"The whole in media res reveal that one of the principals of the show is dead, so now it's a matter of going back and forth in time to unravel the seductive path of their violent demise. We need to keep the average viewer with an annihilated attention span on the hook. Then, if the show is really worth its salt, it'll fill in the spaces between the seduction and the mystery with the moral and spiritual quandaries and heart-of-darkness journeys that erupt from the kaleidoscope of human criminal behavior."
"In its first episode, DTF St. Louis quickly reveals itself as a dark-comedy thriller of impossibly modern proportions. A murder: The victim at the center is David Harbour's Floyd Smernitch, a jestermaxxing schlub who works as a Sign Language interpreter for a St. Louis news station. Right out the gate, Harbour gets ample space to showcase the old suburban angst he displayed in Revolutionary Road. Here, it's heavily accented by a comic, Hopper-esque register."
Modern thriller series have shifted from traditional mystery structures to revealing murders in media res, then working backward through time to explore the seductive circumstances leading to death. This approach, exemplified by shows like The White Lotus, maintains viewer engagement while allowing deeper exploration of moral and spiritual questions arising from human criminal behavior. DTF St. Louis follows this pattern as a dark-comedy thriller, introducing David Harbour as Floyd Smernitch, a sign language interpreter for a St. Louis news station. Harbour portrays Floyd with suburban angst reminiscent of his Revolutionary Road role, filtered through comedic sensibility. The show establishes Floyd's character through awkward family dynamics, revealing his earnest but misguided attempts at parenting and emotional connection.
Read at Vulture
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]