Beyond Season Premiere Review

Beyond — the new bingeable show from Freeform — will make your heart race faster than the speeding narrative itself.

The opening sequence introduces the main character, Holden Matthews, a geeky young kid from a small sleepy town and part of a loving family, who is obsessed with outer space as well as life’s bigger picture.

When Holden and his best friend go out to watch a meteor shower late at night, he is involved in a bike accident that puts him in a coma for 12 long years. At this point, we start to delve into familiar territory as the series begins to feel a lot like Stranger Things. However this feeling doesn’t last long considering just how quickly the episode moves into its next big scene (and for a first episode, there are a lot of big scenes – a strange woman, a crazy man in a yellow jacket, a very creepy friend with a gun).

Beyond quickly transforms into pure heart-pounding, fist-clenching television.

As soon as Holden wakes up in perfect condition, which is a complete phenomenon within itself, the narrative races off in the right direction, throwing puzzle pieces at the viewer left and right while stacking layers of mystery on top of one another.

Before long the viewer may start to notice that the many, many characters introduced within the first hour aren’t given any time to breathe and the viewer isn’t either. Beyond tosses you directly into the middle without any explanation of who, what, when, why or where creating a sense of ultimate urgency to keep watching.

The acting, storyline, visuals, and even the music has no trouble at all keeping up with the pace. Nothing about this series is sluggish or slow. In fact Beyond is more addicting right off the bat than any other series presented in the same format, which might land viewers stuck to a couch for the full first season.

Beyond is clearly made to cater to younger audiences with it’s binge-worthy, fast-paced, addictive format. The first episode will pull you in instantly and won’t stop until you are completely engrossed in every small detail the series throws at you.

Just a small glimpse into Holden’s possible powers almost brings down an entire hospital. We can only imagine what on earth happened to this kid while he was “asleep.”

This is Freeforms first attempt at non-episodic programming and although it might feel a bit rushed or hurried at first, the series is literally on fire as the mystery of what happened to Holden begins to unravel before the first episode comes to an explosive end.

With Beyond, there is no such thing as a cliffhanger, as you can watch the next episode right away, giving audiences that instant gratification that we have all become accustomed to.

The premiere episode debuts tonight, January 2, 2017 on Freeform at 9/8 c, while the rest of the first season will be available instantly on the Freeform app giving viewers the opportunity to binge the new sci-fi thriller.

Read the official premiere synopsis below and look out for a full season review on ComicBook.com!

Holden Matthews miraculously wakes up from a devastating coma to the wonderment of his parents Tom and Diane and younger brother Luke. But the world has changed since Holden went to sleep, and he now has to navigate being an adult when all he remembers is being a child. At the same time, Holden is experiencing abilities and memories he can’t explain, and a mysterious woman named Willa warns him not to trust those around him. When a sinister stranger attacks Holden and claims he knows about his new powers, Holden is faced with uncovering just what happened to him while he was in a coma.

“Beyond” is a one-hour drama about Holden, a young man who wakes up from a coma after 12 years and discovers new abilities that propel him into the middle of a dangerous conspiracy. Now Holden must try and figure out what happened to him during those 12 years; how to survive a world that changed while he was gone; and answer the question, why did this happen to him?

“Beyond” stars Burkely Duffield (“House of Anubis”) as Holden Matthews, Romy Rosemont (“Glee”) as Diane Matthews, Michael McGrady (“American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson”) as Tom Matthews, Jonathan Whitesell (“Once Upon a Time”) as Luke Matthews, Dilan Gwyn (“Da Vinci’s Demons”) as Willa and Jeff Pierre (“Shameless”) as Jeff McArdle.

From Imperative Entertainment and Automatik, “Beyond” is created, written and executive produced by Adam Nussdorf (“Once Upon a Time in Wonderland”). Tim Kring (“Heroes”), David Eick (“Battlestar Galactica”), Steven Adelson, Dan Friedkin, Justin Levy and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones serve as executive producers.

MORE ABOUT BEYOND: Beyond’s Bingeable Approach | Comparing Beyond to Heroes | Beyond Star Burkely Duffield | Exclusive look at key art | Beyond Writer Adam Nusdorf