Glenn Weldon

Ralph's leadership is challenged by Jack, a sneering, brutal figure who rules his own tribe through fear.

And there's Simon, a sensitive kid who's torn between the two leaders with tragic repercussions.

Writer and creator Jack Thorne fleshes out Golding's story with some flashbacks to the boys' lives before the island in a bid to provide some extra layers of characterization.

But don't get it twisted.

This four-episode series is otherwise faithful to the book's story and its tone and its incredibly bleak message.

Lord of the Flies is streaming on Netflix.

Netta, I'm going to hand you the conch.

What'd you think?

Okay, interesting.

What about you, Walter?

Well, you know, I wrestled with the same kind of frictionlessness

of this.

And I couldn't tell if it was because of, as you so eloquently stated, Glenn, the world, that maybe this has kind of fled its sell-by day in a way.

And so I went back and I revisited, not the book, I should have read the book again, but I did watch the Peter Brook

And it is so economical and short, like the book is.

The escalation seems to be terrible, genuinely awful, in a way that, again, I thought this new Lord of the Flies, it was not only protracted, but it was fantastic.

self-consciously beautiful, even more than not disgusting and vile.

It actually is so enhanced to make it look lush and gorgeous, and the reds are hellish, and the greens are verdant.

It's like the whole thing is that tiger scene from Apocalypse Now, but for no reason, just to be beautiful.

And the score, similarly, is saccharine and expository, and in every sort of crevice in this...