The series is basically a self-contained slasher mystery with a finite number of people on a remote island where someone killed a bunch of people seven years ago. That killer supposedly died, but someone seems to be taking up the mantle. Now these victims-in-waiting, all of whom have come to Harper's Island for a fancy wedding, are set to be picked off one by one by the mystery killer. In many ways the show could just as easily be called Cliché Island: everyone has a BIG!SECRET! they're keeping from everyone else, there's a creepy little girl who might be psychic, a secretly beautiful tomboy whose mother was one of the victims of the original killer who now will use her determine and pluck to figure out what's going on, and of course everyone in attendance is attractive to the point of hotness (whereas real weddings are positively filled with unattractive relatives, I mean come on). But I did like how they turned some of the character clichés on their heads, specifically the douchebag with the hot girlfriend cliché, where said douchebag turns out to be a pretty charming if somewhat insecure guy and his girlfriend is revealed to be the true douche.
There's also an over the top, giallo-like level to the violence that I enjoy, and the death that ends the first episode truly surprised me, as I thought for sure that character would be sticking around much longer. The show is completely ridiculous, basically a soap opera with a murder-of-the-week, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Harper's Island gets three-and-a-half Harry Hamlins out of five.
