Made by BBC America, INTRUDERS is a supernatural thriller centering on a secret society Qui Reverti, which has advocated that immortality can be achieved by possessing another person's life. They believe that each member of the society has two souls; prior to the death one of the members, the soul is activated and invades someone else.
The narrative is a familiar one involving the basic quest involving Richard Shepherd (James Frain) and Jack Whalen (John Simm) to discover what has happened to the people around them. The story also involves a ten-year-old girl Madison O'Donnell (Millie Bobby Brown) who appears to have two discrete sides to her nature - one childish, the other distinctly adult.
Shot in deliberately faded colors by Philip Linzey, INTRUDERS creates a dystopian world stretching across several American cities - Seattle, Reno being two of them - drawing our attention to the extent of the intruders' power. The scenario is strongly reminiscent of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956): apparently "normal" human beings turn out to be very different once their souls have been possessed by another person. The implication is clear - individuals must remain vigilant so as to protect themselves against possible corruption. Whether they can accomplish that task is another issue entirely.
In the mid-Fifties, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was a thriller produced by the Cold War situation: many Americans feared that their nation would be "corrupted" by communism - hence the emphasis on Red-baiting that persisted from late in the previous decade to the early Sixties. INTRUDERS takes the same scenario and updates it, warning viewers about the possible "menace" of foreign inspired terrorism, that might encourage hitherto well-educated young Americans to veer from the path of democracy and pursue more drastic, if not violent, methods of achieving their aims. Once again we are exhorted to beware of "the enemy within" - by trying to protect ourselves, as well as rooting out those whom we believe have already been corrupted.
INTRUDERS is a fascinating, if structurally complicated piece; its plot-development is slow, forcing viewers to identify the links between its various strands by watching each episode. The links are allusive rather than overtly emphasized; it is up to us to make the connections. Hence the structure reinforces the theme; it is only by paying close attention to the story that we can acquire the vigilance that will prevent us from being invaded by the intruders.
