In the history of television, there will be certain names that will be put into the record books for incredible achievements. Ryan Murphy will likely be in the running for the most number of TV shows on the air, on cable or on streaming at once. Currently, Murphy has about a dozen shows that have been in production or that have aired in 2024. He's comparable to Dick Wolf, a producer who has over 10 shows airing on the various broadcast networks within the calendar year. Both are perhaps outmatched by Greg Berlanti who over the past half-decade has executive produced over a dozen shows, particularly in 2022 when he won the Norman Lear Achievement Award. Murphy might in fact surpass Berlanti in his output.
Murphy teams up with Jon Robin Baitz, the sole writer of Capote vs. the Swans (2024), the second season of Murphy's Feud (2017). Murphy also teams up with Joe Baken, an associate producer on Capote vs. the Swans, as well as a producer on American Horror Stories (2021), an anthology spin-off of Murphy's hit series American Horror Story (2011). This series actually takes the place of American Horror Story, aka AHS, which normally airs in the fall to capitalize on the Halloween holiday season. One might wonder why this series isn't simply apart of AHS, since it's airing in the same time-slot. AHS always has some kind of supernatural aspect to it. This series doesn't dabble in the supernatural, not necessarily. Murphy, Baitz and Baken have basically concocted a 10-episode version of David Fincher's Seven (1995) with a few surprising twists.
Niecy Nash (Dahmer and Claws) stars as Lois Tryon, a detective in the Los Angeles area or somewhere in southern California. She's an alcoholic, or she certainly has an alcohol addiction. She's constantly drinking, even showing up to work drunk. She's married and has a teenage daughter. However, she's having issues with her child. Her husband is currently in a coma, but she's also having issues with him. This series is a murder mystery where Lois is tracking a serial killer, not unlike the one in Fincher's Seven. At the same time, this series is also about the domestic life of Lois and her personal conflicts, particularly with her daughter, Merritt Tryon, played by Raven Goodwin (Single Black Female and Being Mary Jane).
Michaela Diamond is a Tony Award nominee for Parade (2023). Diamond co-stars as Sister Megan, a young nun who works as a news reporter for a paper called the Catholic Guardian. She is obsessed with true crime and serial killers. She is super-obsessed. She also emerges as the best criminal profiler that never worked for the FBI. Because she's so smart and knowledgeable, Lois invites Sister Megan to help with the investigation of the current murderer that is terrifying the area.
The reason Sister Megan joins the case is because the murders have a religious aspect to them. The murders usually involve more than one person at a time where the bodies are staged in religious poses or in ways that invoke Catholic or Biblical imagery. Murphy and his writers emphasize those Christian overtones but incorporate a whole lot of gore, which at times means dismemberment and even cannibalism. It puts this series in league with Dahmer (2022), for which Niecy Nash won the Emmy.
Nicholas Alexander Chavez also won an Emmy Award for his role in General Hospital (1963). Yet, he just appeared in a recent, Murphy-produced series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024), in which he played Lyle Menéndez. Here, he also co-stars as Father Charles, a young priest at the same church as Sister Megan. He's the editor-in-chief of the newspaper where Sister Megan works and does her writing about these gruesome murders, but Father Charles insists that the church is increasing its readership and its overall attendance. He pushes for the church to be more bold and more modern. At the same time, he has various issues, regarding sex.
Father Charles is like the character in Fleabag (2016). He's a hot priest. He's a young, sexy guy, even younger and sexier than that Fleabag character. He's tall and very muscular, almost as if he spends all his off time in a gym. He seems to have a vow of chastity, but that vow doesn't stop him from being very sexual, whether it's masturbatory or flirtatious with Sister Megan. Yet, he also engages in violence, which includes self-harm with a cat o' nine tails. That kind of extreme makes him a prime suspect in the murders. However, the killer also seems to have a connection to Lois.
Travis Kelce is the NFL player for the Kansas City Chiefs who has won three Super Bowl games. However, his claim to fame comes from the fact that he's currently dating pop star, Taylor Swift, which began in 2023. Kelce had his own reality dating show called Catching Kelce (2016). He's also appeared in various TV comedies, including Saturday Night Live in early 2023. Yet, this show is Kelce's first major acting role as Ed Lochlan, an orderly or hospital employee who works on the same floor as Lois' comatose husband. Kelce doesn't quite pull off the dramatics. He's more of a comical figure here, unintentionally perhaps. Yet, he's also supposed to be a problematic love interest for Lois or someone she brings into her home to be her protector when the murderer threatens Lois herself.
Lesley Manville (The Crown and Phantom Thread) rounds out the cast as Nurse Redd, a woman that works at the same hospital. She is highly antagonistic toward Lois. She is in fact very hostile toward Lois in a way that feels very over-the-top. Murphy's shows routinely feature over-the-top performances. Nurse Redd sucks all the oxygen out of the room every time she enters. She also chews scenery with the best of them. Yet, aside from challenging Lois' relationship with her husband, it's not clear where this character is going, unless she's another possible suspect.
Rated TV-MA-LSV.
Running Time: 1 hr. / 10 eps.
Wednesdays at 10 PM / Streaming on Hulu.
