The new ''Lord of the Flies'' is brilliant

Told in four episodes, the new adaptation of Lord of the Flies has a very artsy kind of feel with plenty of character moments interspersed throughout without rushing through the plot. I wasn't especially optimistic going in, but instead of a nihilistic take on human nature the series adds so much more to the characters. It is more concerned with showing how things might go wrong rather than saying that they must. Going in, I was especially concerned with "Piggy." The publicity photos make him look like the fugly kid version of Timothy Spall. But David McKenna injects his character with a lively wit and intellect that is infectious. He speaks with an authority that is at once believably earnest but understandably awkward considering his place in the totem pole of British school boyhood. And gratefully the series gives him the proper name of "Nicholas," which becomes a bit of a plot point later on. Winston Sawyers is a perfect fit for Ralph. He provides a sympathetic charisma to Ralph both early on in Ralph's well-meaning and naïve attempt at leadership as well as later with his exasperated desperation as he struggles to carry on as things fall apart. As for Simon, I suppose I expected someone a little more fetching than Ike Talbot. Knowing Simon's fate going in, you might expect a more innocently beautiful-looking boy, but boys come in all shapes and sizes and I'll take interesting over looks any day. Moreover, the added backstory between Simon and Jack becomes the hinge upon which the whole story turns. You see, Jack (played by Lox Pratt who has been cast as the new Draco Malfoy), is not a power-hungry villain at all, but simply a boy who is trying to survive by staying in the good graces of the mob. Every step of the way he is guided by a desire for popularity rather than for savagery. Instead of capitalizing upon rumors of "the Beast," he is the one who most readily dismisses the notion as childish. And when he realizes that they've mistaken Simon for the Beast, he speechlessly backs away in horror at what's been done. To the very end, the audience is shown how reluctant Jack is to confront Ralph, egged on only by the wild bunch he has precariously positioned himself atop of. He is truly as afraid of them as anyone else is. The series totally redeems Jack as the boy within the savage rather than the savage within the boy, though certainly not to absolve him for his actions. But more about Simon. At school, both he and Jack would be left over during the summer break. Left alone they struck up a joyous friendship that would dissipate as soon as the other boys returned to school. Simon is Jack's weak spot; he knows who Jack really is, both warm and cold. When the hunters discover Simon's diary in some recovered luggage from the plane, Jack commands them not to read it because he knows the diary may reveal Jack's softer side, a side that he dare not let the group see (if you freeze the screen, you can read a page from Simon's diary about his home life with his scotch-swigging father). The series clearly wants us to infer that Simon's unrequited feelings for Jack are of a romantic character; the scene in which Simon helps Jack with his face paint is far too intimate to say otherwise. And for all the times the other boys say that Simon is "batty," one could just as easily anticipate them saying "he's a bit queer," but that would be too on-the-nose. But perhaps the main thing I was worried about going in were the death scenes. On both counts, the series handled them with a softer touch that does not subtract from their savagery. As a kid seeing the 1990 version, Simon's death made me sick to my stomach, but here the horror is mediated through the attention to Jack. The simple fact that Jack feels what the audience feels in that moment makes it that much more bearable. And the death of Piggy/Nickie is muted by his tender last moments with Ralph. In the end, Ralph holds it all together when he tells the sailor of his dead friends, something that a rescue cannot ever wash away.