I say this is a season review of Julie and the Phantoms in the hopes that Netflix decides to pick this unexpected gem of a show up for second season run! When I say unexpected, I mean unexpected. In fact, despite its very high Rotten Tomatoes score, the fact that it was created by the mind behind High School Musical, Kenny Ortega, I had serious doubts. This may come as a surprise, but I like being proven wrong sometimes – especially when it comes to film and television!
Julie and the Phantoms starts off with a high school rock band getting ready to play the biggest and probably most life-changing gig of their life before three of them eat some pretty funky hot dogs. And by pretty funky, I mean that they were so funky that they died – yikes! Fast forward 25 years and we meet, Julie, a girl who has a pretty good life, but can’t get herself to perform music ever since her mother passed away. Cue, the boys meeting Julie! She’s plays their old Sunset Curve record and suddenly they poof into her life. While at first rattled, she handles their existence fairly well. The only issue she has is not looking like a lunatic who’s talking to herself while she’s talking to them.
After some bonding, the group starts playing music when the band becomes visible to an audience! Turns out this is the only time they are visible to other people. Eventually, Julie lets her best friend, Flynn, in on the secret, and she helps the band try and book gigs. One of the ghosts, Alex, ventures out to clear his head when he runs into fellow ghost, Willie, who takes the boys to a club exclusively for ghosts and the rich who want and endless afterlife. The club is run by a sinister man named Caleb who can make himself visible to “lifers” anytime he wants. The boys want to learn this skill so they can confront their old bandmate, Bobby, who essentially ripped off all of Luke’s songs as his own! In return for this favor, Caleb wants them to be his club band forever, but they decline stating their loyalty to Julie. Since Caleb doesn’t like that these ghosts can interact with lifers he places a little death curse on them.
As time goes on, the curse causes the boys immense pain which confuses everyone until Willie lets the guys know that they have to return to the club forever or the curse will eventually kill them. Their only other option is if they figure out what their unfinished business is. Luke wises up and thinks they have to play the gig they never got the chance to back in the day. They keep this secret from Julie until the last possible second, but she ultimately wants what they want which is to cross over after completing their unfinished business. Turns out the gig wasn’t the end, and that Julie’s mom did in fact know the band back in the day. It seems they were sent into Julie’s life to help her fulfill her dreams (I’m pretty sure???). Either way, the season ends with Caleb pulling a pretty shady move and a little bit of a cliffhanger.
The main focus of the show, of course, was on Julie and her phantoms, which included Luke, Reggie, and Alex. Julie has a powerhouse voice, while the guys are all pretty talented themselves! I also liked their personalities, with Luke being intense, Reggie a little clueless, and Alex a bit sassy. Other key characters in the show are Flynn, her father, mean girl, Carrie, and the boy Julie has a crush on for most of the show, Nick. I would say these characters definitely had smaller roles, but I would bet they’ll play larger ones if this show gets picked up for another season. With all of the positive reviews and crazy fan reactions I’ve seen, I can’t imagine this won’t see a future. I personally found this show really enjoyable, so I hope so! Family friendly for the most part, some catchy songs (and some cringy ones, c’mon), and just a fun storyline makes this a must watch.