Netflix waited until Thanksgiving to drop its best original series since “Ripley” 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 has been a part of our increasingly insane discourse before finding himself in an increasingly dangerous nightmare. Domingo is joined by a phenomenal ensemble that includes one of the best turns from the timeless John Ortiz, a great Deon Cole, a captivating Alison Wright, a sharp Bradley Whitford, and excellent character actors abound like Stephen McKinley Henderson (also in the other excellent late ’24 Netflix original “A Man on the Inside“). The cast was attracted to a propulsive thriller that fits the binge model perfectly in that every episode ends with another twist/cliffhanger. It’s going to be hard to turn off, in all the right ways.
The premiere of “The Madness,” directed by the great Clement Virgo (“Brother“), who also helms the second and last pair of episodes, introduces us to Domingo’s Muncie Daniels, a CNN anchor with an ex-wife (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and relatively estranged children named Kallie (Gabrielle Graham) and Demetrius (Thaddeus J. Mixson). To get away from it all, he rents a cabin in the Poconos, where he will work on his book and unwind. He notices a neighbor not far through the woods, who says that he should come by if he needs anything.
One day, his power goes out, so he takes the neighbor up on that offer, and finds his mutilated corpse. Attacked by whoever hacked up the guy next door, Daniels is forced to fight for his life, but things get much worse when he gets home and discovers that he’s being framed for the crime. You see, the victim was a leader of a Proud Boys-esque White Power movement, and the police believe that Daniels snapped on his racist ass. Can Muncie clear his name and get to the bottom of who actually committed the crime?
Muncie starts by trying to figure out more about the victim, bringing his ex-wife Lucie (an excellent Tamsin Topolski) into the mix. The investigation leads him to uncover connections between the racist organization and the seats of power in Philly and D.C. It becomes pretty clear that Muncie is up against something much bigger than a single crime, and that the people trying to frame him have the overwhelming power to do anything, even manipulating the media institutions that have made him famous. When Whitford appears as a slimy power player, the waters in which Muncie is trying to swim get even choppier, but it’s the arrival of Alison Wright of “The Americans” fame that really takes “The Madness” to another level. She’s one of the most chilling villains in a show 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 so remarkably good at being in the moment. We believe his rising fear and countering determination to keep himself and his family safe. The plotting by creator Stephen Belber, a playwright who famously wrote the original stage version of Richard Linklater‘s excellent “Tape,” is razor sharp for almost eight full hours. (The last hour gets a little in the weeds about “What This All Means” regarding our current state of media and political manipulation, but it’s a minor complaint.) One of many laudable things about this excellent thriller is its ruthlessness, reflected in its willingness to unexpectedly kill off characters earlier than audiences may expect. It’s a show about dangerous people who will go to great lengths to keep their skeletons in their closets, and the writers don’t sugarcoat the danger like a lot of streaming thrillers.
Courtesy of Virgo and the other directors, it’s also a sharply made show, even if it does sometimes succumb to the under-lighting that has become a Netflix epidemic. It’s forgivable because the plotting is so breakneck and the editing so precise that one doesn’t notice as much as the typically bloated Netflix production.
Most of all, “The Madness” is another reminder of the range and power of Colman Domingo, Oscar-nominated last year for “Rustin” and hopefully again this year for “Sing Sing.” A thriller like “The Madness” only works if we believe the journey of its protagonist, and Domingo completely closes the sale. We don’t just root for him to succeed, we’re on this ride with him, strapped into the rollercoaster, as startled as he is by each subsequent twist and turn.
The holidays can be a stressful time, enough to make anyone insane. Check into a different kind of “Madness” this year and maybe Netflix will make more shows like this one, a thriller that actually thrills and a program that treats its audience like intelligent adults instead of just escapism seekers looking for something to put on in the background while they doomscroll. It’s a sad thing to have to say, but this one will make you put your phone down and pay attention. Madness, indeed.
Whole season screened for review. Now on Netflix.
