Astrid & Lilly Save the World Review: A New Generation of Monster Slayers Are Born

The new generation of teenage monster slayers are here. They are unapologetically themselves and show a lot of promise on Syfy’s latest series, Astrid & Lilly Save the World.

The series follows a pair of teenage outcasts who face high school’s painfully realities. One night after a particularly rough bout of humiliation at a party, Astrid and Lilly accidentally open a portal to another dimension unleashing a host of monsters that they are tasked to chase down and defeat.

From the opening moments, the series feels like it captures the essence of some of the genre shows big and small throughout the years, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Wynonna Earp to even Strange Days at Blake Holsey High.

It’s an amalgamation of the best parts of those shows and places it all in a setting that everyone can relate to at any age: high school. The show plays thankfully doesn’t lean into the darkness of what the

Astrid and Lilly’s abilities that aid in their monster-hunting are unusual, playing with the genre conventions giving Astrid the ability to sniff out the monsters and Lilly to sense a monster’s close as her leg cramps up.

The girls also get help from a monster from the other dimension, Brutus, meant to guide them in the right direction.

Brutus: [I’m] your Giles.

I love that they don’t shy away from the comparison and beat the audience to it.

Astrid & Lilly Save the World have some fun winks and nods to the one monster (vampire) slayer to rule them all through the first three episodes while making some other fun references that fans of the genre would appreciate.

The trio’s dynamic quickly develops into a fun, less authoritative one. It leans more into the comedy aspect, relying on Brutus’ lack of knowledge of this dimension, the girls’ inquisitive natures, and the actors’ solid comedic timing.

They aren’t perfect, and they don’t immediately master the art of monster hunting. The writers have managed to balance their lives in high school and their new quest in a way that doesn’t feel cliché and boring.

It doesn’t hurt that Astrid and Lilly are fun characters that complement each other well. The pair are subjected to some highly relatable high school moments in the first three episodes that could very well throw viewers back to some of their more humiliating moments, which add to the girls’ endearing charm.

Sure, the cast of core characters fit the archetypical high school roles, namely Sparrow, Tate, and Candice. Still, they hold the promise of potentially being more and breaking out of those, especially as we learn more about Pine Academy, the monsters being hunted, and the world in general.

The pilot’s last moments introduce what feels like the beginnings of an eerily familiar arc for Candice’s mom, Christine. Hopefully, Astrid & Lilly will take that expectation and do some wild things with it, given the tone of the series and all.

Astrid & Lilly Save the World takes on the mantle of the teenage monster slayer and decides to have fun with it, showing a lot of potential along the way, making it a new show worth checking back in on.

What did you think of this episode of Astrid & Lilly Save the World? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Astrid & Lilly Save the World airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Syfy.

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