TV Review: “Wedding Season” (Hulu)

Wedding Season is the thriller television needs. A brilliant chess game of twists and turns audiences will be left guessing until the last moment.

Stefan (Gavin Drea) has met the girl of his dreams Katie (Rosa Salazar). One problem, she is engaged, and doesn’t want to end her impending marriage. Despite their relationship, and an attempt to stop the wedding, Katie gets married, and Stefan must lick his emotional, and physical wounds at home.

When the police crash through his front door and arrest him, Stefan is at a loss. He is shocked to learn that Katie’s fiancé Hugo and his entire family are killed at the wedding, and Katie is wanted for questioning. Even worse, the police believe Stefan is an accomplice and they want his help in finding Katie.

A crashed car at the entrance of the police station forces an evacuation and as Stefan is trying to make sense of what is happening, Katie grabs him from a stairwell and the two flee the scene looking for answers.

The mystery of what happens at Katie’s wedding is what drives the plot, but the chemistry between Gavin Drea and Rosa Salazar is what will keep audiences glued to the screen as the story unfolds. Salazar has the toughest job in the show as she tries to convey multiple levels to Katie, which ensures that Stefan keeps coming back hoping for more, and the audience willing to root for Katie, even though we the audience have serious doubts about Katie’s intentions.

Wedding Season is a crisp narrative that constantly propels the story with lightning quick resolve, and viewers will spend much of the time with their mouths agape as they watch the action-packed storyline explode on the screen.

Salazar and Drea are a perfect match. They convey their characters’ roots well, and at the same time they infuse Stefan and Katie with enough room for growth that it would be easy to see how Stefan could fall in love with Katie.

Katie is a difficult character to bring to life. She must be mysterious, affectionate, and distant. Salazar is so unbelievably talented that she makes Katie come alive that it is difficult to not root for her success. Salazar’s brilliance on screen allows the viewer to adjust their expectations, and thus cheer her on as she and Stefan search for answers.

Backing up the two leads is a clever and witty supporting cast including Jamie Michie and Jade Harrison as the cops Donahue and Metts. Taking the police role and elevating it beyond the standard tropes, Michie and Harrison are standouts. They play the typical cop roles of chasing the fugitives, but they are given just enough screen time to make their cops interesting and unique.

The focus is on Katie and Stefan, but when Metts and Donahue are on screen, the audience will love them. They are more than the one-dimensional characters we usually see in this type of show, and because of their dogged pursuit of Katie and Stefan, the audience, like Metts and Donahue, take an interest in Katie and Stefan’s story.

Wedding Season is an unbelievable thrill. The fast paced storyline will have the audience on the edge of their seat, wondering if Katie murdered her in-laws, or if she was set up.

There is nothing on television quite like Wedding Season.

Bill Gowsell
Bill Gowsell has loved all things Disney since his first family trip to Walt Disney World in 1984. Since he began writing for Laughing Place in 2014, Bill has specialized in covering the Rick Riordan literary universe, a retrospective of the Touchstone Pictures movie library, and a variety of other Disney related topics. When he is not spending time with his family, Bill can be found at the bottom of a lake . . . scuba diving