Apple TV Plus’ The Essex Serpent is a slow, tense drama with lots of great sweaters

Image: Apple

How much you enjoy The Essex Serpent depends on how much you enjoy seeing Tom Hiddleston brooding in a misty field while wearing cozy wool sweaters. For a lot of people, that will be enough. It was for me. Thankfully, the six-episode series offers a lot more than hair blowing in the wind, it also explores grief and belief, and how much they can mess with you. The sweaters are a bonus.

Two characters are the focus of the show. One of them is a young natural history scholar who has a fixation with sea serpents. She uses old books, maps, and newspaper clippings to research them. When rumors of a serpent in a small fishing village in Essex come up, she and her son and a friend board a train from London to investigate.

At least not initially, but rather a town going mad with fear is what she finds when she arrives. A missing child has everyone on edge, blaming a mythical creature which they believe is attacking the most sinful of the bunch. The tragedies are blamed on the beast as bad things continue to happen to everyone. Will Ransome, a local pastor and one of the few people who doesn't think the serpent is a bad sign from God, is one of the first people Cora meets.

The Essex Serpent leans heavily on some well-worn tropes. Even though she helps Will rescue a goat from doom, he is still a big jerk and they have no idea who they are. When they are introduced so he can help with her research, it's a classic rom-com moment where she finds out the person was rude. Even with the familiar setup, the chemistry between Danes and Hiddleston is fun to watch.

Photo: Marvel Studios

The show leans on the faith vs. science debate. Most people in town become increasingly convinced of the serpent's existence due to the fact that Cora spends a lot of time putting on nice outfits to dig for fossils. Will is stuck in the middle in The Essex Serpent. He is a man of faith who can accept the supernatural explanations for everything that is happening in the town, leaving him questioning how much he can help the community he serves.

The show ends up being more about relationships than it is about religion and the serpent. The Essex Serpent puts a lot of very beautiful people in a very grim location and then lets you watch them try not to be horny for each other. Now that her abusive marriage is over, Cora is finally experiencing something close to freedom, but she ends up stuck between Will, a pastor and a young doctor, who is also married with two kids.

Image: Apple

Much of the show hinges on watching the three of them navigate this awkward dynamic while being too British and polite to say how they feel. This is balanced by the struggles of finding a mythical sea serpent or a radical kind of surgery. The show doesn't reveal its true intentions until a few episodes in. The Essex Serpent becomes a drama that treats its subjects with a refreshing kind of honesty that makes them all the more interesting once it finds its footing. Falling in and out of love is always messy, but it's even worse when the world around you is a complete mess. The Essex Serpent captures that perfectly. It does so in six episodes without overstaying its welcome.

It's a show about the beautiful chaos that comes from conflict, whether that's between science and faith, love and hate, or putting a bunch of pretty people in a grim and depressing little town. The cozy sweater is a metaphor for The Essex Serpent in that it hides something more intriguing underneath its drab exterior.

The Essex Serpent will be streaming on Apple TV Plus.