All eight episodes of The Madness went up on Netflix last week. This is a good thing -- a savvy thriller like this deserves to be seen in just one or two sittings. I saw it in two.
Here's its story (and I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum). A rising star at CNN, currently doing guest anchoring, but on a path to get his own show, goes up to the Poconos for a few days of peace (he's doing his CNN gig from Philadelphia). And, of course, he finds the complete antithesis of peace, getting caught up in a murder involving white supremacists and a billionaire whose company is all about data. Sounds all too familiar to our real world off-screen, doesn't it.
But to make matters worse -- much worse, with life-and-death consequences -- the local police and the FBI are uninterested in gong after the white supremacists or the billionaire. They'd both rather go after the rising CNN anchor, Muncie Daniels. Hmmm ... that also seems pretty familiar to our reality off-screen, in which law-and-order like to take the easy way out.
Especially if they can pin the crime on a black man (in this case, played by Colman Domingo, whom I've seen in Fear the Walking Dead and a few other shows). Muncie's family is difficult for him, too. He's divorced, his teenage son is struggling to find his bearings, and Muncie also has a daughter whom he hasn't seen in far too long. A large part of the story is Muncie's family, and how in their own ways they rally behind Muncie, while speaking much needed truth to him.
A great example comes near the end, when Muncie thinks that by denouncing the billionaire on CNN, Muncie can put an end to his baneful influence and deeds. His son Demetrius (well played by Thaddeus Mixson) tells Muncie that television does not have the power to change the world for the better. That right there is a profound lesson indeed -- one that we all should ponder -- especially needed in the world we're all living in right now.
As long as I'm talking about the acting, I'll tell you that I thought it was all excellent. Marsha Blake as Muncie's ex-wife Elena Powell, Tamsin Topolski as a white supremacist's wife, and Alison Wright as Julia Jayne (I'm deliberately not revealing her role) were especially effective. And the dialogue is top-notch, too -- at one point, Muncie's lawyer mentions Stringer Bell, one of the best characters ever to appear on television (and the first time I saw Idris Elba). Hats off to Stephen Belber and the rest of the writing and production people for creating an edge-of-your-seat thriller that couldn't be more relevant to the time and planet we all inhabit.
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