Article originally published as WICKED CITY Review on Seat42F.
Anthology
series seem to be all the rage these days. Cable started things off
with the extremely successful American Horror Story, followed soon by
Fargo and True Detective. But ABC has gotten into the game, too, with
American Crime and WICKED CITY, the latter of which premieres this week
on the alphabet network.
WICKED CITY’s first season tells the
story of a serial killer on the Sunset Strip of L.A. in 1982. Kent
Grainger (Ed Westwick, Gossip Girl) is the smooth-talking man that
seduces ladies by telling them exactly what they want to hear, then
stabs them to death and has sex with the bodies. He’s a psychopath who
happens to love children, and can be quite scary, indeed.
Now, that description of what Kent does
is pretty disturbing, but ABC doesn’t get too graphic, nor would anyone
expect one of the broadcast networks to do so. The sex side of the
crimes is handled without showing too much, barely any skin, and
certainly none of the actual corpse desecration. Instead, it’s more
about the seduction game, which Westwick does very well, talking the
worst sides of his former character, Chuck, and making them bigger and
more dangerous.
Several women come into Kent’s orbit in
the first episode alone. There’s Betty Beaumontaine (Erika Christensen,
Parenthood), a desperate single mother who quickly falls hard for the
smooth fellow. There’s also Karen McClaren (Taissa Farmiga, American
Horror Story), a wannabe reporter. And these are just the two I think
might survive awhile; there are victims in the pilot.
Their best hope at staying alive is
Detective Jack Roth (Jeremy Sisto, Suburgatory), who is on Kent’s trail.
Given that this miniseries will last ten weeks, it’s surprising just
how much Jack finds out in the first installment. Yet, Kent is smart,
and I’m sure some of the information Jack gleans will soon become
outdated and useless. The cat-and-mouse dynamic set up between Kent and
Jack is immediately interesting.
Jack doesn’t work alone, of course. He
has a new partner he despises, Paco Contreras (Gabriel Luna, Matador),
as well as a romantic liaison, who happens to be an undercover officer,
Dianne Kubek (Karolina Wydra, True Blood). These two may just serve as
collateral damage as the case goes on, as they certainly are taking a
back seat to Jack initially.
In an attempt to make Jack grittier and
more complex, Dianne is the mistress, as Jack has a wife, Allison (Jaime
Ray Newman, Mind Games), and teenage daughter, Vicki (Anne Winters,
Tyrant), at home. But honestly, this doesn’t do as intended, as Jack
seems like a typical hero even when he’s cheating on his wife. It’s like
there are two separate Jacks, both equally noble, that happen to
co-exist. This may be cynical on my part, being able to segment his life
without judgment, but that’s how the show feels as it plays out, with
Jack otherwise not being the least bit edgy.
WICKED CITY is engaging. There are a
number of scenes in the first episode where I find myself on the edge of
my seat, wondering what will happen. While it is done in the ‘true
crime’ style, I’m not sure if it tells a real tale, like the inferior
Aquarius, or a false one, like Fargo; I am not able to confirm this is
based on a real killer. As such, it feels like anything can happen, and I
hope ABC makes sure it stays that way, instead of settling into a
comfortable pattern, as the broadcast networks usually do. If the rest
of the episodes are as good as the pilot (and continue to have catchy
music), I’ll be quite happy to continue watching.
WICKED CITY premieres Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
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