My sister recommended The Booth at the End, which was the most unusual series I’d ever watched. What would you be willing to do to get what you wanted?
The Booth at the End
The Booth at the End is listed as a psychological thriller, and that is the most accurate description for this series created by Christopher Kubasik and starring Xander Berkeley. This is not a new series. It premiered in Canada in 2010. The first season was directed by Jessica Landaw, and the second by Adam Arkin. The story, although moving slowly to allow you to bond with the characters, is quite disturbing. I’ll explain the disturbing part during the review.
There are five episodes in season one and five in season two. The episodes are about thirty minutes each. The first episode introduces us to “The Man” (Xander Berkeley). Man spends his days sitting in the last booth at a diner. One by one, people enter the diner to request a wish from Man. We’re never sure of Man’s origins or his intentions, but he has a ledger book which he refers to before assigning a task. The first client is James (Matt Nolan). His young son has cancer. James is seeking a miracle. Man guarantees the miracle if James will murder another child.
The second client, Willem (Matt Boren), wants to meet the centrefold model in a magazine; his task is to protect the little girl that James was assigned to murder.
Another client, Mrs. Tyler (Norma Michaels), is assigned the task of building a bomb and killing a lot of people to cure her husband’s Alzheimer’s. All in all, there are ten clients that enter the diner to make a deal. A suspicious waitress, Doris (Jenni Blong), tries to learn what is taking place at the booth, but although Man keeps the deals a secret, Doris is able to get Man to talk about himself.
Some of a client’s wishes interact with the tasks assigned to the other wish seekers. For example, Allen (Jack Conley), a dirty cop, murders a man to find his missing son…but his son Richard (Jake Richardson) becomes involved with Jenny (Kate Maberly), who is told to rob a bank for a specific amount of money so that she can be beautiful.
Conclusion
The disturbing assignments handed out to each client are what hold us spellbound. Man sits quietly and listens as each client attempts to explain the evilness that they are willing to do to achieve their dream situation. We never see what is happening outside of the diner but learn about the progress of each assignment through conversations from the weekly meetings between Man and client. James is hellbound to save his son, even though it means killing a little girl. Willem, whose task is to protect the girl, becomes so obsessed with his chore that he eventually endangers the child’s life.
The elderly Mrs. Tyler flips back and forth in her decision to blow up the little café in her neighbourhood. All the while, I found myself guessing if Man was the devil or one of the Archangels sent to test humanity. The second season carries over one of the clients from season one, along with a few new cases, but the final conversation between Doris and Man left me curious. Who or what is she? Doris finally does make a request from Man, but will he be able to grant this wish?
You can watch The Booth at the End on Prime or Hulu. I highly recommend it. As I said, it moves slowly, not too much action, but that is fine. I felt as though the series was a study of human behaviour. It stayed on my mind for days. What would I have done to save one of my grandbabies? Would I be able to harm another child? Would you? Be careful with your wishes…they may come true.
