Netflix’s ‘Something Very Bad is Going to Happen‘ is a horror series that follows the story of the bride-to-be, Rachel, who suffers from a sense of impending doom as she approaches her wedding day. She and her fiancé, Nicky, drive to his parents’ cabin, where their wedding is to take place in a few days. While this should be a matter of great happiness for both parties, things unravel rather quickly, making them question a lot of things, including their relationship. Created by Haley Z. Boston, the eight-episode season weaves an evocative tale as Rachel unearths family secrets that shake the very ground she stands upon. Despite the supernatural elements, the story strikes a chord, particularly when it comes to relationships. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Something Very Bad is Going to Happen’s Fictional Premise is Infused with Realistic Elements
‘Something Very Bad is Going to Happen’ is a fictional story written by Haley Z. Boston. The idea for the tale took hold in my mind while considering the great relationship her parents have enjoyed over the decades. Their marriage is something that the writer looked up to, so when they told her not to marry the wrong person, she started to wonder what it would be like if someone did marry the person whom they did not consider their soulmate. While attending weddings, she would hear people talk about never having a doubt about the person they were going to marry, which made her wonder if such a level of clarity was really possible. She wondered what it would be like to know for sure that a person was marrying their soulmate, and more importantly, how they would know it.
As she started to ponder the consequences of marrying the wrong person, another idea popped into her mind. Boston revealed that she has a condition where she produces too much blood, and she has been advised by doctors to donate blood every six months. Thinking along these lines, she imagined a situation where the excess blood would come pouring out of her. While thinking about the story, she decided that this would be the price of not marrying your soulmate: the person would bleed to death at the altar. This further expanded into the idea of what if everyone at the wedding, who is not married to their soulmate, also bleeds to their death, which eventually led to the birth of the curse.
As the scope of the curse expanded, taking over the story from its third episode, Boston leaned into the idea of making Rachel haunted, to have the threats come from within rather than from the outside. In many ways, the curse was the writer’s idea of sowing doubt in the mind of a person about to marry someone they thought was perfect for them. For infusing the tension and the increased sense of dread throughout the show, Boston looked towards mystery and horror films like ‘The Celebration,’ ‘The Vanishing,’ and ‘The Silence of the Lambs.’ At the end of the day, the idea was to have the audience so horrified by the events in the show that they start to wonder whether they would survive the curse or not.
Rachel’s Fictional Journey Remains Rooted in Realism
When crafting the character of Rachel, Haley Z. Boston emphasised the part about the person being haunted and knowing they are so, even if no one else believes them. For her, it was more important to lay down a concrete path for Rachel’s emotional journey as she digs up her family’s past and realises that all the things that she used to be worried about were not just in her head. This thirst for certainty becomes an important factor for her paranoia, which pushes her to search for other secrets, even if they don’t turn out to be what she expected.
Rachel’s character development, which eventually allows her to take a leap of faith, is integral to the plot, especially in the last episode of the season. Boston was insistent on keeping Rachel’s mental and emotional integrity intact, no matter what fate befell her due to her choices. Even though the show moves in the territory of the preternatural, the writer wanted to keep the character rooted in reality, so that nothing supernatural influences her decision in the end. The audience had to be able to see themselves in her and root for her, and for that, she needed to be grounded in realism.
Read More: Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen Ending Explained: Does Rachel Die?
