The eighth story in the series goes 'Back to the Future' with disappointing results.
This week saw the release of a new Harry Potter book with
midnight parties, fans dressed in costume and pre-orders that already
have made it the bestselling book. It all feels so 2007.
But it's 2016 and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is not
your ordinary Potter book. For starters, this isn’t a book but the
script of the two-part play that opened in London on July 30 (hours
before the book went on sale). Second, this one takes place nineteen
years later (opening with an extended version of the epilogue from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
on platform 9 3/4). And third, and most important, this one isn’t
written by J.K. Rowling herself, making it the first one not written by
the original creator. She helped come up with the basic story along with
Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, but credit for the play script goes to
Thorne alone (Tiffany directs).
That the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child evokes
so much nostalgia is perfect for a story that depends so heavily on
nostalgia, the past and familiarity with the original seven books. A
better title might have been Harry Potter and the Back to the Future (or for those that get the reference Harry Potter and the Felicity Season 4B) for a story that uses time travel to explore what ifs and alternate futures.
The best parts of The Cursed Child are the beginning and the
epilogue. The story focuses on Albus Severus Potter’s arrival at
Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat (as Albus feared he’s a Slytherin) and seeing
friendships and alliances reconfigure in a new generation. Particularly
interesting is the friendship that develops between Albus and Scorpius
Malfoy, each so unlike their fathers, and the character of Rose
Granger-Weasley, also so unlike her parents. (For starters, she’s an
epically good quidditch player.) It is the most Rowling-esque part of
the story and frankly the most fun.
Seeing how the children of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Draco are
both like their parents and also distinct characters is fascinating and
the relationship between Albus and Scorpius feels genuine (though
Rowling had a better ear for kid’s dialogue than Thorne). Part of me
wished this was book one of Harry Potter: The Next Generation and the story really luxuriated in everyday life at Hogwarts ithe same way as original book, Harry
Instead, The Cursed Child becomes a convoluted time-travel
adventure that honestly is a bit of a slog. Without giving away too many
plot details, Albus and Scorpius travel back in time to save a life and
in doing so they set off a domino wave of changes that radically alter
the present. Like in Back to the Future, further attempts to
fix the timeline result in more changes and still more attempts to make
it right, even as their parents are rushing to rescue them. Some of the
alternate future versions of familiar characters are fun and others
don’t quite work. But understanding any of it assumes a pretty deep
familiarity with the Potterverse. This isn’t a story accessible to
newcomers (in the way the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie appears to be) but one designed to service the existing fanbase.
J.K. Rowling should be applauded for pushing the boundaries of form.
The easiest thing for her to do would have been to just write a new book
— or even skip the new book and got right to the movie. Doing a play is
a daring creative choice, especially for a multi-billion franchise like
Harry Potter. (Imagine if Star Wars: The Force Awakens
had started as a play.). This story would definitely be more fun to see
performed on stage. Rowling also deserves credit for giving the
characters over to someone else to write. The story doesn’t always read
like she wrote it and that gives it an appealing freshness.
But the big problem is The Cursed Child is less an original
story than a remix of the existing Potter mythology. The been there,
done that feeling to the whole thing is its greatest weakness. How the
sins of the father (and the mother) weigh on their children is an
interesting theme but it would have been better served exploring that
idea in a truly original story and not one that rehashed the mythology
of the previous seven books.
Let's hope that if there's a ninth story, it leaves the time travel behind.
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