Secrets of Sulphur Springs

 

Secrets of Sulphur Springs is a show that we watched as a family after dinner because my husband and I need a little down time at the end of the day, and we needed something that would be kid-friendly. Our after dinner shows are usually a little more grown up than what our kids choose to watch on their own, and their interest in these family shows vary. Secrets of Sulphur Springs is probably more for my husband and I than for our kids.

Secrets of Sulphur Springs is about a family that move back to the dad's childhood home, Sulphur Springs, in order to buy the abandoned hotel and fix it up. The reason the hotel was abandoned is a young girl named Savannah disappeared one summer at a camp run by the hotel. Rumors of her ghost haunting the establishment have proliferated in the town ever since. The oldest son, Griffin, soon discovers a bunker in the basement of the hotel with an odd device that turns out to be a kind of time machine. He of course messes with it and goes back in time to meet Savannah before she disappears, along with a much younger version of his dad.

It's been a while since I watched Season 1, and so many things happen in each season, but here's what I mostly remember. Griffin also meets a girl his age (in his time) named Harper, and Harper's mom does not like her going over to the hotel constantly. I don't remember if this is because she dislikes talk of ghosts, if she's afraid of the supposed curse of the hotel, or if there's something else, but over and over again she forbids Harper from going to the hotel. Griffin's mom, meanwhile, also feels that he shouldn't be hanging out with Harper, and I think it's because when the two of them are together they do things she doesn't like, such as going down to the basement, disappearing for long periods of time, and discussing ghosts, which scares the twins, Zoey and Wyatt, Griffin's younger siblings. Anyway, both moms mutually agree Griffin should stay away from Harper, the one friend he has made since moving to their new home. They are never able to enforce this rule.

Wyatt and Zoey are constantly ghost hunting in the show, and this bothers the adults so much they ban the word, "ghost," which is a problem when you have a literal ghost in your home.

Meanwhile, Griffin and Harper keep going through the bunker time portal to try to save Savannah by gathering clues about what is about to happen to her. Creepy stuff keeps happening in the hotel, making them believe Savannah is trying to speak to them from beyond the grave, but the creepy stuff is also ruining the repairs Griffin's parents are trying to make to the hotel so they can reopen the place. 

In later seasons, as the kids continually go back in time for other purposes, I often wanted to scream at the kids to just tell their parents about the time portal. Things would be so much easier if they just explained, "We disappear for hours because we go back in time in order to save Savannah. Would you like to come with us and help because we are obviously way out of our league here?" Seriously, their parents are freaking out at weird things happening in the house and then further freaking out because their kids keep disobeying and going into the forbidden basement. If they knew what was actually going on they might be a real asset instead of a hindrance.

The other major failing of this show is that all three seasons take place one right after another, but filming each season takes several months if not a year and these kids are growing fast. I think the twins are supposed to be ten or younger, but by the third season Wyatt is really hitting his stride and starting to look like a young man. In Stranger Things, where each season takes place several months or years apart, you can believe that the kids have grown a little and that's why they look so different. When a season picks up where the last one left off and suddenly Griffin is growing facial hair, it feels like you stepped through some kind of time portal yourself.

These pictures supposedly take place within a few months of each other. Puberty hits fast in Sulphur Springs

But for a kid's show, this one has some nice plotlines and twists and turns. I struggled a little to remember season 1 because seasons 2 and 3 introduce so many other secrets and revelations. I didn't want to spoil anything so I had to be a little more vague with this review, because there are a LOT of potential spoilers. As I said above, this was more for my husband and I than it was for our kid. In fact sometimes it got a little scary and we had to cuddle our kid to help them through. The ghost in the hotel isn't always friendly.

Ratings:

Kid entertainment: 2.5/5 stars

I'm not sure whether my kid actually enjoys this show. Most of the time they watch for a few minutes and then end up playing on the floor with their toys while my husband and I watch. But I seem to remember at least a few times my kid commented on things happening so I think they were at least sort of engaged? This might be better for older kids.

My entertainment: 4/5 stars

The main reason we watched this was to have something family friendly we could watch and relax with while our kid was in the room, and in the end we accomplished our goal. Our kid may not care for it, but we certainly do. I mean, it's not on the same level as Brooklyn 99 or The Mandalorian, but we like it. Maybe I'm making it out to be better than it is because when it comes to finding a show we can watch with our kid that we actually enjoy, anything with a good plot is like rain in a drought. 

Content: 3/5 stars

I guess there's a little bit in there about friendship and helping others, and I suppose you could argue going back in time teaches a little about how things were in the past (there is some discussion about race when Harper, a black girl, goes back in time), but this show is primarily meant to entertain, not educate. And that's fine. There's nothing really bad, so I don't feel bad about my kid watching it. Although it can get a little scary with the ghost stuff, so I also wouldn't have her watch it alone... not that she would want to.