To binge or not to binge: That is the question. Millions assume the answer is “binge!” and that’s that. If a series is any good, the only options are binge-watch or ignore altogether, since life is short and the queue is long. Right?
Wrong. Plenty of extended or limited series work best with a little breathing room between episodes. This brings us to “Archive 81,” an extremely well-acted creeper now streaming on Netflix. It’s an eight-part narrative with a lot of tendrils, adapted from the 2016 horror podcast created by Dan Powell and Marc Sollinger. While it takes its time (too much so in the middle episodes), those in charge of the adaptation invest fully in the key characters. Result: We actually give a damn about their fates.
“Archive 81″ showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine and company have cast their leads oh, so wisely. Mamoudou Athie plays the taciturn New York City video archivist Dan Turner. Dina Shihabi is Melody Pendras, the haunted graduate student whose 1994-era videotapes comprise an unfinished oral history project on the history and denizens of an Manhattan apartment building known as the Visser, oozing secrets and spirits not of this world.
