Yaga, Crave’s latest thriller series (streaming on AMC+ in the U.S.), boasts big Canadian names like Noah Reid and Carrie-Anne Moss. Notably, it is also Hudson Williams‘ newest series following the wildly popular Heated Rivalry. Kat Sandler, who wrote the play the show is based on, serves as the series creator and takes a unique approach to one of Slavic folklore’s most famous myths: Baba Yaga. Witchy, haunting, and full of intrigue, Yaga has all the makings of a streaming hit. But dig a little deeper, and the series’ flaws quickly outshine its strengths. With an exhausting protagonist and a plot that never feels tonally cohesive, Yaga is a skippable mess that wastes its best talent.
‘Yaga’ Can’t Decide What Type of Show It Wants To Be
At first glance, Yaga seems like a murder mystery in the vein of True Detective. Charlie Rapp (Reid), a private investigator, is hired by Henry Park’s (Williams) billionaire parents to find him after he goes missing. To help him, Rapp is paired with Frances Carson (Clark Backo), a local cop who plays the straight woman to Rapp’s cavalier shoot-from-the-hip personality. However, as the title suggests, Yaga is much more than just a detective story; there’s something supernatural occurring in the small town of Whittock, and Rapp and Carson are about to dive headfirst into it.
It’s immediately clear that foul play must be involved with Henry’s disappearance, and it isn’t long before Rapp and Carson gather a whole host of potential suspects. There’s Logan Casey, Henry’s roommate and friend, who also happens to look exactly like him (Williams also plays Logan, with the addition of small facial prosthetics); Hunter and Logan’s close friend and shared lover, Pam (Ezra Franky); and Katherine Hargrove (Moss), a seductive and enigmatic professor and bone specialist whom Henry previously interviewed.
Throughout the seven episodes sent for review, each is bookended by a voice-over from the yet-to-be-revealed Baba Yaga, who speaks to the larger themes and motifs of the series, including the power of folklore, sexuality, and feminine rage. It’s a helpful storytelling tool, since the series itself does little with those topics beyond just presenting them. The series doesn’t play coy about who could be Yaga; the clues all point to the same place within the first few episodes. But, in trying to blend a more traditional whodunit with a mythological folktale, Yaga loses focus. With random dashes of off-beat comedy and admittedly amazing needle drops (I never knew I needed a cover of “California Dreamin'” in Croatian until now), Yaga becomes a grab bag of interesting genres and ideas. The series doesn’t know whether it’s a supernatural story, a character drama, a horror series, or a detective thriller, but does little to successfully meld them all together.
‘Yaga’ Is Brought Down by a Weak Protagonist
<<img src="https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/yaga-noah-reid-clark-backo.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" />
Image via Crave</figure>
While Reid is probably best known for playing the lovable Patrick Brewer in Schitt’s Creek, the Canadian actor has a wide range beyond the hit sitcom, appearing in the sci-fi series Outer Range and most recently The Vampire Lestat. With Yaga‘s Charlie Rapp, however, Reid is unfortunately hamstrung by an insufferable character who adds nothing to the story apart from guiding viewers through the town of Whittock. Normally, in a detective series, the lead investigator might have their own flaws, but they are still competent at their job. For Rapp, this isn’t the case. Not only does he seem incompetent and clueless — one example involves him knowingly taking mysterious drugs at a party while on the clock — but in attempting to render him a Casanova figure, he comes off more like a creep.
This is most clearly seen in how often Rapp flirts and sexually pursues every woman in the series. While Yaga often talks about female empowerment and the wrongdoings of men, it’s an odd choice for its protagonist to be so stereotypically unsavory with every woman he encounters. Even at the most inappropriate moments, Rapp wears a sly and boyish grin, ready to charm anyone and anything to get the answers he wants. He has no problem using people — typically women — for his own benefit. While that trait isn’t necessarily a bad thing for his profession, it makes him a questionable protagonist when looking at the scope of Yaga and the lesson it’s trying to impart. Perhaps if the show had decided to flip the narrative, encouraging viewers to root against Rapp and for Yaga, this approach would have worked.
To add insult to injury, Backo’s Carson is a far more compelling character than Rapp. She’s a young female cop struggling to balance her life between her obligations and responsibilities as a police officer while also trying to maintain her relationships with the locals. Her intriguing connection to her boss, Eckert (Patrick Gilmore), feels rife with potential, especially toward the back half of the season — but then the series shoves Rapp and Carson together despite a painful lack of romantic chemistry. Yaga then doubles down by giving every tertiary character a line commenting on how cute a couple the two would make. One would think that a story like this wouldn’t force its female lead into an ill-fitting romance, but that’s not the case here.
‘Yaga’ Struggles To Be Gripping Despite a Strong Cast
Image via Crave
Image via Crave
Image via Crave
Image via Crave
Image via Crave
Image via Crave
Image via Crave
Image via Crave
Image via Crave
Image via CraveAside from the protagonist issue, another problem with Yaga lies in its script and the story’s execution. The one-liners and zingers read as immature rather than titillating, as its tone implies. Despite a plethora of sexual content, Yaga lacks much of the sexiness that it’s trying to imbue. Some of this is because the show’s cinematography is simply uninspired. The camera doesn’t become an active part of these scenes, putting the viewer into the minds of the characters — it merely acts as an observer, making the sex scenes feel somewhat stale. But most of the unsexiness comes from the fact that there is very little build-up, and the half-hour episodes don’t help with that.
This is unfortunate because the cast is still talented and exciting to watch, especially Moss and Williams. Moss is, unsurprisingly, insanely charismatic on screen as Katherine Hargrove. She’s witty, clever, and delightfully unfiltered, acting as an interesting foil to Rapp. While his flirting can make him seem creepy and pushy even in the best light, Katherine’s slow seduction makes her magnetic and impossible to look away from.
Williams also delivers a surprising turn as both Henry and Logan, showing he’s far more than just the Shane Hollander we know and love. Through his portrayal of two characters who feel like polar opposites, viewers are offered insight into the twisted relationship between these two men. However, Yaga moves the focus away from him too quickly; rather than spending more time with Williams to understand Henry or Logan, his presence exists primarily to be a catalyst for the mystery rather than as two fully-realized characters.
Despite the clear talent on screen, Yaga is a disappointment. Perhaps as a stage show, the story is meant to leave a stronger impact on the audience, but as a series, its tonal imbalance, lackluster protagonist, and unimpressive script leave much to be desired. Baba Yaga deserves to be more than just a John Wick reference (of which there are many in Yaga), but she also deserves better than this show.
Despite a promising cast, Yaga is bland, uninspired, and a tonal mess.
-
<
Enjoying this article? Support our work with a small crypto donation.Katherine
-
<
Noah Reid
Rapp
-
<
Clark Backo
Carson
-
<
Hudson Williams
Henry Park
A private investigator looks into the disappearance of Henry Park, heir to a powerful fishery.
- Clark Backo plays a far more interesting protagonist, getting the bulk of the most interesting scenes in the series.
- Carrie-Anne Moss and Hudson Williams are the most charismatic presences on screen, overcoming the flaws in the show’s filmmaking.
- Noah Reid’s Rapp is a woefully ill-fitting protagonist, one that is creepy and incompetent rather than a capable but flawed P.I.
- The series’ cinematography leaves much to be desired, especially during the steamy sex scenes.
- The script often stumbles, trying to deliver zingers and one-liners that fall flat.
Discover more from NAIRAVOICE.COM.NG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
