Crystal Lake is drawing attention for handing Linda Cardellini a showcase role as Pamela Voorhees, with Polygon describing her turn in the Friday the 13th prequel series as a fun, bloody highlight. But the outlet isn't ready to hand the new horror drama any crowns for its set pieces.

In a new piece, Polygon argues that the best action thriller in television history is a '90s series whose work remains unbeaten 29 years later — pointing readers back to Buffy the Vampire Slayer-era genre TV rather than anything on the current slate. The framing is a familiar one for the outlet: prestige-adjacent horror revivals keep arriving, but the bar for sustained, inventive action television was set decades ago.

For genre fans, it's less a knock on Crystal Lake than a reminder of how high that bar sits. Cardellini's Voorhees gets praise on its own terms; the argument is simply that showcase performances and gore aren't the same thing as the kind of week-in, week-out action craft that defined the era Polygon is celebrating.