Before remains more of a mood piece than a full-on ghost or gory horror story. It is at least as interested in the manifestations of guilt in real life as it is using them as fuel for the supernatural narrative, and maintains the grief-stricken atmosphere as well as it does the spine-tingling stuff. And Crystal is brilliant.

A mystery that begins intriguingly before drowning under the weight of its myriad out-there elements, the series takes little advantage of its star.

While bigger supernatural mysteries are seemingly suggested by the boy's terrified experiences, it ends up closer in experience to muted, mournful Gothic tales of personal woe, creating an ending that's all sound and Noah's fury, signifying... not quite nothing, but far short of an impactful something.

A fully-committed Crystal vibes with Rosie Perez as Noah’s guardian, Denise. However, laden with a buffet of red-herrings, “Before” stalls in the second half. The series requires an epic leap of faith to give credence to the supernatural elements, but the uneven pacing, detours, and repetitions over 10 episodes (eight would have been better) challenges skeptical viewers to suspend disbelief.

At least "Before" had the decency to come up with a different ending. It's the beginning and everything in between that's the problem.

It’s disjointed in its best moments and flat-out bad in its worst, and by the end of the series, it feels like a waste of time.

The series fails on just about every level. It’s emotionally shallow and, stretched across 10 repetitive episodes, chronically boring—a psychological thriller that offers neither psychological insight nor thrills. The story is at once familiar and ridiculous. The dialogue is a string of clichés.