Resident Evil has had a tumultuous life as an adapted work. Sure, many people love Paul W.S. Anderson’s original Resident Evil movie and the series was popular enough to last for six entries…but, fun though they were, as an adaptation of the video game, it didn’t quite hit the mark. It stood on its own as a successful series, but even diehard supporters couldn’t exactly call it a faithful adaptation.

Last year, 47 Meters Down director Johannes Roberts attempted a back-to-basics approach that melded the first two films into one ungainly adaptation and while it had some standout moments, it felt muted because it was attempting way too much in 107 minutes. Which leads us to Netflix’s latest attempt to craft a series that bridges the gap between Roberts’ attempt to be faithful and Anderson’s attempt to be screwball. And while it seemed like Supernatural-writer Andrew Dabb’s would be another compromised attempt to tell the story, Resident Evil manage to do the unthinkable.

It somehow honors the original games while crafting its own future.

The series begins in 2036 with an adult Jade Wesker (Ella Balinska) exploring the remains of London where zombies, here nicknamed Zeroes, roam free. In an opening bit of narration, she explains that “Scientists said the world would end in 2036…but they were wrong. The world ended a long time ago.” The series quickly establishes the stakes, as she video chats with her partner Arjun (Ahad Raza Mir) and her daughter. She’s been in the field, studying the Zeroes for six months.

Her meticulous plans go awry when she accidentally cuts herself, her blood triggering a swarm of zombies followed by a mutated (and very large) caterpillar that knocks her unconscious before getting taken down by a group of fighters who came across the fighting. They take her to Brighton Freehold, a stronghold created in this post apocalyptic world to keep the zombies at bay. But they also discover she’s wanted by Umbrella and this triggers most of the future storyline, as Jade is on the run, trying to outpace the Umbrella operators, lead by Baxter (a very campy and fun performance by Turlough Convery).

The second storyline is set in 2022 in New Raccoon City, where we follow the Wesker family, Jade (Tamara Smart), her sister Billie (Siena Agudong) and their father, the legendary Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick). They’ve just arrived in New Raccoon City and find it a place of Edward Scissorhands conformity. Everything is white or muted in color and surveillance cameras are stationed everywhere, including inside the homes. Neither Jade nor Billie are happy to be her, but Albert has been transferred here to work on Umbrella’s latest product, Joy. Joy promises to eradicate depression, anxiety and a lot of mental health disorders, but it has one unfortunate design flaw in its chemical makeup: it’s based on the T-Virus.

This first season follows these two timelines, as future Jade attempts to escape Umbrella’s capture while teenager Jade and her sister Billie attempt to assimilate into their new situation. The threat of an outbreak lingers over the past storyline, as someone from Brighton Freehold hints that Jade was at the initial outbreak and survived. This structure creates two different feels for the storyline, with the future Jade stuck in a sometimes rather pedestrian post apocalyptic setting and the teenaged version dealing with an almost young adult genre story. The dialogue in New Raccoon City is witty and snappy, as Albert attempts to sell the kids on their new home, offering up the fact that they have five cupcake shops (two are vegan) and there’s kombucha on tap. But when he says the city was voted best place to live, Jade quips back, “By who? Lululemon whores?”

Resident Evil’s pacing is snappy, moving quickly between the two time periods and creating a very bingeable series. What’s most interesting about the series is the way in which it honors the video games that came before while also crafting a new storyline that could conceivably fit in the mythos. It has enough call backs to the games, both in the zombies and in surprise character introductions, that fans of the series will gasp or cheer at some of the reveals. It could be something small, like a certain chainsaw-wielding character or a screaming zombie. But it also references the events from 1998 and posits New Raccoon City as a different Umbrella; one that is, at least publicly, trying to redeem its tarnished heritage. And at the head of this new Umbrella?

Evelyn Marcus (Paola Nuñez), the daughter of a certain James Marcus.

It’s these little moments that really hit home showrunner Andrew Dabb’s attempt to honor the video game series while crafting his own story. What’s really surprising is that it does this much better than any of the other adaptations. The biggest negative to Resident Evil is the 2036 storyline, which hits one-too-many post apocalyptic storyline beats. Characters who hide infected people from their group, some 14 years into the apocalypse, for instance. Or an evil cult that uses the Zeroes as forms of labor. Fortresses amassed to keep out the horde. Runners who will transport people through dangerous areas for a price. It’s all pretty standard fare, albeit with appropriate Resident Evil flair.

The future storyline isn’t terrible and it has a few absolutely standout moments, such as an encounter with a pack of Lickers that makes them scary and uses the monster better than any of the adaptations. This particular encounter looks expensive and replicates the horrific look and violence of the fan favorite creatures. And Baxter, who begins the season as a traditional villain gets to add layers of camp to his performance, including a particularly inspired fight sequence. As the season progresses and more of the Resident Evil legacy gets injected, it becomes more intriguing as it steps a bit away from the more cliched stories we’ve see over and over.

But the heart of the show is set in 2022, with the young version of Jade and her sister Billie. Their relationship also hits on similar young adult tropes, but the actors ground the characters in believability, even in a fanciful story of mutated dogs, T-Viruses and clones. One of the bigger acting surprises is Lance Reddick’s portrayal of Wesker. Without spoiling anything, he actually gets to be playful and goofy for once. What starts as the typical Reddick character morphs into something more entertaining, fun, and, yes slightly campy; a surprise for the actor who’s known for playing stone-faced characters.

I have to be honest. I didn’t expect much from this series. There’s a good reason the video game series remains a fan favorite, but that mix of camp, horror and sci-fi never quite congealed as a movie adaptation. But the way in which this Netflix series crafts a story set in the video game timeline while simultaneously forging its own future won me over. It’s not completely beholden to the games, but manages to incorporate them into its own timeline, while serving up enough series-specific mysteries that it doesn’t feel alienating to new viewers. It’s actually quite remarkable how well this adaptation works and a few cryptic clues in the finale suggests some fantastic developments in a (hopeful) second season. Don’t miss this one.

Available July 14th, 2022 on Netflix.