entirely, interweaving many more intriguing and, at times, jaw-dropping elements, both intimate and grand in scale.

Much like Sam Esmail’s other series, The Resort goes bold with its visual storytelling, from the oblique episode openings to the surreal scene transitions and the wonderful use of color in specific locations. Heck, even the surreal, prophetic sequences work toward subtly establishing The Resort as one of the more sensational and surprising series of the summer.

While the “tragic young lovers” trope is dating back to even before Shakespeare, the dynamic feels completely fresh and infectious throughout The Resort thanks to a pair of exceptional and emotional performances from the unlikely couple of Skyler Gisondo and Nina Bloomgarden.

You may know him best from his hilariously dry performance on Parks and Recreation, but Offerman delivers a more emotionally potent and raw performance as a sorrowful father integral to both timelines.

Perhaps the MVP of The Resort,  Luis Gerardo Méndez exhibits equal parts humility and hubris to great comedic and dramatic effect as a cool-as-ice yet critical figure who hopes to correct the mistakes of his past in the present while helping in the rejuvenated search for the missing lovers.

Shot in Puerto Rico, The Resort's ever-expanding locales, from swanky hotels to ghostly abandoned penthouses to immersive jungles, carry so much more substance and history because they look real and lived-in, which enhances the series' particular brand of storytelling.

As per usual for a Sam Esmail project, The Resort sports a stellar soundtrack featuring the likes of David Byrne, The Pretty Flowers, Tino Contreras, B.T. Express, Rodriguez, and Elliott Smith, to name only a few. 

While there's nothing in The Resort that is that particularly violent or explicit, the series absolutely benefits from the looser restrictions enjoyed by streaming programs, including R-rated language, occasional nudity (including a fairly shocking sext photo), and moments of unpredictable violence not needing to be held back or bleeped out.

Outside of the core cast, The Resort assembled a great cast that includes an understated yet endearing Gabriela Cartol, the hilarious duo of Michael Hitchcock and Parvesh Cheena, the always-solid Dylan Baker, and a mind-blowing Ben Sinclair, among others.

While The Resort has evoked comparisons to both The White Lotus and Search Party, this Peacock original series isn't a dour slog despite its subject matter, as the series brings a good amount of laughs albeit often from darker, more unexpected places.

The Resort starts off by setting the stage with some relationship drama and some dry comedy before introducing the mystery, but no one could have really predicted some of the more intriguing and unique philosophical elements introduced about halfway through that will have your mind melting in real-time.

The dueling love stories, one of a relationship perhaps past its bloom and one at the emergence of its blossom, provide The Resort and its audience with a compelling emotional anchor that will keep you rooting for both to persevere, against all odds.

In addition to the philosophical and emotional aspects of The Resort, one of the more gripping elements of the series comes in the form of its mythology, most of which is a bit of a spoil and ties into the series in some of the most unforeseen (yet satisfying) ways, especially in the series' penultimate episode.

Sam Esmail has certainly handled twists and cliffhangers with a deft hand on his previous series, and The Resort has some of his best yet, including a cliffhanger and twist concluding episode 4 that got me hook, line and sinker (and I suspect it'll have you hooked as well).