A
good friend of mine who spends much more time paying attention to
these sorts of things than I do casually mentioned to me recently
that this series is currently tanking in the ratings something
fierce, enough that a second season is most certainly in doubt even
with the network's incredibly low standards. Normally when I see a
show that I like in danger of cancellation I react with some
combination of sadness or anger, and yet for some reason this news
did not effect me quite as much as I would have thought. Despite
generally liking this last episode and really to some degree every
episode so far, I've realized that the series as a whole has moved
forward so little and so slowly that the lack of anything
accomplished beyond the pilot has left me somewhat ambivalent as to
the show's future, regardless of how compelling each individual
installment might be.
Case
in point, Entree, an episode title I would have thought they would
have saved for the season or series finale, or at least the
penultimate episode (the last then being an epilogue entitled
Dessert). Even before I watched this episode, which I did as I
usually do without watching any ads for it if I can help it, I had
read online that this was to be the show's tribute to Silence of the
Lambs, with a serial killer interviewed while locked away in an
asylum, while a plucky young female FBI agent tracks a killer on the
outside. In the end I don't know if the homage really works all that
well, or if it was ever really necessary in the first place, and
since the killer in question isn't actually Lecter himself for
obvious reasons, it didn't have the same emotional punch that makes
this set up so culturally indelible to begin with.
Still
I was excited about this episode primary due to the guest casting,
which features what I hope to be the introduction of a recurring
character rather than a one-off in the form of Eddie Izzard as a
psychopath already in custody taking credit for the crimes of a
serial killer thought to still be at large. The last thing I saw
Izzard in before this was the amazing NBC pilot for the rebooted
Munsters series also written by Bryan Fuller, which was unfortunately
not picked up. If you haven't seen it, I'm sure its available online
somewhere, and I highly recommend that you watch it to see what this
actor can do when actually given material to work with, unlike here
where after the opening murder scene, he's basically wasted in a few
boring interview segments with absolutely no tension to be built.
Hopefully if they keep him for another episode or two they can give
him something to do to redeem the wasted potential seen here.
Why
not, for example, have Dr. Lecter interview the killer, placing him in the role of the Clarice Starling-esque character while the flashbacks
to the actual Starling surrogate play out in between? Two serial
killers, one passing for normal, the other free to be as evil as he
knows he is, would make for great television and in this context
seems like a no-brainer, not to mention an excuse to have Lecter in
the episode for more than a few minutes. Admittedly those few minutes
are the highlight of the episode, establishing an interesting if
somewhat predictable connection Lecter has with the case, but once
again the reveal of this connection would have carried a lot more
weight if he had been more integrated into the plot.
Will
Graham continues his streak of not actually using his amazing gift toreally solve any cases, and the subplot involving the chief's wife's
cancer is still going despite my express desire to see them get to
more action and bloodshed already. Overall, there was enough to like
about Entree that I would easily say it is in keeping with the level
of quality so far even in spite of what probably sounds like my
annoyed griping. I think the problem is that I've just begun to lose
a little patience with it, which as I alluded to above, is why even
though I've enjoyed the ride all along, I don't think I'll be all
that sad to see this show go if the ratings don't pick up from here.
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