Crossing the blue line: 'Teacup' serves up a sci-fi brew of suspense and danger

IOL News

01-05-2025

Caleb Dolden as Arlo Chenoweth and Scott Speedman as James Chenoweth in a scene from 'Teacup'.
Image: Mark Hill/PEACOCK
After binge-watching a lot of homegrown movies, reality TV shows and drama of late, it was time to switch up the pace.
The glowing reviews on 'Teacup' compelled me to check out the eight-part Showmax series.
Inspired by Robert McCammon's bestselling novel, 'Stinger', it is set in the scenic countryside of Georgia, where the neighbours come together after finding themselves unable to cross a blue line around them.
The series evokes a dystopian atmosphere characterised by panic, a sense of helplessness, and enforced acts of heroism.
Think of offerings like 'Leave the World Behind', 'Paradise', 'Wayward Pines', 'The Outsider', '12 Monkeys' and 'Under the Dome'.
Episode one left me fascinated with its ominous atmosphere. Something is not okay in the woods as the bodies of dead animals are strewn about.
A wounded woman is wandering about, looking very dazed.
And then Arlo Chenoweth (Cabel Dolden), a curious little boy, is attacked by something.
Meanwhile, back on the family farm, his veterinarian mother Maggie (Yvonne Strahovski) buries the hatchet with her mother-in-law Ellen (Kathy Baker), who is suffering from multiple sclerosis.
With it being almost dinner time, Maggie checks in with her teen daughter Meryl (Emilie Bierre) and husband James (Scott Speedman) on the whereabouts of Arlo.
Unfazed at first, the family becomes unsettled when neighbouring rancher Ruben Shanley (Chaske Spencer), his wife Valeria (Diany Rodriguez) and their son Nicholas (Luciano Leroux) arrive with a badly wounded horse.
Around the same time, another neighbour, Donald Kelly (Boris McGiver), arrives with his wife seeking a lost pet.
With it getting very dark, Maggie becomes increasingly concerned about her son's well-being, only to have him return, mumbling something, and looking disoriented.
Uncertain of what's going on, everyone's immediate reaction is to get help. However, none of the vehicles would start.
And so James and Ruben head out on foot to get help. While doing so, they come across a masked man who holds up a sign warning them not to cross a blue line.
Everyone is so confused until they witness how Donald's wife's body disintegrates in front of them after unknowingly crossing the line.
Arlo, who is inhabited by a foreign entity, has a few answers. But everyone is too frazzled, looking for answers to truly pay attention.
Caleb Dolden as Arlo Chenoweth, Emilie Bierre as Meryl Chenoweth and Yvonne Strahovski as Maggie Chenoweth in 'Teacup'.
Image: Mark Hill/PEACOC