Astrid & Lilly Save the World review: SyFy show is a weird Buffy homage

With big Buffy-sized shoes to fill in the high school students slay monsters genre, the creators of SyFy’s new series opted to take the template and make it weird. This is very bizarre. Astrid and Lilly Save the World The story centers around two outcasts from high school who become unlikely heroes after they must save their community from the flesh-eating beasts.

“It takes the [Buffy] model and turns it on its head,” said Astrid & Lilly Save the World SyFy to welcome Noelle Stehman, showrunner

Astrid and Lilly don’t know much about actually slaying monsters, but they do have seasons worth of Law and Order The team has the ability to use their knowledge and other superpowers to unravel this mystery. While some pieces of the first episode come straight from the high school media playbook, the quirky comedy shows a lot of promise with it’s zany humor and delightfully weird main characters.

What does it mean? Astrid & Lilly Save the World?

Alex Stead/Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY

Astrid & Lilly Save the World is a coming-of-age supernatural comedy, about — as you might expect — Astrid (Jana Morrison) and Lilly (Samantha Aucoin). They’re outcasts in their high school, but at least they have each other! After accidentally opening a portal to another dimension they find that people-eating creatures have begun to enter their world. Astrid or Lilly can only hunt the monsters down and seal the portal before the small community becomes a buffet.

Who’s behind Astrid & Lilly Save the World?

Noelle Stehman (co-creator) and Betsy Van Stone (creator), created the SyFy series. They previously collaborated together on YouTube miniseries. Clean Freaks.

What’s the pilot about?

We meet Astrid (spinky) and Lilly in the pilot. They are misfits among their peers but are bonded together by their mutual love for detective shows. They have a nightly ritual of driving around and spying on the popular kids … for science! But after summoning the guts to go to a party, Tate (Kolton Stewart), the school’s biggest hottie, calls them the “pudge patrol” and they tearfully leave. In a fit of rage, they burn some trinkets they’ve collected and decree that they don’t need the validation of the popular kids.

Tate vanished the day after they returned to school. Astrid, Lilly and Olivier Renaud meet Brutus, a mysterious horned, mysterious man who tells them that Tate and his friends accidentally did an occult ritual, and opened a portal. They also learn that the strange symptoms they have been experiencing all day are actually really bizarre superpowers: Astrid has a heightened sense of smell and Lilly’s leg cramps every time she gets closer to a demon. Astrid, Lilly and other mysterious orders to retrieve 10 odd body parts from 10 monsters set them on an adventure to save their little town.

Alex Stead/Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY

What’s it really about?

Astrid & Lilly Save the World is a time-tested balance of a good ol’ high school misfit plotline mixed with some very zany supernatural elements. Astrid and Lilly must rise up to be heroes — even if they don’t think they’re capable of that. Fantasy media for teenagers tends to see a lot of unlikely heroes rising to the occasion, but the kicker that makes this show stand out is that it’s about TwoThey became unlikely heroes after becoming best friends who were once misfits. Their relationship will be challenged as they battle against the monsters. Probably! It’s possible!

In the first episode, there are some tension points that can be set up for future episodes. Astrid seems to have a crush on Sparrow (Spencer Macpherson), an insolent bad boy. He also finds her strangeness fascinating. We also learn that Lilly and popular girl Candace (Geri Hall) used to be friends, till Candace got popular and Lilly didn’t. Even without the monster fighting, these characters hint at some test of Astrid and Lilly’s friendship.

This is Astrid & Lilly Save the World good?

Balancing the odd and normal is the hardest part of urban fantasy. Although the pilot episode of Astrid and Lilly Save the World is a more focused on high school drama to help establish the norm, it still feels familiar. Astrid is seen with Lilly at a party, then they are humiliated. It is a good quick way of establishing who they are in the high school hierarchy, but it’s easy to zone out, and unfortunately it’s one of the first big scenes in the show.

Alex Stead/Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY

The high school drama is a bit cliche but the fantasy strangeness holds great potential. In the pilot, it’s a bit tame — after all the portal did Simply open. What we see, however, is delightfully bizarre. The monster that they face off is drawn to the scent of tears and searches for crying individuals to pluck off the streets so he can feast on their eyes … but he just wants to throw a dance party and one of the characters comments on how he’s kinda sexy, actually. Due to her leg cramps detection, Lilly grips her leg when lightning strikes. The list they receive is full of indecipherable words, because, after all, the creatures they’re hunting aren’t of this world, so their body parts would have different names. It’s bizarrely fun and promises some more zany and humorous supernatural elements down the line.

The best thing about Astrid & Lilly Save the WorldAstrid, Lilly are themselves. In a genre that often reduces female characters to stereotypes — the girl next door, the popular cheerleader, the nerd — the two of them are very specific and distinct characters, with their own type of weird that feels simultaneously believable and unique. Astrid & Lilly have a deep, meaningful friendship. You might feel nostalgic for your high school friendship.

These two quirky and charming characters have a lot of potential to become badass heroes — and this strange, off-kilter show has potential to fully embrace the weirdness. The ingredients for the comedy superpowers and core friendship are all there.

Where and when can I view it? Astrid & Lilly Save the World?

Astrid & Lilly Save the WorldThe episode premiered on SyFy Jan. 26, at 10 p.m. You can access the SyFy site to view the first episode.