Netflix waited until Thanksgiving to drop its best original series since “Replay” earlier this year, a very different kind of thriller featuring another magnetic performance from the incredible Colman Domingo. A cleverly modern riff on “The Fugitive,” “The Madness” is a show about a TV journalist who finds herself in a dangerous nightmare that has been part of our increasingly paranoid discourse ever since. Domingo joins a phenomenal group that includes excellent character actors like the evergreen John Ortiz, a great Deon Cole, a captivating Alison Wright, a sharp Bradley Whitford and Stephen McKinley Henderson (also among other excellent). The late ’24 Netflix original “A Man on the Inside”). The cast gravitated towards a motivational thriller that perfectly fits the binge-watching model with every episode ending with another twist/cliffhanger. It will be hard to pull this off in all the right ways.
The premiere of “The Madness,” directed by the great Clement Virgo (“Brother”), who also helmed the second and last pair of episodes, introduces us to Domingo’s Muncy Daniels, who is engaged to an ex-wife (Marsha Stephanie Blake). Also a CNN anchor. ) and relatively isolated children named Kalli (Gabrielle Graham) and Demetrius (Thaddeus J. Mixson). To get away from it all, he rented a cabin in the Poconos, where he would work on his book and relax. He sees a neighbor near the forest, who tells him to come if he needs anything.
One day, he runs out of energy, so he takes the neighbor up on his offer, and finds her mutilated corpse. Daniel is forced to fight for his life when he is attacked by whoever hacked the man next door, but things take a turn for the worse when he gets home and discovers That he is being framed for a crime. You see, the victim was a leader of the Proud Boys-esque white power movement, and police believe Daniels attacked his racist ass. Can Muncy clear his name and get to the bottom of who really committed the crime?
Munsey begins trying to learn more about the victim, and brings his ex-wife Lucy (an excellent Tamsin Topolsky) into the mix. As the investigation leads him to expose the connections between a racist organization and the seats of power in Philly and D.C., it becomes crystal clear that Muncy is up against something much bigger than a crime, and those who are trying to frame him. They have tremendous power. Do anything, even tamper with the media institutions that made them famous. When Whitford shows up as a slimy power player, the waters in which Munsey is trying to swim become even more choppy, but it’s the arrival of Alison Wright of “The Americans” fame that really sets the tone. Takes “The Madness” to another level. She’s one of the scariest villains a show has seen in years.
Everyone in “The Madness” is solid, especially great character actors like Ortiz and Henderson, but the show really belongs to Domingo, who is very good this time. We believe his growing fear and determination to keep himself and his family safe. The script, from creator Stephen Belber, a playwright who famously wrote the original stage version of Richard Linklater’s classic “Tape,” runs very fast for almost a full eight hours. (There’s a bit of “What All This Means” discussion about our current state of media and political manipulation in the last hour, but that’s a minor complaint.) One of the many admirable things about this excellent thriller is its There is ruthlessness, which is reflected in the willingness to kill off characters unexpectedly before the audience expects. This is a show about dangerous people who will go to any lengths to keep their skeletons in their closet, and the writers don’t hide the danger like many streaming thrillers do.
Courtesy of Virgo and the other directors, this is a very intricately constructed show, even if it sometimes falls victim to the under-lighting that has become a Netflix epidemic. This is forgivable because the plot is so dangerous and the editing so precise that one doesn’t usually pay that much attention to a bloated Netflix production.
Most of all, “The Madness” is another reminder of the range and power of Colman Domingo, who was Oscar-nominated last year for “Rustin” and is expected to be nominated again this year for “Sing Sing.” . A thriller like “The Madness” only works if we believe in its hero’s journey, and Domingo sells it completely. We don’t just wish him to succeed, we are on this ride with him, strapped into the rollercoaster, as he gets shocked by each upcoming turn.
The holidays can be a stressful time, enough to drive anyone crazy. Check out a different kind of “madness” this year and maybe Netflix will create more shows like this, a thriller that truly thrills and a program that treats its audience as intelligent rather than just escapism seekers. Behaves like adults who are looking for something to do. Background when they do the doom scroll. It’s a sad thing to say, but it will make you put down your phone and pay attention. Really crazy.
The entire season was screened for review. Now on Netflix.