Furious TV Review: Emmy Rossum hunts a serial killer in this drama from the creator of New Girl

Plot: Follows an FBI agent, Alice Black, on the hunt for a mysterious and calculating female serial killer. Both walk their own paths toward justice, and as their lives start to intertwine, the line between right and wrong begins to blur.

Review: Female serial killers are not common on screen, with few realistic portrayals such as Charlize Theron in Monster. Others are horror movies or exaggerated genre offerings that tend to take a sexual angle to the subject matter, turning the killer into a black widow. The new series Furious takes the concept of a woman taking down men in the name of justice and turns it into fascinating television that blends the pitch-black humor of Promising Young Woman with a taut cat-and-mouse thriller following the murderer and the law enforcement hunting her down. Led by Emmy Rossum and Lola Petticrew, Furious is a violent, vicious drama from an unexpected creator that delivers a fascinating story over eight episodes.

The series opens on Halloween as a young woman (Lola Petticrew) wearing a facemask sits outside of a house giving out candy as a man lies dying inside the home. Nonchalantly, the woman executes the man and leaves without a trace. At the same time, we meet rookie FBI agent Alice Black (Emmy Rossum), a former NYPD detective who is working phone banks when her former partner, Danny (Scoot McNairy), brings her to the scene of the crime. Alice is a skilled investigator despite leaving the NYPD due to a conflict with her former boyfriend, Marshall (Jake Lacy), and immediately sees connections between this new murder and a prior case. Enlisting the help of Nora (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) at the FBI, the connections between the new crimes and past deaths hint that a serial killer may be on the loose. As the episodes progress, we learn the young woman committing the crimes has very specific victims who may share a disturbing connection, which begins to unravel a conspiracy involving a very powerful family.

The split perspectives in each episode shift between the killer and the investigators and blur the lines between trauma and how it impacts people differently. Lola Petticrew is excellent as they play the various personas that the killer wears to worm into the lives of the victims, while we see the unfolding truth behind why the killer has resorted to such brutal revenge. At the same time, Emmy Rossum lends Alice Black her own personal trauma that is equally violent and just as psychologically troubling. The central focus on two female characters in a genre often dominated by male protagonists and antagonists factors into the plot in several ways, but never undermines the narrative of the series. Rossum lends Alice an authority as an investigator that we see cracks in as her personal demons affect her work and personal life, which is at once tragic and hard to watch. Petticrew plays their character with more horrific past events, but we see the single-minded focus the killer has and how it is rooted in actions many of us watching can relate to.

Furious follows the structure of police procedurals and mystery series without being beholden to the formula. The material is elevated by the great supporting cast led by Scoot McNairy. A great actor in everything from Halt and Catch Fire to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and this year’s Man on Fire series, McNairy brings a veteran balance to his portrayal of Alice’s friend and partner, who serves as a conduit between her new FBI career and her past with the NYPD. Jake Lacy, who has done everything from The Office to The White Lotus, plays Marshall as a character it is easy to despise but one whom we cannot rule out entirely. Quincy Tyler Bernstine is also excellent as the jaded agent whose experience lends a key voice to Alice’s investigation. The cast also boasts a lot of familiar faces, including Rob Yang, Hope Davis, Chloe Troast, and Rob Delaney in roles that balance elements of dark humor with even darker drama.

I was reminded of Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman as I watched Furious, as both deal with women haunted by their past as they seek revenge on the men who wronged them. Both that film and Furious employed actors skilled in comedy for very serious roles while also managing to add some laughs into the mix. Coming off back-to-back critical successes with the true-story dramas Dying for Sex and The Dropout, Furious was created by Elizabeth Meriweather, best known for the fan-favorite sitcom New Girl. Meriweather and her writing team crafted a series loosely inspired by the 1987 thriller Black Widow, starring Debra Winger and Theresa Russell, but built a wholly original story that is perfect for modern audiences while avoiding the cliches of true-crime-style dramas that have overtaken the small screen. Furious builds a chilling original story that keeps you guessing through each episode while still managing to land some curveballs in an era where it is hard to keep audiences surprised.

Furious will benefit from a weekly release schedule that builds tension and audience theories week after week about why the killer is committing their crimes. You will find yourself sympathetic at the same time as despising the crimes the killer is committing, while also questioning the motivations and decisions of the investigators. I found myself frustrated in a good way as I aligned myself with believing or disliking certain characters and then changing my mind as the story moved forward. Furious is a balanced mix of thriller, procedural, and drama, with a dose of humor. I would be reluctant to say I enjoyed this series, as the subject matter is pretty repugnant, but it is handled well from script to screen, with a solid cast anchoring the whole season. By the halfway mark of the season, you will question whether you like the good guys or the antagonist, but you will not be able to stop watching until you find out the resolution to this tale in the final chapter.

Furious premieres with three episodes on July 27th on Hulu.