Part 2 of “Drowning in TV” looks at some of the other new series that you may have heard of, if only because of the starry casts. But not all stars emit light.
“Malice”
This clever revenge tale is too obvious from the beginning. The so-called innocent helper who is always there when you most need him and don’t realize that he set up that need is a thriller. The ultra-wealthy Tanner family is vacationing at their villa in the Greek Isles. Jamie Tanner (David Duchovny) is annoyed that wife Nat has invited friends Jules and Damien and their family to spend time with them. The Tanner nanny is rather useless but Adam, the tutor for Jules’ and Damien’s kids, is uber helpful, at the ready for any errand. He seems always to be around.
But Adam has a hidden agenda, one that will eventually become clearer, if not to the Tanners, at least to the viewers. Soon, things go missing, accidents happen, calls are misdirected, and the nanny is hospitalized from an almost deadly food poisoning, leaving the Tanners in need of the solicitous services of Adam, whose tutoring gig has come to an end.
Returning to London, more untraceable catastrophic events begin to engulf the Tanners, specifically Jamie, as their fortunes begin a precipitous fall.
Bloated, even at 6 episodes, it is evident from the start that the very wide-eyed innocence of Adam is at the root of all evil. Even though he is such an easily unmasked villain, it still takes time to uncover his motives. There would have been myriad ways to make this all-too-apparent scenario a bit more subtle, thus making each oncoming catastrophe less obvious. Jack Whitehall (“Bad Education”) as Adam lacks the depth necessary to keep the viewer completely on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Nat, played by Carice van Houten (“Game of Thrones”), and Jamie, an excellent David Duchovny, are convincing as the targets of Adam’s misdeeds. Christine Adams, Jules, is convincingly unaware, but Raza Jaffrey, Jules’ husband Damien, has a star turn in the episode where he is on the path to unlocking Adam’s duplicity.
I prefer my thrillers a bit less obvious.
Now streaming on Amazon.
“Down Cemetery Road”
This should have been a slam-dunk series. Starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson, with an appearance by the fabulous Adam Godley, all gold standard British actors, it is based on a book by Mick Herron, author of the books on which “Slow Horses” is based, and written for television by Morwenna Banks, also the writer of the “Slow Horses” series. How could this go wrong? Wrong may not be the optimal word, but uninteresting is. Bloated at 10 episodes and obtuse in the underlying mystery, “Down Cemetery Road” is not engaging.
Sarah (Ruth Wilson) has too much time on her hands. When an adjacent building blows up, an ambulance arrives to take away the two dead and the one survivor, Dinah, a ten-year-old. Sarah is immediately concerned about the welfare of Dinah and runs into roadblock after roadblock when she attempts to visit her in the hospital. Convinced that there is a nefarious plot afoot, she makes her way to the office of private investigators Zoe Boehm (Thompson) and her husband Joe Silverman (Godley). Joe is a sympathetic listener and desperate for a case, any case. Zoe, not so much. But when Joe turns up dead, Zoe finally begins to investigate and realizes that there is something underhanded going on.
The villains are many, each with different agendas, everyone seems to be in danger and the pitfalls abundant with increasing stakes. Amazingly, I didn’t end up caring, maybe you will.
Now streaming on Apple.
“Death by Lightning”—Dead on arrival
One of my all-time favorite biographies is “Destiny of the Republic” by Candice Millard. She tells the story of the fateful collision of events and people, all of which relate to the assassination of President James Garfield, a truly extraordinary man. The book explores the intersection of major mid-19th century figures, all of whom crossed paths at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia: Joseph Lister, father of antisepsis, Alexander Graham Bell and Senator James Garfield, soon to be elected president. Separate chapters are devoted to Charles Guiteau, the delusional individual who would eventually be on a self-proclaimed mission from God to assassinate Garfield, a man who he felt needed to be eliminated to save the union.
Mike Makowsky, the writer of this limited series allegedly based on the book, decided to take a different approach, choosing instead to present a rather fictionalized version of Guiteau, a man whose grandiosity and narcissism were the hallmarks of his failed life and needed no embellishment. Other characters fare worse. Chester Arthur, Garfield’s Vice President, and Roscoe Conkling, senator from New York, Arthur’s patron and Garfield’s political enemy, are presented as little more than foul-mouthed drunken buffoons. None of the important players in the death of Garfield are well defined, either by their roles in his death or who they were in life. Any significance is eventually taken care of in chyrons at the end.
An overabundance of exposition and too little development is the hallmark of Makowsky’s script. My bias comes through here, but I felt that too much time was spent on Garfield’s pre-presidential development, reducing the time spent on his potential as a president, one into which he was almost co-opted into the job. Of Alexander Graham Bell, little is mentioned of his close tie to Garfield and his desire to use his scientific knowledge to try to save his life. His resulting invention, a precursor to the X-ray machine, would find better use in the fields of World War I. Garfield’s attending physician, Dr. Willard Bliss, an opponent of Joseph Lister’s antisepsis methods, was the real killer and therein lay the most important part of the story, one that was given short shrift. For the rest of his life he was rightfully haunted by the expression “Ignorance is Bliss.”
Nick Offerman (Chester Arthur) and Shea Whigham (Roscoe Conkling) are reduced to stereotypes, good old boys intent on drinking their way through life. In real life, the roles of both were important and Chester Arthur rose to temporary greatness after Garfield’s death, something that would never be surmised from this tale. Bradley Whitford is excellent as James Blaine, first as a rival to Garfield and later as his most important supporter. Zeljko Ivanek (Dr. Bliss) plays the doctor arrogantly, as he should be. Michael Shannon is an excellent empathetic Garfield. The star turn was given to Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Guiteau, a man he, ironically, resembles. His prominent position in the limited series matches the position he was given in the book. Interestingly, the writer soft-pedals his personality. Yes, he was crazy as a loon, but he was also considerably more malevolent than seen here, spreading havoc across the country and even in Europe before he “discovered” that his true calling was politics.
With the exception of the fictionalized version of Guiteau, so little is actually learned about any of these men that it begs the question, “What story was he telling?” I’m not an impartial judge of this material because of the enormous liberties and direction that Makowsky took with this excellent work of nonfiction. “Death by Lightning,” at a mere four episodes, was a jumbled mess because the writer didn’t know how to frame his narrative in a meaningful and cogent manner. Watcher beware.
Now streaming on Netflix.
