Animation
Secret Level
Prime Video’s ‘Secret Level’ gives a Black Mirror-esque spin to some popular video games with some “rated M for Mature” content.
Peregrine Island is a paradise. Here, teens can come to camp, meet new people and “make memories that will stay with you forever.” It feels magical…
But seriously, it’s actually magical.
When Mia arrives on the island, she’s determined to be the queen bee of summer. And she sets herself up well, choosing her friends wisely, claiming the bunk bed with the best view and showing a general disdain to anyone who doesn’t measure up to her high standards.
She’s the worst example of what a high school mean girl is, and she should’ve been unstoppable.
But that’s where the magical part of Peregrine Island takes over.
When Amber arrives (a few hours late since she “missed the ferry”), her influence over the other campers is uncanny. Mia can’t explain it, but soon Amber has a telepathic control over all of Mia’s friends.
If Mia can’t uncover the secrets of Peregrine Island soon, she’ll lose more than her coveted spot as queen bee: She’ll lose her life.
If you took a tropey teen summer camp romance and mixed it with the mystery and science fiction of say, oh, Stranger Things, for example—then you’d have The A List.
We learn pretty quickly that this isn’t anyone’s first time on the island. They were all there a year ago, but Amber wiped their minds after their fellow camper, Midge, died.
How Midge died, where Amber gets her powers from and why they all made their way back to Peregrine Island again is part of the mystery, so I won’t spoil that here. But I will lay out the content concerns.
Unlike Stranger Things, there’s no language or sex happening on screen. There are a few romances (including some same-sex pairings), but we never see more than a few makeout sessions. And one character is described as gender-queer in other media.
Regarding Amber’s powers—they involve strange crystals, dream prisons, mind control, body possessions and bringing people back from the dead. So call it magic or science or whatever you’d like—it’s dark. And nothing good can come from it or from this show.
Mia and her friends attempt to overthrow Midge and the power that controls her and Amber.
We see the corpses of several people who have seemingly been killed. Amber uses her powers to raise some of these people from the dead. A girl is thrown into a dream-world prison, making her appear as though she is dead in the real world. Someone states their desire to inhabit another’s body. Midge uses her powers (and her eyes glow purple) to kill many people. We learn that a glowing crystal is the source of the island’s power. Amber, who has been a figment of Midge’s imagination, is brought to life for real.
Midge realizes that she has been dead for a long time and that it’s the power of the island keeping her alive and manipulating her to kill others. She chooses to move on, bringing the people she killed back to life. We later see her ghost, which disappears.
Several teenage couples kiss (including two girls).
Mia and the others arrive on Peregrine Island. When Amber arrives, she and Mia compete to be the most popular girl.
Amber jumps off a cliff to scare Mia into thinking she killed herself (though we see Amber seconds later, completely unharmed). She also purposely falls during a competition but makes it look as though Mia pushed her. She manipulates a girl into chopping off her hair and convinces everyone that Mia is crazy (all of this seemingly through mind control).
Mia sees a strange silhouette up on a hill that disappears moments later. Amber doesn’t sleep but sits on her bed staring out a window all night. Several people wearing bird masks chase someone through the woods.
We see a girl in a thin camisole top and a few exposed midriffs. Mia is rude to several people. She and Amber get into several tiffs.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
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