While it does great justice to William Golding's source material from 1954, Netflix's Lord of the Flies show does a few things different. In particular, it expands on the backstories of its four titular characters: Piggy, Jack, Simon, and Ralph. Leading the finale as its titular character, Ralph opens things up by approaching Piggy on the beach, where the two discuss the death of their misunderstood friend, Simon.
After a brief exchange, Ralph fetches some firewood as a transition to a flashback, where he's hunting a deer with his father. He takes a spill while chasing his prey, and the scene transitions to Ralph's childhood home. His mother cleans his wounds while listening to his hunting tales, and we get a conversation between Ralph and his father that shines great light on the protagonist's inner journey.
A world-famous tale, Lord of the Flies, has been adapted several times to film, even more times on the stage, once on radio, and once with a graphic novel. Perhaps the most engaging of all the adaptations is this series by Jack Thorne, who conducts the infamous crescendo with optics that are meant to disorient the viewer.
Kicking off the episode in terms of plot progression, Jack and the hunters raid the other camp to steal Piggy's glasses, using them to start a fire and never giving them back. Even when Ralph gets involved to confront Jack and the hunters, their goal of retrieving the spectacles becomes quite the uphill battle.
Now a figure of authority in Jack's camp of savages is a kid who's known as Roger, one of the book's main characters. He's played in the show by Thomas Connor, who channels a certain on-screen aggression that truly sells the savagery overtaking Jack and his crew. As the secondary antagonist, Roger watches his mates lash out violently at Ralph and the twins, while Piggy fetches the conch in an attempt to voice an opinion.
All the while, a score that was once comprised of choral sounds is now far more tribal, and as the peak act of savagery, Roger commits a heinous act that has echoed in the annals of literature through William Golding's prose, throwing a rock at the back of Piggy's head in an act that leads to death.
Doing his best to save his friend, Ralph picks up Piggy and leads him back to their camp, hiding from the hunters as they come to finish the job. He fetches Piggy water and tries to keep him calm, but the eventuality hits as the episode's heartbreaking midpoint.
Flashbacks were commonplace all throughout this thoughtful Lord of the Flies adaptation, with one more showing that Ralph isn't a stranger to death. He'd recently lost his mother. Now, his two closest friends on the island have recently been murdered, Ralph's rage comes to a head, and he goes to confront his adversary.
He's totally outnumbered and is quickly forced to hide. His enemies attempt to flush him out by lighting the forest ablaze, and while this technically works for a moment, this smoke was enough to signal a nearby boat.
It's a warship, and an officer of the navy comes to the rescue. He's quick to berate Ralph's leadership upon learning that children have died, and before any corrections can be made in the telling of what went down, the officer leads the kids onto a nearby lifeboat. Last to join the group to salvation is none other than Jack, whose story was defined by an ongoing lust for power. His time as a leader is done, and he leaves the island reluctant.
Hitting every emotional nail directly on their head, Thorne's adaptation does tremendous justice to a literary classic. It will likely be remembered among the year's finest shows, and that's in part by virtue of this well-executed finale.
Add us as a preferred source on Google