The Key to Fear

September 14, 2020
In this propulsive series starter, Cast (The Dysasters) imagines a corporation-controlled post-pandemic world in which human touch is highly regulated (“No touching today for a healthy tomorrow”). Fifty years after the deadly virus Cerberus claimed untold billions, 17-year-old Elodie Benavidez excels at her Key Corp-assigned nursing career and has been matched with—and affianced to—Rhett Owens, a young man with solid career prospects. But something is missing for Elodie, who prefers bathing in water instead of light, as is common, and spends her free time reading banned novels. When a young patient goes missing from her ward and she meets 17-year-old Aiden, a seemingly directionless young man with dirty boots that stand out in her strictly sanitized milieu, Elodie realizes that things are not as perfect as the Key Corp claims; she must decide whether the bubble in which she lives is enough. Though Cast aptly portrays a sense of unease among people living heavily governed lives, broad-strokes worldbuilding fails to result in deeply developed characters or a robust world. Ages 12–up. Agent: Steven Salpeter, Curtis Brown.