When the Streetlights Go On

Another one of Quibi's short form series, When the Streetlights Go On gives the audience a possibility of being something great but isn't suited to the format we're given.

A small town is rocked by the murder of girl next door Becky Monroe (Kristine Froseth) and as one student (Chosen Jacobs) tries to piece together what happened, the tragedy ripples through Becky's family and friends.

It's a dark start to the show and from there the story does get interesting as we begin to explore the murder and Becky's sister, who begins to spiral. Unfortunately the series veers off course after just a few episodes into pure teen drama territory instead of really getting into the thriller and mystery that we were promised.

As others have stated, the climax to the crime story is brushed off in a 60 second monologue, which I could forgive if it wasn't so ridiculous and ill thought out.

This show definitely has a super strong start. Its a coming to age story set in a fictional 'retro-modern' 90s. Retro modern meaning its a specific time, but has the modern values of today.

The story sort of follows 2 characters, and how their lives are basically changes by a traumatic event that happens that affects the how town.

This show does a lot of setup in the very beginning, and begins to feel somewhat like a drama mixed with a mystery, but by the last 2~3 episodes, it sort of ends with this 'And life happens' vibe. It does not give any satisfying payoffs to everything the story setup. It feels like it semi lost what it was trying to accomplish early on.

The actors are great, the quasi-story is interesting, the world building is also pretty interesting. Its not so much the 90s I remember, as I mentioned, it has a lot of the modern day values (and tech in some places) but its a world that doesn't feel too far fetched, but it all goes no where.

I wonder if the Quibi format hurt this show, or if they ran out of money/steam. Watch it because it starts out good, but dont expect it to keep that same momentum throughout.

I was expecting at least two more episodes to finish the narrative as elegantly as it started. Instead, it was too tidy and makes me look back at wasted space in the story that should have been better used on fleshing out the story.

I see a lot of reviews complaining about the ending being too abrupt, but I feel it's absolutely aligned with the whole story because you see - that's life. Not everything in life has an explanation, not every single sad episode has a saving and you certainly will not find all the answers you are looking for. That's what this great quibi flick is about, their teen lives during that summer and how it impacted what their future would be. I loved it, and if you like a bit of poetry, even if not all ends well and explained, you will love it too.

I would have given this 10 stars because it could of been so much more!!! What happened to the writer/director of this film? Very disappointed because it was such a great story line.