Saint X is a mystery drama based on a best-selling crime novel by Alexis Schaitkin. Adapted for television by Emmy winner Leila Gerstein, the eight-episode miniseries follows the story of an unsolved murder across several timelines spanning a few decades.
Where can you watch Saint X in the UAE?
A Small Light is streaming on Disney Plus in the UAE. There is no free trial currently available for Disney Plus in the UAE, and you’ll have to sign up for it to watch it.
Subscribe to Disney Plus and get access to shows like The Mandalorian and Loki as well as blockbusters like Frozen, Avengers: Endgame and the entire Star Wars line-up.
Saint X review
- Intriguing mystery
- Great writing
- Believable characters
- Strong performances
- Can be confusing
- Hard to follow
What is the series Saint X about?
Saint X is a mystery drama based on a best-selling crime novel by Alexis Schaitkin. Adapted for television by Emmy winner Leila Gerstein, the eight-episode miniseries follows the story of an unsolved murder across several timelines spanning a few decades.
Alycia Debnam-Carey (known for The 100) stars as Emily, a troubled young woman whose sister was brutally raped and murdered during a family vacation on an idyllic Caribbean island two decades prior. After running into one of the men suspected but never charged with the murder, she becomes obsessed with him. She follows him around, hoping to find out what happened on that fateful night.
The series gradually tells its story in a nonlinear fashion across several timelines. In 2003, college freshman Alison (West Duchovny) arrives for a week-long vacation with her parents, Bill (Michael Park) and Mia (played by Betsy Brandt), and her shy little sister. On the outside, Alison is the perfect daughter and the perfect older sibling, but as the series progresses, it’s clear there’s some darkness lurking beneath her angelic facade.
At the resort, the family interacts with two of the servers, the charming Edwin (Jayden Elijah) and his more reserved best friend, Clive “Gogo” Richardson (Josh Bonzie). The two childhood friends are the last people Allison was seen with on the night she died. Despite the parents’ best efforts, the Carribean police chose not to charge them. And in the two decades since her murder, the case has been constantly talked about in the media and on the internet by true crime enthusiasts. Meanwhile, Emily spent her life desperate for answers.
A character-driven narrative
Saint X is the type of series made for binging. From the first few scenes, the show tricks the viewer into thinking they already know the story, similar to how many true crime sleuths present their theories as the ultimate truth. But there’s more to the story, and the show does a great job at slowly revealing who these people are at their very core.
The two resort staff members were never charged with murder, but everyone around them believes them guilty. We get to watch their story slowly unfold from the start of their friendship up until that fateful night when one pretty white girl’s untimely demise turned them into community pariahs.
In a way, Allison is the protagonist. Not just a dead girl other characters talk about- we get to meet her and partially understand her. Far from the perfect victim, she’s a flawed young woman with ideals, opinions, and insecurities. She’s also reckless and irritating in the way most teenagers can be.
And then there’s Emily, a woman who grew up in the shadow of her dead sister. Her actions may be questionable, but her intentions always make sense. It’s hard not to be sucked into her desperation to find out the truth. The show features an intriguing overarching mystery of “What really happened to Alison,” but also does an in-depth character study of all these people whose lives were altered by the tragedy.
On the downside, Saint X can be confusing at times, especially when the different timelines start merging into one another. It doesn’t help that Emily was going by a different name as a child.
This miniseries is, however, well worth a stream. It offers a relatively realistic portrayal of what would happen when a young woman gets murdered while staying at a luxurious resort. There are plenty of drama, mystery, and touching moments included. But more importantly, the characters are written realistically. It feels like watching how actual people would act in those situations.
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