Emma Hazard
Arts & Culture Editor
Content Warning: This Article contains spoilers for “The Edge of Sleep.”
I finally had the time to sit down and watch “The Edge of Sleep” this past week, and I can easily say it was not what I expected.
“The Edge of Sleep” is an Amazon Prime original series that debuted Oct. 15, starring none other than Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) as its main character. The series follows Fischbach’s character, a night watchman named Dave who suffers from parasomnia, and discovers that he’s one of the last living people on earth after after the outbreak of a global epidemic. The epidemic causes everybody who went to sleep the night before to not wake up, and Dave and his small group of fellow survivors are all left to figure out why before they inevitably fall asleep themselves.
Despite the fact that this series is labeled as drama/suspense, I would air on the side of caution if you’re thinking about watching this series if you don’t like the horror genre. I’m a fan of horror movies, and there were still parts of this series that were making my skin crawl. Any time a character saw “The Elephant [Man],” I think a shiver ran down my spine.
We learn that Dave has suffered from nightmares almost every night of his life, and “The Elephant” is one of the recurring characters in his dreams, alongside “The Dream People.” “The Elephant” is portrayed as a man with the head of an elephant, but the head of the elephant appears to be made out of human skin. You’ll have to look him up for yourself- because my description of him does not do the horrifying special effects makeup justice.
Aside from its creepy characters, I really enjoyed the concept of this series. “The Edge of Sleep” is based on a podcast by the same name written by Jake Emmanuel and Willie Block, which has been available to listen to since 2019 and also stars Fischbach as a voice actor.
Out of all the horror media I’ve consumed, the concept for this story felt very original to me. While an unlikely team of friends solving a mystery isn’t uncommon in television by any means, the way this series gets into the inner workings of Dave’s mind as the source of the epidemic felt refreshing. I feel like a lot of horror media is quick to point fingers at the devil for being the issue, so it was nice to see the main character being the problem for a change.
My biggest gripe with this show was the pacing. This series is only six episodes long, and you can tell that they had to get the point across fast. The somewhat rushed feeling you get with a pilot episode of a show unfortunately spread throughout this whole series for me, so I can’t say I was surprised when they perfectly set themselves up for a potential second season. If that second season ever comes, I hope the episodes are a little bit longer. Each episode in this series is about 20 minutes long, which I partially blame for its rushed storytelling.
Overall, I would recommend this show. It’s an easy watch, and it does keep you on the edge of your seat (no pun intended) at times. However, there are some things that seem vague or are left unanswered in the series, so be prepared to have a few questions after you’re done watching.