Netflix’s Midnight Club finds heart in a mega PlayStation fan

Netflix’s new YA seriesThe Midnight ClubThe perfect horror starting kit. While there’s a central plot about a maybe-haunted mansion slowly unspooling across 10 episodes, it’s also a collection of short horror stories told by the story’s cast: a collection of terminal kids living in hospice at said mansion, bonding in their final days by scaring each other at night, Is the Dark Afraid Of You?-style.

It means: The Midnight Club can take any shape — in one episode it’s a film noir homage, in another, there’s a riff on The Terminator. And, in the fifth episode, “See You Later,” the show takes on the rarest of forms: the gamer thriller.

“See You Later” features a story told by Amesh (Sauriyan Sapkota), who spins a tale about Luke, an aspiring game designer (also played by Sapkota; in The Midnight ClubEvery cast member usually plays the main character of the story. Vincent Beggs, a legendary game designer and inventor, meets him in a shop. And even better, he invites him over to play a game that he’s currently working on.

This sci-fi story is about Luke learning that the world he believes it to be isn’t what it really is. He also discovers that his hero ideas and beliefs about his life are distractions from mundane, more important things. All told, it’s not really The Midnight Club’s best short story, but it does take on an air of poignance when held up against Amesh’s arc throughout the show.

Photo: Eike Schroter/Netflix

Amesh establishes himself as a player early in his career The Midnight Club. In the group therapy sessions the kids all attend together, Amesh talks about his childhood playing every video game console that came out, and that he is sad that he might not live to play the Sony PlayStation, which isn’t out yet. He’s sheepish when he says this, cognizant that it’s small potatoes compared to the many other things there are to miss about being alive, in a room full of other teens who are also not long for this Earth. But he can’t help it — this is who he is. He likes video games.

A part of the reason we are here Midnight Club a wonderful show is the deep sense of affection it has for all of its characters, the way that they are all taken seriously even when they are messy, or hateful, or not the best storytellers (Amesh’s story is It’s not that great). Amesh’s love for video games may not be as classically appreciated in the show’s ’90s setting, but it is as beautiful as Anya’s (series standout Ruth Codd) desire to dance again, and it’s also an illustration of the show’s poignance in miniature.

It is impossible to be content with video gaming as a hobby. You can always find more. A new console, a sequel, an update, or something to buy, or achieve. Coincidentally, this is also what it’s like to be a teenager: to be constantly tugged in the direction of your overwhelming emotions and desires, to be You can be sureThat you are meant to do greater than the mundane things in your present.

Amesh gets to feel all that, but he doesn’t get to indulge it. He is just like his friends. The Midnight Club, he’s fated to end his story somewhere close to where he is right now, as a teenager who is just getting started. Eventually, someone does give him that PlayStation, and attentive viewers might note that there’s nothing for him to play. It feels like an oversight, but perhaps it’s the point. Amesh is glad he bought the PlayStation. He doesn’t need to play it. He wanted to know while he was here.