‘Clarice’ Series Review: Creepy, Suspenseful, and Well-Executed

Clarice is a spin-off of the film and novel The Silence of the Lambs and follows a team of Federal Bureau Of Investigation agents who solve crimes every week. The series focuses on the aftermath of the events of The Silence of the Lambs, during which young FBI agent Clarice Starling tracked down murderer Buffalo Bill and shaped a weird friendly with the murderer Hannibal Lecter. Within the show, Clarice purportedly suffers from anxiety disorder and other psychological disorders, however, she continues to analyze serial killers as a part of her job. Clarice options a case-of-the-week sort structure, and like several similar shows, usually begins with a body that has been mutilated in a way.

Clarice leans very hard on its connection to the 1991 film. Unsurprisingly, the series is mistily satisfying and imminently standardized as the other decently-produced mystery show. The one factor that produces it distinctive is its beloved lead character dealing with the trauma and fallout of her well-known backstory. However, its portrayal of Clarice as a "survivor" is usually simply pop psychology and window dressing, instead of a sincere effort to reinvent the body-of-the-week medium or maybe question, as its supply material will, why viewers realize brutal murders therefore diverting.

There are some really fascinating seeds in Clarice. Rebecca Breeds is a standout as the titular character among a generally solid cast. She manages to make an iconic character her own. The pilot episode is primarily concerning extant trauma and the way she refuses to have interaction along with her past hurt not simply herself however conjointly alternative survivors, as Catherine Martin (Marnee Carpenter), the sole alternative lady to survive Buffalo Bill, is additionally attempting to heal in her ways.

There is conjointly a relentless reminder of the depressing grind which will associate with being a woman in a very male-dominated workplace, one thing that Harris forever hooked up to his depictions of Clarice, vulturous men waiting with impatience for her disintegrate, using gender to dismiss her emotional intelligence, forever ignoring her smart instincts. Like Foster before her, Breeds is needed to rigorously oscillate between a fragile vulnerability (made even a lot of fragile by the more recent trauma she’s experienced) and a forceful strength of self, knowing that she should work double as exhausting to be revered. It’s an accomplished, anchoring performance, a tough rope to run and despite a distracting overreliance on flashback imagery, there’s enough sensitive characterization here to stay engaged in her journey, elevating her above the standard troubled protagonist pilot. It’s a stylishly created network show (if just about as audacious as NBC’s beautiful Hannibal) and despite the subject matter, Lumet and Kurtzman avoid a very oppressive tone, something that sunken such a big amount of adjacent shows and films post-Silence, confusing darkness for depth. All in all, as a crime drama with a feminine protagonist on network TV, it’s alright.

  
Final Score – [7/10]
Reviewed by – Ritika Kispotta
Follow her @KispottaRitika on Twitter (https://twitter.com/KispottaRitika)